Wholesale flowers in Nairobi, bought by the box
If you are buying flowers for a hotel lobby, a wedding, a church, a reception desk or your own shop, you should not be paying retail for them. This is how buying at volume works with us, what you can get, and what to send us so we can quote you properly.
Who buys wholesale flowers in Nairobi
Hotels and restaurants. Lobby arrangements, table flowers, weekly refresh. The same look every week, changed before it drops.
Event and wedding planners. One big order against one date. Volume matters, but arriving on time matters more.
Churches and mosques. Weekly, and much heavier at Christmas, Easter and for funerals.
Offices and receptions. A standing weekly delivery, invoiced monthly.
Florists and resellers. Buying stems to build your own arrangements, in bunches and boxes rather than finished bouquets.
Supermarkets and retail counters. Programme buying against a fixed specification.
If you want one bouquet delivered to one person, wholesale is the wrong door and we would rather say so. The retail shop is here.
What you can buy in bulk
Roses. Single head and spray, in the full colour range, graded by stem length. This is the bulk of what moves in Nairobi and the easiest thing to get consistently.
Summer flowers. Hypericum, gypsophila, statice, solidago, eryngium, alstroemeria, carnations, chrysanthemum, tuberose.
Foliage and fillers. Eucalyptus, ruscus, pittosporum and the greens that make an arrangement look finished rather than sparse.
Finished arrangements at volume. If you want fifty table centres rather than the stems to build them, we build them.
Ask for what you actually want. Wholesale flowers are sold by stem length and grade, so a 40cm rose and a 70cm rose are two different orders even in the same colour.
How many stems does your event actually need
Almost every wholesale enquiry we get starts with a guess. Someone knows they have twenty tables and no idea whether that is two hundred stems or two thousand. Here is the arithmetic florists use, so you can arrive at a number before anyone quotes you a price.
| Piece | Stems, sparse | Stems, full |
|---|---|---|
| Low table centrepiece | 18 | 25 |
| Tall table centrepiece | 30 | 45 |
| Head table run, per metre | 60 | 90 |
| Aisle or pew posy | 8 | 12 |
| Bridal bouquet | 25 | 40 |
| Bridesmaid bouquet | 12 | 18 |
| Buttonhole | 1 | 3 |
| Entrance or welcome arrangement | 60 | 120 |
| Reception desk vase, one week | 15 | 25 |
These are working ranges, not rules. A tight ball of roses eats more stems than a loose arrangement with foliage carrying the volume. Tell us the look you want and we will tell you which end of the range you are at.
How wholesale flower pricing works
Three things move the number, and none of them is negotiable by asking twice.
Volume. Stems come out of the farm in boxes. Ordering in whole boxes always beats ordering in halves.
Notice. An order placed a week out can be cut to order. An order placed this afternoon has to come from what already exists, at whatever that costs today.
Season. The two weeks before Valentines Day and the run up to Mothers Day are when the whole market moves. Everything is tighter and dearer. Book those early or accept the price.
A standing weekly order gets the best of all three, because the farm can plan around you. That is the single biggest lever you have on price.
For reference, our retail prices are published openly on the flower prices page. Wholesale sits below that, and the gap widens with volume. We quote per order rather than publishing a rate card, because a rate card would be wrong within a fortnight.
Bulk flowers for weddings and events
An event order is not a bigger version of a normal order. It is a different job.
There is one date and no second chance. The colours have to match across every table. Somebody has to be there to set it up, and the flowers have to be conditioned so they are open on the day rather than three days later.
Come to us early with the date, the venue, the colours and roughly what you are picturing. We will tell you what is realistic in that season, what it costs, and where you can spend less without anyone noticing.
Put your event in and get a stem count
Fill in what you are actually building. You will get the stem count, how many bunches of fifty that is, and roughly how many boxes it fills. Bring that number to us and the quote takes one message instead of five.
Add ten percent on top of whatever this gives you. Stems get damaged, someone always wants one more table, and a florist who arrives with exactly enough has arrived with too few.
What a weekly order looks like over a year
Offices, hotels and restaurants buy differently from events. It is small, it is every week, and the only number that matters is the annual one.
| Vases refreshed weekly | Stems a week | Stems a year |
|---|---|---|
| 3, a small reception | 45 to 75 | 2,340 to 3,900 |
| 6, reception and meeting rooms | 90 to 150 | 4,680 to 7,800 |
| 12, a hotel or a full floor | 180 to 300 | 9,360 to 15,600 |
| 25, a large property | 375 to 625 | 19,500 to 32,500 |
Once you are past roughly two hundred stems a week you are buying at a scale where it makes sense to fix a variety and a delivery day, and the price per stem stops moving around. That is the conversation worth having with us.
Lead times, delivery and collection
Standing orders. Weekly or fortnightly, same day each week, invoiced monthly. Tell us the day that suits and we build the round around it.
One off bulk orders. The more notice the better. Two or three days lets us cut to order. Same day is possible on what is in stock.
Delivery. Across Nairobi. Big orders go early in the morning so you have the day to set up.
Collection. You can collect from us at City Market, Muindi Mbingu Street.
Payment. M-Pesa. Business accounts can be invoiced, which is how most of our standing orders run.
Exporting rather than buying locally
If you are outside Kenya and want flowers flown to you rather than delivered in Nairobi, that is a different process with different paperwork and different pricing.
Flower export from Kenya covers the varieties, grading, packing, freight terms and how an export order runs.
Getting a wholesale quote
Send us four things and you will get a number rather than a conversation.
- What flowers, or what look if you do not know the varieties.
- How many, and whether it repeats.
- The date, or the day of the week for a standing order.
- Where in Nairobi it is going, or whether you are collecting.
Wholesale flowers in Nairobi, questions we get
Where can I buy wholesale flowers in Nairobi?
From the flower stalls at City Market if you are collecting yourself, or from a supplier who buys from the farms and delivers to you. We do both, from City Market on Muindi Mbingu Street.
Is there a minimum order for wholesale?
Yes, because stems come in boxes and a part box costs more per stem than a full one. Tell us what you are doing and we will tell you the smallest order that makes sense for it.
How much cheaper is wholesale than retail?
It depends on volume and notice, and it widens as both go up. Our retail prices are published on the flower prices page, so you can see exactly what you are comparing against.
Can I get roses wholesale in Kenya?
Yes. Roses are the easiest thing to get consistently here, single head or spray, in most colours, graded by stem length from 40cm upwards.
Do you supply florists and other shops?
Yes. Stems in bunches and boxes rather than finished bouquets, so you build your own.
How much notice do you need for a wedding?
As much as you can give. Two weeks lets us cut to order and match colours properly. Less is possible but you are choosing from what exists rather than what you wanted.
Can you invoice a company?
Yes. Standing orders are usually invoiced monthly rather than paid per delivery.
Do you deliver bulk orders across Nairobi?
Yes, and big orders go out early so you have the whole day to set up. You can also collect from us in the city centre.
