Wow Windowboxes Expands to 22 Cities as It Builds Its Franchise System

Bret Schneider's mother founded Wow Windowboxes 18 years ago, driven by a desire for her own floral windowboxes without the hefty price tag. In 2009, Schneider, previously a product manager, joined her side. He immediately understood the value of the product and saw its potential for growth. Now, Wow Windowboxes provides low-maintenance, custom floral window box installations and arrangements for residential and commercial spaces. Through a rapidly expanding franchise model, it offers year-round, contract-free floral design services to keep curb appeal high in every season.

“From a very early stage, we knew this could be something pretty big just by the reaction to it. When we go to different cities and tell them what we do, they're all like, ‘Man, I wish I had that there,’” Schneider said.

After his mother retired, Schneider set his sights on franchising. He understood that while they were in the flower business, they were in the service business first — and that service model was scalable.

“I think the best part about franchising so far is all the franchisees have really enjoyed it when they go out to the actual customers' homes. They get so much joy out of it. It’s a really easy sell because everybody is happy to get flowers,” Schneider said.

Part of being in the service business is understanding exactly how versatile your product can be. While most of Wow Windowboxes' sales remain residential, its floral arrangements have moved beyond just holidays and special events as the market continues to expand.

“Every business, especially high-visibility commercial ones—maybe salons, med spas, restaurants, bars—they all want that Instagrammable moment where people are taking pictures with their logo and there are flowers all around. Absolutely, that creates a kind of opportunity there,” Schneider said.

Owning a Wow Windowboxes franchise allows its operators to wake up and be creative every day, have fun, interact with happy clients and maintain a consistent clientele with plenty of room for growth.

“We're out there to make customers happy. We beat it into their heads that we're here to wow people every time. That's kind of our company mantra. If they're not wowed, then what's the point?” Schneider said of his approach to potential franchisees.

Wow Windowboxes’ four-season approach maintains an 87% recurring revenue rate among contract-free customers. For prospective franchisees, this reliable income adds an enticing layer to the company’s existing “wow factor.” Who knew it would all come from one woman wanting the outside of her house to look nice and her son seeing the potential to build a business around the idea?

Schneider joined 1851 Franchise Publisher Nick Powills on a recent episode of the “Meet the Franchise” podcast, where they discussed expansion and customer satisfaction. A transcript of Schneider’s interview with Powills has been provided below. It has been edited for brevity, clarity and style.

Nick Powills: What's going on with the business? Give me the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

Bret Schneider: First, thanks for having me. We have officially made it to 22 cities across the country. That's pretty exciting stuff. We just started fall, so that's a really exciting time. We're changing out all the summer foliage for fall foliage. Each city is coming up with their own thing. Down in Orlando, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and maybe Phoenix, it's more about the colors than it is the actual flowers. It's that fall color palette versus maybe cabbage or traditionally like pansies up here. Things are going well. I think the best part about franchising so far is all the franchisees have really enjoyed it when they go out to the actual customers' homes and things like that. They get so much joy out of it. They keep saying it's not like another franchise where perhaps you're dealing with somebody in a really difficult time. This is a really easy sell because everybody is happy to get flowers, right?

Powills: How did the brand get created? Obviously, you've been doing this for a long time. What was the aha moment?

Schneider: So my mom started the company. She came up with the idea 18 years ago, I think it is now. I was a product manager back then. I came into the business really helping her develop all the marketing and stuff like that. I had no intention of joining the business, and then the housing market crash of 2008 or 2009 left me without a job. As I said, I was a product manager, and I had a little bit of time and a little bit of money. I asked her if I could help her make this go, and she reluctantly agreed. Since then, we've just been going at it. Very early on, my wife and I traveled a lot, so we've seen window boxes all over the world. From a very early stage, we knew that this could be something pretty big, just by the reaction to it. When we go to different cities and tell them what we do, they're all like, "Man, I wish I had that there."

Powills: Did your mom franchise it, or was that your contribution that got it in?

Schneider: She didn't franchise it. She retired about seven or eight years ago. I think it got a little bit too big for her. A lot of things happened. She wanted to hang out with the grandbabies and she was just like, "It's time for you to take this over." That's how we ended up in this crazy world of franchising.

Powills: Is the magic or the moat that you build around the business supply chain management? What is the magic that protects the business from someone else doing it?

Schneider: I think there's just so much involved in the supply chain. The supply chain, of course, is really important. We've got some proprietary software. Most of it is really the design and the training and all that stuff wrapped into one. We're constantly looking for the next best product and next thing, and I think that stems from my product manager background. I anticipate that somebody is going to eventually try to knock us off. That happened to me all the time when I was a product manager. It's kind of cliché, but I always felt imitation is the best form of flattery. If they're coming after me, I'm doing something right. I guess the moat is just trying to keep two steps ahead of everything.

