A refrigerator is such a familiar part of the interior of any flower studio that you don’t think about how it’s done. Of course, until you decide to start your own floristry business. When drawing up a business plan and calculating the budget, it immediately becomes clear that refrigeration equipment for a flower shop will require not only significant financial investments, but also a serious study of the technical part.
What is a refrigerator for?
Flowers – the material is fragile and often very capricious. After they are cut, the timer is started, the flowers will not live long, but still this timer can be slowed down with low temperatures.
In order for the flowers to travel a long way and preserve their beauty, they are put into a kind of suspended animation or cryosleep. Like in science fiction films about space flights. Flowers are cooled to a very low temperature (1.8 – 2 ° C), at which all processes inside are almost completely inhibited. They arrive very lethargic in appearance, as if they were about to complete their mission, but in fact they are just deeply asleep.
In order for the flowers to become cheerful and cheerful, after the purchase they need to be “awakened”. To do this, they are soldered. And so that awakening does not become a shock for them, they need to be soldered in the refrigerator, gradually removing them from extremely low temperatures. Nobody likes to wake up abruptly. So the flowers will not be happy with an unpleasant awakening.
How to drink flowers?
- pour cold water into a container
- use only ordinary cold tap water – it has a lot of oxygen
- cut the stems at a 45 degree angle and place in a container
- refrigerate for 4-5 hours
After soldering, the flowers need to be preserved for some time, because you do not want them:
- withered in your studio or, even worse, immediately after the sale
- blossomed before they get into the vase to the client, because the full opening of the bud is at the same time the most beautiful and the last stage of the life of flowers.
The refrigerator is just what you need in order to solve these two super-important tasks. The optimum temperature in the flower chamber is +4.5°C. At this temperature, the growth and opening processes are slowed down, but the flowers do not fall into hibernation, they can easily be put on public display if you have a refrigerated display case in your studio.
TYPES OF REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT FOR FLOWERS: Refrigerator
The first thing that comes to the mind of a person who has decided to do floristry, but has not yet read this article: buy a used refrigerator on the Internet with a cheerful “Coca-Cola” inscription on the side and solemnly install it at home.
This is certainly better than nothing, but such refrigerators have a significant drawback: they make the “wrong ice”. Refrigerators for beverages produce dry cold and are very often set to produce temperatures of +5°C and above. And flowers, as you know, love moisture and + 4.5 ° C. That is, by storing flowers in such a refrigerator, you run the risk of getting “weathered” buds that will not look fresh. To avoid this, you need to choose a refrigerator that works on a static type of cooling. Since cabinets have a small internal volume, the distribution of air flow inside becomes critical.
Such cabinets are used where there is little space or for other technical or administrative reasons it is impossible to install a full-fledged refrigerator, for example, in small corners in a shopping center or small studios.
TYPES OF REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT FOR FLOWERS: Cooling chamber
If conditions and budget allow, it is better to immediately install a refrigerator instead of a cabinet. In most cases, the chamber is an airtight space in which the rear and ceiling walls are made of sandwich panels, and the transparent front windows and the front door are made of double-glazed windows, similar to those used for glazing balconies.
When ordering a refrigerating chamber, make sure that it will be assembled from sandwich panels with a minimum thickness of 80 mm, and double-glazed windows will be with double heat-saving glass. It makes no sense to put floor panels in showcase type cells, because they will differ from the main floor of the studio in both color and level. In addition, they loosen very quickly from walking on them. Heat loss in the absence of floor panels is minimal if you have all internal joints well sealed.
As for the appearance, there can be a lot of design options here, both in form and finish. They are limited only by three factors: the size and shape of the room, the budget and your imagination. Modern technologies for the manufacture of plastic structures make it possible to implement the most creative solutions, so we recommend that you first decide on the room, and then, after carefully measuring everything, order the production of a camera to suit your needs.
It is very important to remember that any, even the coolest idea, can be ruined by poor implementation. You can’t save here, but you can’t rush to the first expensive performers that come across either. Therefore, ask experienced colleagues to recommend an installation company. Especially listen to the advice of those who have been using their camera for more than a year and are convinced of the quality of performance.
If the size of the room allows, in addition to a beautiful showcase, it will be useful to plan also a draft refrigerator – a closed chamber, exclusively for storing flowers. Just here we will solder our newly arrived sleepyheads so that they do not frighten customers with their pale appearance. The walls of a closed chamber are best ordered from sandwich panels in the simplest and cheapest configuration, because only tightness and internal dimensions are important for them. In such chambers, floor sandwich panels can also be used if the floor in the draft room is not very good.
Internal design
Be sure to consider the design at the stage of planning refrigeration equipment so that everything in your studio is as harmonious and beautiful as possible. The interior is an important part of the studio’s image.
Shelves for flowers need to be planned at the stage of measuring for the camera. Beautifully designed shelves will add points to your reputation and therefore to your sales.
Consider how the walls, shelving and vases will fit together, and what flowers and how you will arrange them. Close your eyes and imagine your refrigerator is already full. How will everything be? What color will the walls be so that the flowers look as beautiful as possible against their background? Will the vases be the same or different? How will the refrigerator fit into the overall style of the studio? This will help determine the color of the panels, the shape and color of the shelves and the design of the vases.
Don’t forget about lighting. It is best to put LED lamps with a glow temperature of 4000-4500 kelvins. This light is as similar as possible to ordinary daylight, and with it you can not only beautifully arrange flowers, but also take good photos of bouquets on your phone.
In no case do not store food in the flower refrigerator, especially vegetables or fruits, they significantly shorten the life of flowers. In addition, it is not aesthetically pleasing: who will like a package of yogurt next to a luxurious bouquet? ..
Whichever option you choose, remember that buying a flower refrigerator is a good decision. It will help you take your floristic business to another level and get a new round of development.