Metz Actueel

Welcome to the website of Metz.
with recent information about Metz and the Flower Market

12-06-08 NEW MEMBER OF THE METZ TEAM!

Well, not actually a member of the team yet but you never know in a few decades.

We are happy to announce that Julie Lapointe is the mother of a happy and healthy baby girl named Zoe. She arrived at 5:07 in the afternoon on Thursday June 12th and for those who crave statistics...7.11 lbs or 3.23 kg. Julie and Zoe are resting and getting to know one another and we hope to have a visit from them in the coming weeks at our office.

Julie says thank you to all of you who have been enquiring about her and passes on her regards. We wonder if she won’t be bored without all the excitement of being at Metz every day? NOT A CHANCE!! Congratulations Julie!

06-06-08 From now on, also sundries to order for our Canadian customers!

We are very happy to announce you that you have, from now on, the possibility to order sundries with your flower orders at Metz Canada. Please see our collection at Iris Online!

For any question, you may contact our sales representative Ian Fenton at ca@metz.com or by phone at 001 905 456 3000 Ian will be happy to help you or answer any question.

With kind regards
Your Metz Canada team

10-03-08

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Metz Canada is pleased to announce our new line of Mini Gerberas.

With a great assortment and year round production we hope these little gems will prove to be a staple product in your shop.

Of course, in true Metz style they travel from the grower in Niagara to your shop as fast as possible giving you complete confidence with their freshness.

What a great item for those “ready to go” bouquets.

10-03-08

Some of you have already started to buy the Viburnum grown right here in Ontario. Once again this year we are offering the Viburnum in 4 lengths. The shorter sizes are great for smaller bouquets to add some of this popular flower that reminds us that spring is coming....we hope! With a vase life of weeks it is a great value.

PS We can also supply limited amounts of 2 ball stems on request when budget requires something smaller. Just ask your sales person for more information.

12-11-07

Fleura and Metz share the vision that economies of scale and internationalisation (of the production) are the developments on which the flower industry must act upon to strengthen its position.

The boards of Metz and Fleura have therefore decided to merge their strengths and integrate their international sourcing.
Both partners will bring their import activities under the Metz-Fleura Purchasing Joint Venture umbrella.

The Metz-Fleura Purchasing Joint Venture will be responsible for the purchasing of more than 20,000 florists in the mid- and high segments in Europe and North America.

The Purchasing Joint Venture will be led by Sidney Moll (Fleura) and Richard Koenen (Metz).

Aalsmeer/Westland, 12 november 2007

04-10-07

On Wednesday, October 3rd, at exactly 3:15 in the afternoon, construction began on the new Metz entrance of the Head Quarter in Holland as the 1st pole was officially laid. In the ceremony, J.P. Teelen, the General Director of FloraHolland, together with the Directors of Metz, did the honors.

Metz strongly believes in its partnership with the auction FloraHolland and its respective growers. This important investment in the Elsen Building will only serve to emphasize this.

The new entrance should be completed by June 2008.

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08-27-07

Every year a competition is held in Holland where a prize is awarded to the boat with the most beautiful floral decorations. This year the competition took place during the weekend of the 3rd, 4th and 5th August, and its theme was ‘Perfume.’ After several months of preparation, Florifère Palet created a breathtaking boat. They used pastel colored flowers, delivered directly from our partner growers. With a large perfume bottle on top, and a real test lab with a professor on it, the Metz boat was ready to set sail.

The reactions of the people along the canals was great. Many pictures were taken and many memories were made. We can look back at a time with a beautiful Metz boat, where every square inch was literally covered with flowers.

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06-04-07

Scale increases and internationalization in the wholesale flower business is the matter at hand. To be able to now invest and innovate in the future in international sourcing, logistics and marketing, cooperation is essential.

Particularly in the French market, it is essential that the independent florist in the higher segment has a partner who in the area of sourcing and logistics can compete with mass market and franchise chains.

The Board of Directors of Peters & Groenveld and Metz France have therefore decided as of May 31st, 2007 to proceed together. Under the name Metz & Peters, this combination will service 1,500 florists in France. A full national coverage network, which will be supported by the marketing program Scala Verde.

The company functions purchasing, sales, adminstration, and transport will in the course of 2007 be integrated within the Metz Group. At the Aalsmeer location, the production departments bouquets and decorations, as well as the purchase department of the typical Aalsmeer product line will be concentrated. The Metz Group expects with this to further strengthen its purchasing power.

Metz & Peters is part of the Metz Group, which core business is the direct supply from production areas to 3,500 florists in Europe and North America. At Metz there are approximately 300 employees.

