CNGA Looseleaf Oct/Nov 2018

5 colorad o nga.org LooseLeaf October/November 2018 MEMBER PROFILE Orchard Mesa Greenhouse, Inc. 3281 C Road Palisade, Colo. 81526 970.434.4119 orchardmesagreenhouse.com InterviewwithMarkus Oharek, Vice President Providing Quality & Service for 30 years When did the business get started? After graduating from Mesa College in Grand Junction in 1987, my dad asked if I would like to start a greenhouse operation with him and I agreed. By 1988, we had built our first greenhouses and were in busi- ness. Our first full year was 1989. Since then we have undergone six expansions and now operate 19 greenhouses and one shade house with about 100,000 square feet of growing space. At the end of this year, we will celebrate 30 years in business. What are your key products? We are a wholesale supplier of bedding plants, cut flowers, house plants and potted blooming plants, including a large quantity of poinsettias. What markets do you serve? Our primary market is western Colorado, including the ski resort communities, where we concentrate on serving independent garden centers and flower shops. What distinguishes your company from others? We’re very proud of the quality of our plants and poinsettias. To go with that, our customer service is based on solid relationships we’ve developed over many years. We know each customer on an individual basis and we carefully watch every order to make sure they get exactly what they ordered. We don’t send them what they don’t want. Probably the best testament to our quality and service is the fact that we rarely have any products returned. Having our own shipping vehicles helps us meet customers’ delivery schedules and gives us good shipping flexibility. How has customer demand affected your products? Over the last several years there’s definitely been a trend to growing bigger, planted containers along with large, finished vegetable plants. The trend we see is that people don’t have the time or desire to nurture their plants and vegetables through the growing season anymore. They want instant gratification so they can enjoy their plants immediately. What is your biggest challenge these days? In simple terms our biggest challenge is getting what we order when we want it. The supply side of our business is increasingly difficult and is a huge concern for us. We’re placing orders up to a year out, and we still have to call and check to make sure we’re going to get the full or- der on the date we requested. Even with such advance ordering, we still have to deal with substitution requests from suppliers, meaning we’re not going to get what we want. We’re not sure of the reasons, but with many recent mergers maybe these bigger companies just can’t execute like the smaller ones used to or they’re not managing their inventory very well. What do you value about your CNGA membership? It’s important for us to be connected to our industy here in Colo- rado and to have the means to communicate with our fellow growers, suppliers and retailers. CNGA provides that for us and binds us all together as a group. It’s an organization that looks out for us and helps address our needs, which is important for keeping our business healthy. That’s a great benefit for us. Owner Daniel Oharek with his son Markus Peace lilies and ferns growing in one of the foliage greenhouses

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