My jaw just dropped watching the world’s largest flower market

Every day 45 million flower pieces change hands at the Royal Flora Holland in Aalsmeer where I encountered my most interesting experience during my one week visit to Holland. I timed my trip for April so I could see the infinite fields of flowers in real life that I had already admired on hundreds of photos. I explored the world famous Keukenhof, but it couldn’t surpass the joy I felt at the gigantic warehouse where the world’s largest flower market is housed.

To witness this wonder you have to get up early. The trading area is only open weekday mornings from 7 to 11 (Thursdays 7 to 9). The earlier you get there the bigger the bustle. And the bustle is the most interesting part, since the point is not to see the big hall, but rather the trading that goes on there.

Area of 200 football fields

The Royal Flora Holland is the world’s leading flower dealer; it handles 60 percent of the world’s flower trade. It has 3 auction centres in the Netherlands, of which Alsmeer is the largest and best known. And only Alsmeer is open to the public.

It’s not worth paying for an organized tour. Bus 172 goes that way from the city, or if you drive parking is free. The entry fee is 7 euros. Unfortunately there is no guided tour, but with the help of the information signs and a little research on the Internet, you can understand what’s going on in front of you.

As you enter the hall through the walkways built high above the floor, you’re immediately confronted with the size of the place. You can’t see the end of the building, only the seemingly never-ending rows of flower stands.

Among them, like in a hive, employees in small carts are dashing about collecting flowers for each order.

At first sight the carts seem to move with astonishing speed in total chaos, like dodgem cars in a fun fair. But looking closely you notice there are some traffic rules.

It is not surprising that I couldn’t comprehend the size. The large hall in Alsmeer is 775,000 square metres, larger than 200 football fields put together. Including the external buildings, the whole ground space covers more than one million square metres. In this gigantic area 270,000 carts are carrying the daily merchandise.

The flower brokers are all men

About 30-35 percent of the flowers are imported, mainly from Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia). They grow the same varieties as we have in Europe, but they have more space there for flower fields. The shipments arrive between 4 pm and 4 am, and the flowers are placed in enormous fridges until their destination is finalized.

It was mind blowing to realize that the flowers picked yesterday in Kenya were about to leave shortly to reach the stands of a New York flower seller, just in a matter of few hours.

But the funniest thing is that it is entirely possible for a flower, grown in a field in south-France, to travel to Holland before going back to take its place in a Parisian shop.

While watching the flower brokers through the glass windows of the trading area, I realize that we are basically standing in the Wall Street of flowers. The brokers were almost exclusively men. While most flower sellers in the little shops are women, men dominate the market of large-scale flower buyers.

The flower exchange is not something new. Flower growing was already so important in the 16th century Holland, they even had a flower market bubble. At the peak of the tulip mania the price of certain flower bulbs skyrocketed, but tulip bulb prices collapsed abruptly in one day in 1637.

At the Dutch auction buyers bid on ascending prices

There used to be four auction halls in Alsmeer, but nowadays 80 percent of the trade takes place online. The auction uses the method of ascending prices. They start at a higher price and they keep lowering it by euro cent decrements until some participant is willing to bid. At this point the bidder indicates the quantity of flowers he buys (specified by type, length and colour). Then the auction continues with further lowering the prices with other bidders joining in. The challenge for the traders is to figure the best possible price at which they can buy the whole quantity required. If someone waits too long he can’t purchase enough flowers, which could incur a big loss if he has already booked space on an airplane or a truck and his buyers are waiting for the product.

There is no point for the bidders to try cheating the system with some kind of price agreement amongst them, and let the prices drop too low, because there is a minimum price. Anything not sold when reaching it gets destroyed.

This auction method had been used on the vegetable markets in earlier times and the flower trade took it from there. These days it’s called Dutch auction all over the world. One advantage is that it’s a lot faster than upward bidding because in the latter a lot of time is taken up with the participants bidding over each other.

Waste is just half a percent

Time is a key when dealing with flowers and so is quality. Suppliers are rated on a scale which reminds me of the system used by car insurers. Everyone starts with an ‘A’ grade, but if there were any problems with a shipment (i.e. when a buyer states that the number or length of flowers wasn’t right in the delivery) the grade goes down.

Quality is closely supervised right from the arrival of the product in order to avoid later complaints, and also to preserve the leading position of Holland in the flower world. When I asked whether the process could be automated it turned out that they have tried that once but it was a total failure. So the little carts continue to run and the packages are put together by hand.

One development is that the carts now only work inside the warehouse.

When a shipment is compiled from the various flowers, the package travels outside through a 19 km long track and lift system to the buyer’s warehouse or truck. From the moment someone in the auction room or online completes a bid, the shipment is ready within two hours. I also found it amazing that with an average daily turnover of 45 million flower pieces plus 4 and a half million potted plants, the waste is only half a percent.

Pompon

Since I really got interested in the flower trade, I visited one of Amsterdam’s most famous flower shop (Pompon). The owner took over an old, well-known shop and he is doing everything he can to keep its reputation. He doesn’t stock readymade bouquets. Each one is arranged individually to match the occasion and the buyer’s (or its intended recipient’s) personality.

When I asked how difficult it is to run a flower shop in Amsterdam he replied that he didn’t think the huge competition was pressurizing – rather he found it inspiring. ‘I feel like a child in a candy shop. With regards to flowers I live in the coolest city in the world. I work with the best materials and serve the most discerning customers.’

He loves that every bouquet and every order is different. Sometimes a huge, dense composition is needed like when the walls of a department store had to be covered with flowers. Other times he needs to find delicate, refined solutions just to exhibit one flower or two.

I was surprised to hear that he loves flowers so much that sometimes he feels sorry that he works with cut flowers. ‘I don’t like stuffed animals either’, he added.

Once a flower is cut he tries to use it very quickly to keep waste to the minimum. This is not only good for business but also he would feel bad if flowers were cut in vain.

I also found out that when he goes to the flower market he behaves the same way as we do when shopping for food in a market. He has his favourite growers with whom he has good relationships and has trusted them for years. Trust and relationships are very important because these producers often grow special flowers in small quantities just for him.

Fruits make flowers wither

And what advice did he give for customers? When you take the flower home from the shop cut 2 cm off of the stem, before putting it in a vase. The water shouldn’t be cold and you shouldn’t place the flowers in direct sunlight, draught or next to a fruit bowl. Fruits emit ethylene gas which speeds up withering. If you buy flowers to give to someone, the next day put it in the fridge and not water. Chilled flowers fall into a coma but recover nicely when taken out from the cold. There are flowers that are transported for days on ships and they survive the journey chilled to a low degree. They just need a bit of recovery time.

In the world’s largest flower garden

I could not leave Holland without visiting Keukenhof, where it was high season. I was shocked to see the long queues of cars and buses in the parking lot, but the crowd spread around nicely once inside the 32 hectares of the garden.

If you visit this magnificent garden, do not limit yourself to Keukenhof, but rent a bike and discover the area nearby. You’ll find the most beautiful flower fields; the only thing more wonderful than their sight is their scent. Something that, unfortunately, I cannot reproduce in this article.

Finally, I admit that I not only looked at and smelled the flowers in Holland, but tasted them as well. During high season in April and May, several restaurants create special menus using flowers. I don’t suggest anyone bite off the head of the tulips when they receive a bouquet. Flowers used in gastronomy are organic to make sure we don’t consume toxic materials when eating them. It requires special skills from the chefs to select the eatable flowers that match the flavours of other items in the dish.

So, if it’s April, I can’t recommend a better itinerary for you than seeing, smelling and eating flowers in Holland!