The Story
A cooperative with more than 40 years of history always close to farmers
Since 1980 always protagonists of Ligurian floriculture
La storia di Florcoop ha più di 40 anni, la società è nata come consorzio di cooperative per dare più potere contrattuale ai produttori agricoli nella fase della commercializzazione. Dai primi passi mossi all’interno del mercato dei fiori di Sanremo oggi la cooperativa è diventata una delle più importanti aziende in Italia nella produzione e vendita di fiori recisi e piante in vaso. Nel 2020 ha incorporato le cooperative Agricoltori Riviera dei Fiori e Dol.Va.Pre diventando un riferimento per tutti i settori agricoli.
The beginnings of the Consortium
In its early years, the consortium took advantage of the organization and know-how of one of the founding cooperatives, New Floriculture, to consolidate its action in the local market. By the early ’90s, export activity was almost non-existent and sales to the local market were about 90% of total, with the remaining being shipped to italian customers. Thus, the consortium’s activities basically aimed at supplying Sanremo with merchants and exporters who then in turn distributed the product throughout the country and abroad.
They were magical years for Sanremo floriculture, this market was the most important not only in Italy but among the most important in Europe especially for some products such as mazzeria di pien’aria and certain green and flowering fronds.
Towards the mid-1990s, Florcoop began an export phase, foreseeing future difficulties on the domestic market, which was increasingly orienting its consumption towards products from the Dutch market.
Opening of branches
Nel 2000 Florcoop ha intrapreso una nuova strategia commerciale: l’apertura dei primi punti vendita a Cuneo e Brescia a cui hanno fatto seguito Alba nel 2002, Milano e Savona nel 2003, Asti nel 2006, Moncalieri nel 2007 e Reggio Emilia nel 2009, perseguendo l’obiettivo di vendere direttamente a fioristi o garden center.
Another strategy to broaden its business offerings has been to target the market for potted plants. Commercialization began in 2007, and in 2010 the incorporation of the Gamma cooperative provided important insights into this area.
Year 2010: the Joint Cooperative Group is born.
On Feb. 2, 2010, the six companies Florcoop Sanremo sca, Nuova Floricoltura sca, Cooperativa Floricoltori Riviera dei Fiori sca, Floricoltori Vallefiorita sca, Pietrafleur sca and Riviera Agricoltura srl formed the Joint Cooperative Group “Florcoop.” The goal is to create economies of scale through centralized management of administrative, commercial, and logistics departments.
In the same year, the new headquarters was acquired in Taggia, a facility totaling 4,000 square meters that still represents the star center in which a good portion of the members’ goods are brought in, processed and transformed for marketing in Italy and abroad.
Mergers: Flower Riviera Farmers and Dol.Va.Pre
In 2014, the merger by incorporation of New Floriculture, the group’s largest and most organizationally structured cooperative in terms of membership, takes place.
In 2019, the Cooperatives Agricoltori Riviera dei Fiori and Dol.Va.Pre are incorporated, as a result Florcoop Sanremo expands its activities in the field of agricultural andagribusiness products(wine and Taggiasca olive).
Today Florcoop is an economically and socially important entity, with more than 1,500 members, 130 people employed, 18 hectares under direct cultivation, and 15,000 square meters of space for logistics.