Flowers to the Grave

Kristen Allen loves cemeteries. She’s a self-proclaimed “flower snob.” She went to mortuary school. She loves history. But most of all, she loves love.

When her father-in-law, who tends to his wife’s gravesite, mentioned what a shame it was that no one delivers flowers to cemeteries, a lightbulb went off in her head. She decided she should be the one to provide the unexpected service. But at first, her husband Ben wasn’t having it.

“He said, ‘Absolutely not. You cannot be up and down the road putting flowers on people’s graves, and you won’t make any money,’” Allen recounts.

When she did her own research, she confirmed what her father-in-law had noticed: Nobody else was doing it. She credits her husband with the idea of using Uber or Lyft drivers to make the deliveries.

With her as the florist and the transportation figured out, she called on a good friend, Justin Johnson, who has experience in business and web design, to share her “secret.”

“I was scared to tell anybody,” admits the stay-at-home mother of two girls. “I never thought I was smart enough to have an idea that someone would actually do.”

Within minutes of describing her idea, Johnson told her to stop talking and gave her an Innovate Mississippi business card. His instructions were to call the organization, and then call him back. A week later, she met with the team at Innovate Mississippi, who liked her idea, and she and Johnson decided to become partners.

In October 2017, Allen entered the Mississippi New Venture Challenge pitch competition at the urging of Tasha Bibb of Innovate Mississippi. Although she felt like a fish out of water and completely unprepared, an odd thing happened for Allen: She won her category, including a $3,000 prize, and presented on the second day to the full crowd at the Conference on Technology Innovation.

In August 2018, less than a year after coming up with the idea, meeting with Innovate Misssippi and winning its Mississippi New Venture Challenge, Allen and Johnson had their website up and a plan for fulfillment, so they posted an ad on Facebook and Instagram for the soft launch of FlowersToTheGrave.com.

The business is already turning a profit. It certainly

doesn’t hurt that there’s very little overhead: Allen buys the floral supplies, makes the arrangements herself (she is an experienced florist) and hires drivers to make the deliveries. If it’s a local order, she likes to make the deliveries herself.

For $64.99, customers can purchase a custom arrangement, and have it delivered practically anywhere at no additional cost. The site also offers a subscription service that delivers to the gravesite at least four times during the year. The customer can either select specific dates, or have a fresh arrangement delivered at the beginning of each season. Once the arrangement is placed on the site, the customer receives a confirmation photo of the flowers on the gravesite.

It’s a simple business model, but it hasn’t been an easy road. Allen has had to learn to “be her own cheerleader,” she says, but the emails and text messages from customers saying how much they appreciate the service have been the greatest successes, aptly putting her fears to rest.

Allen says Innovate Mississippi has been instrumental in giving her the tools and advice she needs to run a business, something she encourages other aspiring entrepreneurs to take advantage of, especially since the resources are free. Through the organization, she has also benefited from exposure, free publicity and networking opportunities with potential investors, some of whom are interested in partnering with the venture once the results of the soft launch are in.

Allen considers Mississippi the ideal location for her business. The Yazoo City native who now lives in the Metro Jackson area believes that when Southerners think of death, they think of honoring their loved ones’ lives through beauty—as in flowers.

“There’s something about being in a cemetery that’s so peaceful and beautiful, something about keeping your loved ones alive in that tradition,” Allen said.

If it looks like things are moving slowly, that’s because they are, and it’s by design. Allen is making every effort to protect her company.

“We’re not where we want to be, but we’re at peace,” she says. “I want to take the time to put the love and care into it. I want to baby it, to cradle it.” p