Photo: GoGo Flower
Valentine’s Day is a rainmaker for the floral industry with $2.3 billion spent in the United States (2022) on flowers, according to statista.com. Not all of those bouquets or stems come with proper hydration, so how can one best preserve cut stems from the store (or garden!) to the car and to a loved-one’s arms or table?
John Benzick had an idea in 2021 as he impulsively purchased flowers for his wife, Megan. “It was then that I thought that it would be great if there was some sort of reusable flower water pouch that could be purchased along with the flowers to help with transportation, to avoid damaging flowers and to hydrate the flowers,” says the Excelsior resident.
Within a few hours of his initial thought, Benzick created a mockup of a product and promised himself that he’d visit 10 florists within two days to get their feedback. (The prototype came later.) With a majority giving positive input, Benzick moved to develop GoGo Flower, a reusable floral pouch, which is prefilled with water and flower food ($3.99–$4.99).
Find GoGo Flower at Kowalski’s Markets, select Coborn’s, Cub and Hy-Vee locations. The product is also in supermarket chains in Chicago, Missouri and Oklahoma and in floral shops in the Twin Cities and around the country (Flower Bar, Flowerama, Main St. Floral, North Country Floral, Lilia Flower Boutique, Your Enchanted Florist, etc.).
Purchase the flowers (or even pick them from your garden), open the pouch and place the flowers inside. If driving, the pouch can be secured to a headrest to avoid tipping.
From Start to Finish
After Benzick first came up with his product idea, he visited grocery markets and drug stores to get ideas about packaging concepts. “I would slowly walk through the aisles of stores and see how things were packaged, particularly packages with liquid in them,” he says. “I took lots of pictures and analyzed the options.”
“During this process, I called upon several pouch manufacturers (discovered via Google search) to send me samples,” Benzick says. “I cut and taped the standard pouch samples together based on many visits to florists to test out the right sizing of the pouch, based on a variety of floral bouquet sizes.” He also measured bouquet stems, inserted the stems/flowers into his prototypes and made adjustments to determine the optimal size.
Additionally, visits to craft stores helped with drafting plans for the cords, cord stops and rubber bands that help the pouch attach to a car headrest for secure transportation.
Benzick’s research tour didn’t end there. His attention to detail took him to car dealerships to measure car headrests in order to determine the right length of the cord. “Additionally, I slightly refined the shape of the pouch, to a slightly hour-glass shape to add more appeal and function,” he says. This year will bring more concepts, including custom designs made specifically for florists and supermarket brands and more sizes.
At the end of 2022 and entering into 2023, Benzick created three additional pouches that were more visually creative. (Think greeting cards or gift wrap.) They can be used for special occasions, such as Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, birthdays, Memorial Day, Mother’s Day and more.
GoGo Flower, LLC
Facebook: GoGo Flower, LLC
Instagram: @gogo.flower.brand
