BloomBridge, a service for delivering flowers to gravesites, launched in seven Southeastern states this summer. The Mississippi-based company grew out of a startup that CEO Allen initially named “Flowers to the Grave,” which applied a gig-economy model to the task of decorating the gravesites of loved ones with attractive artificial floral arrangements. With co-founders Huey Ngo (COO), Patrick Normam (CMO), Lulu Intan (CDMO) and Justin Johnson (CTO) in the mix, the renamed BloomBridge has made that vision a reality at www.bloom-bridge.com.
“We’re still early-stage; we just started doing some marketing in August,” said Ngo in an early-September interview with Innovate Mississippi. “We’re seeing a lot of interest in the form of online traffic volume, but it’s a new concept, so we expect it to take a little bit of time for people to pick up on what we’re doing.”
What they’re doing is enabling customers to schedule silk-flower deliveries to the gravesites of their loved ones, making it possible to keep the gravesite decorated and cared for, even from a distance. When BloomBridge receives an order, the software routes it to delivery drivers within driving distance of that gravesite. Like Uber or PostMates contractors, the BloomBridge drivers can accept the assignment or pass. When a driver accepts, BloomBridge ships the flowers to that driver, and they, in turn, place them on the gravesite. The final step is to take a photo to share with the customer, which BloomBridge delivers as proof of a job accomplished.
Allen said that they’d very recently had their first simultaneous deliveries in two different states, something that they immortalized using the drivers’ photos for a social media post. She and Ngo both believe that the more customers share those photos on social media, the more word of their service will spread.
While there’s no direct competitor for BloomBridge, Ngo says that they compete with local florists and some corporate gravesite management companies (which will deliver flower arrangements in cemeteries they own). He believes BloomBridge’s advantage is that they can deliver to any cemetery in the states they serve, offering individualized service at a competitive rate.
Over the next six months, Ngo says they’ll be working on product-market fit and learning how customers interact with the service. In just a few weeks since launch, they’ve already added one new product: a gift-card option. They learned directly from customers that BloomBridge delivery services make a thoughtful gift loved ones can give to someone recently bereaved.
With nearly 700 driver applications from six states, Ngo says the interest from that side of the equation has been strong, and they’ve completed their due diligence on 150 approved runners. Allen has taken on recruiting and reviewing runners, a stringent process they feel results in better customer service for their subscribers.
Allen said she’s proud of how they’ve laid the foundation for the business in creating the entity, identifying processes, building relationships with suppliers, and spending the necessary dollars on infrastructure. The company is self-funded thus far, and Ngo says they plan to create value and build sales before seeking outside funding.
In the meantime, the BloomBridge team is doing everything they can to help customers use their service—even finding the gravesites of loved ones that potential customers can’t locate. “A client wants to deliver flowers to where his grandparents were buried, but they only know the town or city,” said Ngo, “We’ve helped them locate a couple of those gravesites. Now they forever have a record of where certain family members are buried.”
The result, he hopes, is a happy customer who shares the service with others and helps them attract more potential customers.
“When they see someone in their network getting a photo of a flower delivery for their loved one, it creates an awareness of the availability and category of service,” he said.
And with a novel online business idea like BloomBridge, building that awareness is critical.
