Originally appeared in Dec. 2003 issue of Greenhouse Grower

From Cactus To Color

Altman Plants Living Treasures™ enhances the color competition with strong marketing and service programs.

by DELILAH ONOFREY
Group Editor
delilah@greenhousegrower.com

One could say every day is customer appreciation day at Altman Plants. Whether you’re talking about the large, national retailers they serve or consumers who buy plants, complete devotion to the customer is a way of life for Ken and Deena Altman and their team of more than a thousand employees.

Based in Vista, CA, Ken and Deena are the first husband-and-wife team to be honored as Greenhouse Grower’s Grower of the Year. Usually, the award goes to an individual, but this duo is so dynamic and has one of the most inspirational success stories in the floriculture industry. Over the course of 28 years, Ken and Deena have transformed a tiny, niche cacti and succulents business into one of the largest, most well-diversified, family-owned growing operations in the country. But what really stands out has been their ability to take business relationships with suppliers, large retailers, and fellow growers to the next level by forming truly progressive marketing partnerships.

Through their Floragem marketing program, with the cooperation of the Home Depot, they have developed a way for like-minded wholesale growers to serve national markets together with innovative, consumer friendly product packaging with online informational support. More than 40 growers participated this year in growing VIVA! Herbs and Veggies for every Home Depot store nationwide. And while most floriculture industry branding efforts are driven by breeders and suppliers of cuttings and liners, theirs is with finished plant growers with the ability to control the product’s presentation at retail.

Floragem’s national coordinator Lisa Heredia was a buyer for the Home Depot in the Florida region for many years. In addition to coordinating the program with all the growers and developing quality and presentation guidelines, she and Ken and Deena visit all the Home Depot markets during the season to make sure growers are executing the program correctly. Grower Gary Mangum of Bell Nursery, Burtonsville, MD, affectionately calls them “the VIVA! police.”

“Conceptually, I think the Floragem program is a good one,” Mangum says. “There are obviously many branded programs at this point. Consumer pull-through marketing, strong POP materials, a service element, and exclusivity should make a meaningful difference to a major retailer.”

Ken and Deena say Floragem has lead to new friendships and shared ideas among the growers, while they all retain their independence. “Floragem has been an exciting endeavor, pulling growers together to create something to market nationwide,” Deena says. “It’s been a great challenge and opportunity and I think everybody has benefited from the experience.”

Another dimension they plan to nurture is VIVA! Garden for Schools. Looking for a way to connect with classrooms, Altman’s coordinated with multiple school districts in California. This year, 2,276 classrooms in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Alhambra, and Pomona school districts participated in VIVA! Garden for Schools, receiving donations of 72,832 herb and vegetable plants. A VIVA! school contest added to the fun. View results at www.vivagarden.com.

In March, Deena will be the keynote speaker during The Garden In Every School conference, attended by about 500 teachers in greater Los Angeles. Part of the motivation for starting the program is to reverse the trend of fewer students enrolling in horticulture as a career. “If children touch plants and get experience, they’re more likely to join our industry or be a great customer,” Deena says. Ken adds, “Not to mention their mothers, fathers, teachers, and PTA members,” he says. “We believe in education and in our industry, and this is a way to affect both positively. Next year we hope to have VIVA! growers throughout the country participating.”

Back To School
It was in school that Ken and Deena met and became high school sweethearts. Ken spotted Deena scoring a gymnastics match and decided she was the one. “It was love at first sight, although it took a while for her to come around,” he says.

Ken enjoyed growing plants in his backyard in elementary school and was delighted when he found out Deena’s parents had a small retail nursery full of rare plants called Fuchsia Land Nursery. Throughout school, they worked at the nursery evenings and weekends, and then both went to the University of California, Berkeley. Afterwards, at different colleges, Deena received her bachelor’s degree in human development, and Ken completed his doctorate in psychology. During this time, they were bitten by the gardening bug again and became crazy for cacti and succulents.

“We bought a little house and made a nice garden in the backyard with cacti and succulents – something few were interested in,” Deena recalls. “We got very fascinated and had an incredible collection. We went all over the place to collect those plants. We got the idea to start a mail-order business while we were going to school.”

Because the mail-order customers would only buy a few plants at a time, Ken started selling the extras to local retail nurseries. “Back in the early 1970s, a truckload was seven flats in our Datsun station wagon,” Ken says. “The flats of plants were assorted collectibles. Nothing was the same price. We had no clue about price points. But the stuff was so cool, retailers would buy the whole thing. We had extra plants and were taken with the fact people liked them and they sold well, and we thought maybe it could be a business for us. We decided to make a go of it before becoming involved in our profession.” And the rest is history!

Growth Mode
Moving out of the backyard, they bought land in Malibu and were serving about 25 stores, including a chain called Nurseryland with 15 stores. In addition to propagating plants, Ken and Deena started a family. Their “good old days” were long hours of hands-on production, selling, and delivering plants, while caring for three young children.

Today, their children are in their 20s. Eldest son Matt graduated from Tufts University in Boston with a degree in international studies and manages Altman Plants’ rapidly growing Salinas, CA, location. Son Logan just graduated with a horticulture degree from the University of California, Davis, and he and his girlfriend both work in sales for Altman Plants. Daughter Mara also just graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a journalist in Bangalore, India.

It was at the Malibu location Ken discovered the value employees bring to a small family business. “Our very first employees were better at some jobs than we were, and we were able to learn from them,” he says. “This was the beginning of our success as we began to surround ourselves with competent people and allowed them to flourish.”

The Altmans truly have multiplied their efforts and now employ 1,100 people. The most dramatic growth has been the last five years. “We’ve been growing 20% a year for as many years as we can look back,” Ken says. “It has taken 28 years to get here, since we started at $10 a week.”
After outgrowing the Malibu location, the couple moved south to Vista in San Diego County, bought a duck farm, and converted the duck houses to greenhouses. More space also provided the opportunity to try other crops, like color annuals in six-inch and gallon pots and hanging baskets.

Meanwhile, the Altmans were working on product packaging to stimulate more interest in cacti and succulents. “We saw great potential in annuals and perennials and attacked that category the same way we did cacti and succulents,” Deena says. “We didn’t select easy or run-of-the-mill varieties but interesting plants with the consumer in mind. We offer more variety than most.”

The next opportunity knocked when budding mega retailer Target came to town. They soon realized large chains would be retail’s future and have dedicated themselves to gearing up for that growth ever since. Today, they have a close partnership with Target in which they act as category manager for outdoor plants. The Altman team sells and merchandises 300 Target stores with year-round garden centers in Florida, California, Arizona, and Southern Nevada for Altmans’ and other vendors’ products.

This is possible because over the years, Ken and Deena expanded their reach by developing facilities in California, Arizona, and Florida. They’ve just purchased 400 acres of land 60 miles from Vista in Riverside County. While the hilly Vista farms are broken up into many sites, the new facilities will be more modern and on level land.

“If we had to do it over again, we would have built better facilities,” Ken explains. “Our rapid expansion and need for more plants led to us building without automation. We will continue our market focus but become one of the more efficient producers of plants. There are so many opportunities to become more efficient.” New facilities will also address water use and runoff issues that are becoming increasingly regulated in California, he adds.

Marveling at what they’ve accomplished, Ken and Deena’s banker, Barry Sturdivant of Bank of the West, reflects on their “hobby run amok.” “They are passionate about growing plants,” he says. “Their business is not just an idea they hit upon as a means to make a living. They truly want people to share their appreciation for plants because they think beautiful flowers and cactus add value to life. Their good business decisions over the years were guided by their love for plants and people and their ability to relate to employees, customers, and vendors.” GG