Powills: How does commercial versus residential break down in the sales separation?

Schneider: In Cincinnati, it's 80% residential and 20% commercial. I really thought that it would work out differently with the franchises. I thought that they would be able to go straight into commercial and that would be the low-hanging fruit, right? But it hasn't been that way. They're sticking to pretty much the same model. Maybe part of it is the way we attack the market. We attack the market through trade shows and things like that, so that probably automatically lends us to retail or residential versus commercial.

Powills: If you're finding the opening on the commercial side of floral arrangements, you can stay in window boxes. There are not a lot of options. If you had franchisees that are like, "Okay, we could actually solve the problem here in a different light," where you're buying from someone local, there's magic in scaling the business more through the commercial side.

Schneider: Every business, especially high-visibility commercial ones—maybe salons, med spas, restaurants obviously, bars, stuff like that—they all want that Instagrammable moment where people are taking pictures with their logo and there are flowers all around and sharing that on Facebook. Absolutely, that creates that kind of opportunity there.

Powills: What's the cost to get into the franchise?

Schneider: Our territory fees are $60,000, and then all in, you're probably at about $200,000 to $250,000, depending on if you buy a truck or lease a truck or whatever you do.

Powills: And then do you report average unit volume?

Schneider: We haven't yet because we haven't had a territory open for a year yet.

Powills: Oh, this is really fresh.

Schneider: Yeah. They just passed a year at this point, so that will be on the next Item 19/FDD in April.

Powills: Are you using outsourced franchise sales? Are you using franchise brokers? How are you acquiring your franchisees right now?

Schneider: We contract through Rep'M Group. It was a difficult thing for me to figure out who to trust. This is my baby, and I wanted somebody that could help me develop it as well as sell it. We're very good at doing window boxes, but as far as developing a franchise and understanding what it takes to do that, not so much. Rep'M Group really helped on that side, and so that's how we ended up with them. I really enjoy Nick and Rob and their whole team.

Powills: I think you're in a tremendous category. When we go to the persona of who you might be attracting early on, it might be people who are more community-focused and sell to residential. The transformation is when you have two buckets of franchisees. You have scalers—like former salespeople—and they're like, "How do I scale this business into selling to property management or car dealerships?" As you continue to grow this thing and build out those two personas, you'll know where to head.

I'm going to say this line because I think it's valuable. Another one of our clients is Two Men and a Truck, and they have the grandma rule. The grandma rule is to always treat your customer like they're your grandma. It goes back to some of the founding stories. I would make sure that your mom's founding reason and the gap that she saw ends up being part of the core values that you distill in your franchisees as you scale, so you can point toward that north star.

Schneider: I love the grandma rule. It's funny that you mention that because I tell our franchisees and I tell all of our crew all the time that we're essentially in the flower business, right? But we're really not in the flower business; we're really in the service business. We're out there to make customers happy. We beat it into their heads that we're here to wow people every time. That's kind of our company mantra. If they're not wowed, then what's the point? Yes, we actually plant flowers, but without making them happy, it doesn't go very far. So I agree with you 100% on the grandma rule. I'm going to start using that.

Powills: There you go. There's value out of this. So let's say there's someone watching who is intrigued. What else do you want them to know about the business opportunity as a franchise buyer?

Schneider: I think the biggest thing is the recurring revenue. Eighty-seven percent of our customers return year after year without a contract, which is huge. That builds that flywheel, right? And then our Net Promoter Score is insane. It's 84. I am really new to Net Promoter Scores, but from what I understand, they are normally between 30 and 50. An 84 is pretty outstanding.

I would also say that the franchisees are really happy. If you want a business where you just follow the rulebook and it is completely not creative, this probably isn't for you. But if you want something that is really creative and fun, and you enjoy going to work, then give us a call.

Powills: I love it. I love what you're building. I love when I find a brand that is new in essence to franchising, where it's like, "Huh, that totally makes sense." Awesome work on what's happened. I also love the continuation of the legacy that your mom built and generational support from a family. I love all those angles. As you start unpacking these as you deliver it—obviously right now you're selling through the broker networks, so they're doing the sales for you—when your story starts translating to your website, you have some good pieces here that will strike an emotional chord with the people who might buy it.

I loved learning a little bit about your story, and I wish you the best of luck as you continue to navigate this thing.

Schneider: Thanks, Nick. Thanks for having me.

Watch the full episode above or on YouTube.