| TUESDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2011 The Dirt - December 2011 Issue    While I truly hope everyone enjoyed a pleasant Thanksgiving filled with things that bring you joy, I must acknowledge right off the bat that Dos Gringos did not “bring the happy” to some of you this season. Serious shortfalls in our signature Sunflowers created headaches, frustration, and worse. I want to apologize openly and honestly, and I want to be clear about our plans for mitigating the effects of any shortages in the future.  We had unusually high air and soil temperatures in San Diego County this fall. A portion of our Sunflower seeds on farms in this region burned in the ground, and we came up about 250,000 bunches short. The team realized we had a problem and jumped into action, and the Dos Gringos “can-do” spirit was on full display. We worked quickly to buy replacement product on the open market, we made the best substitutions we could, and we had FedEx at the ready round the clock to get what we could to you as quickly as possible. We did deliver smiles this season, but not enough to let me sleep at night. The goal was to allocate as fairly as we could so no one came out empty-handed, but I know that’s little consolation when we’ve hyped Suns, you’ve hyped Suns, and everyone wants to go over the river and through the woods with Suns in hand. I also know that when it’s not our product, it’s not our quality, and there was disappointment in that category as well.  If you’ve been with DG for any length of time, you know what sticklers we are for balance and how carefully – with your help -- we plan before we plant. Thanksgiving may be the toughest holiday to “get just right.” We want plenty of Suns to meet your Thanksgiving orders and few by Black Friday, when green, red, and white rule the day. We make adjustments from one year to the next based on historical data, and we go with our best estimates. Today we have diversified to a point where we now have four different growing regions – with four different climates – from which to harvest Suns and across which to spread the risk of problems. This year we added a trial run of Sunflowers in the California desert, and it did very well. Next year we’ll go all-out in this location to help meet demand. We will always look for and consider additional areas to plant. And we will increase the size of all of our plantings, putting more seeds in the ground on every farm. As always, if you have ideas and insights on how we can get better, anyone on this team is all ears and at your service!    As we move on to a strong finish to 2011, Metallic's are here and hot for the holidays! Be sure to check out our selections and featured bouquets. We are redesigning and improving our product development process to ensure we can offer new products from the ground and new designs with those items. And we are putting the finishing touches on a “Client Calendar” that will keep everyone apprised of dates and deadlines for our key crops. Happy, Healthy Holidays to All! Thank you for your business. Thank you for your friendship.  Jason Levin President & Chief Gringo  HEY GRINGO FANS, FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!  -  The Dirt - November 2011 Issue   A belated Happy Halloween to all. I hope the holiday was filled with more treats than tricks.  It always seems to me that as soon as we turn off the porch lights and blow out the candle in the last jack-o-lantern, there’s a change in the air. I can almost feel the transition the whole country makes from fall flowers – so natural and gorgeous in their own right -- to the more festive and a little fancier holiday crops. Once we hit Nov. 1, it’s all about the party-filled, family-focused events that characterize the last two months of the year. It’s our passion here at Dos Gringos to remind the world that every event, every gathering, every gift gets better with flowers. It’s our obsession to make flowers from Dos Gringos better than anyone else’s.   Thanksgiving is huge for us, of course. Aaron Motola and his team checked in on several of our fields last week to secure our final Thanksgiving forecast and harvest projections. Aaron provides a brief update below. Our Sunflower numbers are tracking quite well as I write this newsletter, but an abnormal amount of rain this fall did put an early end to Pumpkin Tree. Eucalyptus and Sage are in ample supply and look fantastic. We’ll have all hands on deck leading up to Nov. 24, so please let us know what you need and how we can help.    I am very excited about our Dos Gringos Metallics Collection for December. Our color-enhance team has poured a lot of hard work and creativity into this line, and it shows. The whole line really sets itself apart, and it’s one of those important, innovative things we continue to do to improve the customer experience and to keep consumers coming back for more. If you haven’t seen a metallic twist in an arrangement or bouquet, I encourage you to have a look -- and to share the joy with your end users!   On a less-than-joyful note, the Dos Gringos family will say good-bye at the end of this month to Kevin Romani, our faithful and fearless Supply Chain Director. Kevin came aboard in 2002 as an intern while attending the University of San Diego. He hit the ground sprinting, and has given nothing less than 100 percent every day since. Honestly, he’s one of the best hires I’ve ever made. Kevin will have great success in his next adventure, and he will always have a family here at Dos Gringos. He shares his wit and his hard-earned wisdom below. Thank you, Kevin, for all you’ve done for this company and for the industry. Let the holidays begin!  