"The process goes like this," says Ramona Fransen, involved in the project. "A customer or I create a design, then, when we reach an agreement, a stamp will be developed. At the company, we employ someone who is working full time to print the roses. It is time-consuming and is a very precise job: 2000 a day is the max. On busy days, like Mother's Day, we are able to increase the production. We hire a second machine. Therefore, we can double the production.”

Not only florists, but also others are interested in the printed roses. "Lately, a perfumery asked for our printed roses to highlight particular perfume; we printed the name of the perfume in the rose,” Fransen says. “The roses were given to the customers who purchased that perfume. Another example is a bar who gave 300 women a rose when entering the bar on Valentine's Day. On the rose, the name of the bar was printed."

At the moment, they are working on a project with an optician. "In this way, roses will be present on different commercial occasions.”

Fransen Roses produces large-headed roses in two locations in the Netherlands. At one location they grow Red Nami roses in a 4.3 ha sized greenhouse. At the other, they grow Myrna+ roses in a 1.7 ha sized greenhouse. Besides that, the company supplies rose petals for romantic, festive or sad occasions. Additionally, they are printing the roses. "It is increasing, but we still produce it on a relatively small scale; we produce 50,000 roses a day, so 2,000 is only a fraction,” Fransen says.

Foreign interest

Fransen supplies printed roses year round. However, there are peak moments. Fransen says, "The demand is the highest on Valentine's day, but Mother's Day is also a good day. All in all, May is a good month. At the end of May, Mother's Day will be celebrated in France and Poland. It is not the busiest period of the year, but it is nice to see an interest for our printed roses from these countries. Lately, I designed something for a Polish customer. On May 26 many Polish moms will be surprised with a printed rose. In the near future, we hope to reach the international market."