Many work hard in the greenhouse industry, but Vice President of Operations Wayne Weiss says the employees of Kurt Weiss Greenhouses Inc. work the hardest of all to stay hands-on and in touch with clients. “The customer does not have to buy from us, [so] we have to make them want to do it, and to make it profitable to do so,” he says.

Based in Center Moriches, N.Y., the company grows and sells holiday blooming plants, azaleas, annuals and bedding plants, perennials, foliage and tropical plants. Kurt Weiss Greenhouses’ roots go back to Weiss’ great-grandfather, Otto Muller, who emigrated from Germany to America in 1900.

In the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., Muller started a greenhouse business, which was later re-established in Whitestone, N.Y. In 1960, his son-in-law, Kurt Weiss, and his grandson, Russell Weiss, purchased the company’s facility in East Meadow, N.Y., and incorporated it as Kurt Weiss Florist.

In the years that followed, Kurt Weiss was an automobile accident and was not able to continue in the business, which later moved to Center Moriches and retained his name. Through the years, Kurt Weiss Greenhouses grew through acquisitions of additional firms and today has 18 locations in Canada, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

As for its product line, “We are always looking for new and exciting items, [and] we work with many breeders, as well as our own development,” Wayne Weiss says, noting that the company sources plants and hard good materials from around the world. “As far as service, we grow, ship and deliver [merchandise] for many of our customers.”

Kurt Weiss Greenhouses serves clients of “all types,” he adds, including big-box retailers, home improvement centers, club stores and local grocery chains. “There’s all sorts of distribution levels that [our products] go through,” he says.

‘Hands-On’
Weiss has worked at Kurt Weiss Greenhouses since he was 12 and joined the company full-time after finishing from college in 1988.                   

He says the company has distinguished itself by remaining a privately held, family owned company.

“[A business is] a great thing you can pass down from generation to generation,” he says. His brother, Kirk Weiss, is vice president of production, and his father, Russell Weiss, is president and CEO.

The family ownership allows the brothers to closely manage their business, Wayne Weiss says. For instance, while Kirk Weiss oversees production, Wayne Weiss manages its scheduling, which includes routing and loading its trucks.

In addition, “I put the orders together and make the totals every night,” he says. “We’re definitely both very hands-on.”

The company prefers this approach to the method of management taken by some of its public competitors, Weiss says. “I’ve seen absentee ownership that never works,” he says. “When you’re hands-on, you make a decision and you stick to it.”

Although some of those decisions might be mistakes, “It’s our mistake to make,” Weiss says. “You pick [yourself] up, you move on [and] you learn from it.”

Working Smarter
After working hard for so many years, Weiss says the company now plans to “work smarter.” Previously, he says, Kurt Weiss Greenhouses would not turn down a customer order. Now, “We want to make sure we’re making [the] right decision, economically,” he says.

“You just can’t say yes to everything,” Weiss continues, adding that the company wants to keep a close eye on costs while improving its service and quality. “It used to be about growing plants, [but] it’s much more than that now.”

The company has already taken steps to grow. With its customers’ use of pay-by-scan and vendor-managed-inventory systems, the company has strived to implement a culture where its workers do not send products to its stores that they would not buy themselves.

If Kurt Weiss Greenhouses sends out sub-par products, “That means it’s going to sit in the store, and it’s going to get marked down,” Weiss says. “[Another product] could be making a turn through there.”

In regards to its new initiatives, “We are looking at our sales number for each sku for each store every day, and we have put in place a team of home office people that work with service mangers in the field that steer suggested orders for the store and insure the correct mix of product goes into the stores,” Weiss says.

In addition, “We have implemented several software tools that help with reporting, and getting information out to everyone quickly and in a format they can use to make decisions,” he states.

“It brings together aspects from account, sales, labor tracking all in one place to help with what we do at store level.”