We’re the best experience sending gifts in Canada. We are a female-founded company that started in the prairies of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Our teams make incredible experiences in 300-plus places across Canada for both the sender and the recipient so that every moment is special.
Our mission is simple: We believe that flowers have the ability to share love, kindness, and hope – that kind of raw emotion that makes relationships strong. We make sending great quality bouquets simple and fast so our customers can focus on making those moments happen.
Tell us about yourself?
Before I founded Callia, I was a marketer at Procter & Gamble (I worked with Gillette and Venus specifically). I moved back to Winnipeg and was looking for something new and interesting.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
The customer matters most. Make a perfect customer experience, and your customers will love you.
What problem does your business solve?
At Callia, we do flowers differently than the traditional florist. We’ve created an online experience for people to buy flowers online, delivered straight to their doorstep all across Canada.
Often, when ordering a bouquet of flowers online, you might get a bouquet delivered that looks nothing like the picture, or is delivered late, or, even worse, ruined! Having had the experience of trying to order flowers and being frustrated, I founded Callia with the intent of solving this problem. We’ve created fresh flowers that provide great value for our customers. We have four different signature bouquet styles that are filled with in-season ingredients, so you know you’ll be getting long-lasting flowers that look exactly like the photo you see online.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
My best friend got promoted at her job, and I wanted to send her flowers. Between trying to talk with the florist over the phone about what I wanted and the price tag, it was a frustrating experience, and I knew I could do it better. In the last seven years, we’ve been able to create just that – a luxury delivery experience of fresh, hand-tied seasonal bouquets.
What is your magic sauce?
The magic sauce really comes down to three things: being able to order a bouquet in minutes and having it delivered fast, with the guarantee that you receive fresh flowers that look just like the photo while delivering a luxury experience. All of our bouquets are hand-tied and delivered in luxury packaging. Creating this branded experience for our customers has really helped to differentiate us from the competition.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We’re working towards being the best online flower delivery company in Canada – we deliver in 300-plus cities across Canada, and we have just been named the 40 Fastest Growing Company by the Globe and Mail, so I’d say we’re well on our way! We want people to think of us as their go-to gifting option for birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions, or when they want to extend sympathy to a loved one.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Weather is a huge challenge in Canada. Providing a perfect experience for flower delivery even at -40C has been a hurdle that we’ve faced and overcome with proper packaging design.
Quality and freshness of flowers is our second biggest challenge. We always want to send the freshest flowers, which can be hard to procure easily.
How can people get involved?
If you’re looking to order a bouquet from us, you can order online in a few clicks at www.callia.com.