05-03-07

After 5 years of negotiations, our branch in the US has finally succeeded in obtaining the metz.com domain name for the entire Metz group. Although metz.nl was functional for our Dutch operation, customers from overseas would sometimes find it difficult to locate the Metz homepage. Therefore we are very pleased to announce our official international website: www.metz.com

03-22-07

When I am explaining Metz to Florists who are not familiar with us I always explain how we expedite the flowers from the grower to the Florist and how the grower is cutting them the day we need them. Sometimes I have the impression the florists think it is just marketing talk, I mean no wholesaler will say that they ship flowers that are not fresh!
However, I was recently reminded that one person’s standard of what is fresh can be completely different than the next.
At Metz we believe in giving the entire life span of the flowers into the retailers hands for them to manage. As partner florists of Metz we trust them to be making good decisions on this and then surpassing their clients expectations. And since we only work with the finest professional retailers in Canada I can say with confidence this is the case.
As can happen from time to time we received one extra bunch of lily LA Kelso from our Canadian partner grower. We always endeavour to sell these “extras” to our clients so that there is nothing left at the end of the shipping day. Sometimes we don’t succeed but we still manage to turn it into a learning experience by testing the product. In the case of the LA Kelso we decided to conduct a small test whereby we left them in the cooler for 14 days! Thereafter we put them in water with Chrysal Bulb food. They went on to flower for an incredible 21 days in the vase. Every bloom opened and the show was magnificent.
The traditional wholesaler may use all this extra life for his own gain. In the case of Metz we rush these flowers to our clients each week to give them and their clients the full benefit of having the freshest flowers possible. Perhaps this is something to think about when comparing sources of flowers using the “old way” of distribution or Metz that obsesses about fast distribution and holding no stock.

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02-13-07 Although Spring and the blooming of Viburnum outside seems very hard to imagine right now, for one clever grower it is happening in his greenhouse right now! As with last year we are pleased to be able to offer Viburnum snowball grown in Ontario to our Canadian clients. It will be available in 4 bloom plus grades in 70, 80 and 100 cm lengths. Last season we had a very loyal following for this item with reports of amazing vase life up to 28 days. Watch for it on our Wednesday list sold in quantities of 20 stems. To ensure stable pricing and supply we are also able to offer weekly standing orders on this item for the season. Ask your representative for details.

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10-24-06 New Amaryllis season with new Metz packaging

The new Amaryllis season has started again!
As from today the first boxes are offered on the list and of course the same perfect quality that you are used to from Metz. Most of the flowers are bought from respected partner growers guaranteeing you the best quality every day! The quality of the amaryllis is still the same, the packing however did undergo a slight change.

09-25-06 Metz Canada: moving on up!
We may not have moved far in terms of distance, but Metz Canada’s August relocation into the Ontario Flower Growers Co-op building in Mississauga takes it into a higher league – in fact, right into the hub of the Ontario flower industry.

The operation is now in the auction building, where up to 300 buyers can sit five days a week. And as well as being in a better location, the new premises have a huge 50% more working space, and high-specification offices that will improve the service to customers.

The location, still close to Toronto International airport, also makes it easier for growers who regularly visit the auction building to deliver their supplies directly to Metz, since Canada’s huge geography makes it impossible for the company to operate its usual pick-up service from growers.

The system is certainly working well already, with growers dropping in to show their new varieties and offer them for Metz customers. The new facility also includes a dedicated area for sorting and packing flowers for shipment all over Canada, and although it is still early days, we can already sense the growing opportunities in the new location.

If you have not already done so, please note our new address:

Metz Canada Ltd.
910 Midway Blvd.
Mississauga, ON., L5T1T9

If you are in the area please don’t hesitate to drop by for a visit!

06-20-06 With pride we present the new calla packaging!
After the packaging of the hydrangeas was revamped last year (with a great degree of success which was demonstrated by the fact that now all of the hydrangeas are flow-packed to the satisfaction of our clients), the packaging of the callas became the next product to be thoroughly investigated. The reason being that each year more than 100,000 callas are sold, making it more than worthwhile to conduct a careful analysis of it.

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At present, the callas are painstakingly taped to the box. This is an inefficient, and hence, expensive exercise. Not only expensive in the sense of labor, but also expensive due to the amount of "air" one is transporting in each box. Consequently, something needed to be developed whereby less volume would be lost, but at the same time, the integrity of the calla could be preserved. The solution of this came in the shape of a tube-like structure which can, in less than 2 movements, be assembled.
The tube ensures that the flower won't grow crooked, while at the same time, reduce labor, and use less packaging material (which is good for the environment). The tubes will always placed on top of the crate, unless it's being packed with other boxes (which is our preference).
From June 1, 2006, all callas from Holland will be packed in this new way!

05-29-06 Welcome Iris Online users
Metz Canada Ltd. is very pleased to be able to welcome you to our home page. With the launch of our new online buying system we hope to see a lot more clients passing through on their way to our buying system. With this in mind we will be now using this page to relay more news and information about Metz. We will also post articles of interest, product updates and other information as we strive to use this page to create added benefits to your relationship with Metz.
For your convenience, you can find complete instructions on how to use our system at this link IRIS instructions.

10-29-04 Metz Opens Ecuador Office

enlarge Mid-October the new Metz office opened its doors in Quito, Ecuador. From this office we will, according to the Metz philosophy, source directly from partner-growers and deliver to our partner-florists.
The office will be led by Victor van Dijk (30). Victor's roots lie in the Westland, the most important production area for Dutch flowers. Like many employees of Metz, he too is the son of a grower. Victor has been living in Quito for 7 years, and because of this, has established good relationships with Ecuadorian growers as well as airfreight transporters.
Important product groups will be large headed roses, tropical products, and summer flowers. Metz Ecuador will send these products to 2,000 florists in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. To emphasise the improved quality of a short and continous supply chain, our growers will pack these products at the farms in new Metz Ecuador labels.
On the above picture you see: Jeroen Wolfsen (Product Manager Large Headed Roses Europe), Victor van Dijk (Product Manager South America), Geraldine Sánchez (Quito Administrator), and Frank Koenen (General Manager of the Metz Group).