Jason Levin President & Chief Gringo Kevin Romani: Parting Thoughts, Final Shots…  A friend of mine called out of the blue to ask me to help establish a satellite office in San Francisco for Dyn, his fast-growing technology company based in Manchester, N.H. Dyn (http://www.dyn.com) sells managed DNS and email solutions to companies with web stores and heavy internet traffic. Dyn’s customers include Facebook, Twitter, and Overstock.com. I wasn’t interested at first, because I very much enjoy what I do and everyone I work with at DG. As my girlfriend and I considered it further, however, we determined that moving to San Francisco would be great for her career in the health care field; a growth opportunity for me in a new and fast-growing industry; and a wonderful chance to be closer to my family. There were many conversations and several sleepless nights, but we believe this is the right move for us. Q: What did you enjoy most in your time at Dos Gringos? The people. I have met and worked with amazing people, not just here at Dos Gringos but throughout the floral industry. Trucking company personnel, farmers, grocery/floral buyers, wholesalers, floral designers, hard goods suppliers – I’ve worked with all of them and more, and I’ve loved every minute of it. When I started here as a college intern, I had no idea how complex, fast-paced and interesting this industry could be. So many things have to go right for the end user to have a wonderful experience and it gets complicated. I have great respect for the hard work and dedication each person puts in to make the whole industry run. We’re an interesting, hardworking bunch, and I’m proud to have worked with such neat people. Q: Anything you WON’T miss? Mother Nature related issues, crops that fail without any kind of warning and the endless challenges that come with having to get 100 out of 100 things right for the end user to enjoy that amazing experience. That said, a week or so out, I’m sure I’ll miss the constant engagement and problem-solving that go with this gig! Q: What have you learned that will be valuable in the next chapter of your life? Resiliency and the ability to separate emotions from problem solving. When something goes wrong, it’s very natural to be emotionally attached to outcomes and to all the work that’s been done. But emotion gets in the way of solving the problem and making sure it doesn’t happen again. There will always be issues and challenges; it’s how we respond to them that determines our success! Q: What excites you most about the future? I’m really looking forward to experiencing a new industry and living in a new city, closer to my family. My entire adult life has been spent working in the flower industry and living in San Diego, so it will be an interesting change of pace. Q: In the spirit of Thanksgiving, what are you most thankful for as 2011 comes to a close? I’m most thankful for the experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve met at Dos Gringos. I wouldn’t change anything in my time spent here because I’ve taken away so many amazing life lessons. I’ve experienced successes and failures and learned so much from the people I’ve met, whether it be from Jason or from Sixto Juarez, our packer with the longest tenure. It’s been an amazing ride. I feel fortunate for all of it!  by Aaron Motola, Director of Procurement  The team and I spent much of last week visiting fields and talking with each foreman about a variety of topics. A couple items to call your attention to:
True to our pioneering spirit, we grew our first trial of Sunflowers this fall in the southern California desert near Palm Springs. We are constantly seeking out the best locations to overcome production challenges and meet the huge demand for Suns each fall. HEY GRINGO FANS, FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!  -  The Dirt - October 2011 Issue   Together we did it again, and we did it even better.By “we,” I mean all of us: the Dos Gringos team (the grower), many customers (buyers and store-level staff from around the country), and our hybridizer, the scientists we work with to develop  cutting-edge seeds and bring to market new and interesting flowers the world has never seen before.The “it” refers to our annual Sunflower pack trials and tests at Gringo Farms. In a whirlwind week and a half, we were thrilled to host over 40 people at the separate trial farm we created in North Coast San Diego to test new varieties and hold off-site brainstorming sessions with team members and clients alike. We had seeds from hybridizers in the United States, Japan and Israel, and we displayed 20 different beds of Sunflower varieties – everything from natural red and white to bi-colors to lemon Teddy Bears to some of our proprietary commercial varieties.  Gringo Farms also has about 50 varieties of perennials from Protea to Safari Sunset, and we use this area as a demonstration garden to teach team members and clients about how the elements we use in bouquets actually grow in the field.  The interaction and feedback at this year’s trials were phenomenal! I can’t think of a better way to stay on top of issues, trends and trouble spots than to stand in a garden or sit around a table with those of you on the front lines. The more we all understand the complete cycle, from seed selection to the consumer, the more successful we can be. A big “Thank you” from Dos Gringos to all of its visitors last week. I wish we could have had every single client come through, but we will catch you next time. Until we visit in person, keep letting us know what we can do to help make your flower program crank.   It’s October now, and you’ve got to get your Pumpkin Tree! It is fabulous and in ample supply. It screams autumn – in a good way – and it offers a different twist than the fall standards. You’ll love what it does for bouquets and other arrangements. Jason Levin President & Chief Gringo Our travel schedule is light this month as we settle in and focus on the home front. As always, quality is a huge priority. Mark Young, our Chief Operating Officer, talks in this issue about some of those initiatives.  A Message from COO Mark Young Blocking and tackling are the focus this fall at Dos Gringos. Concentrating on the fundamentals, striving for constant improvement, and building on our core strengths has served us well. This team understands that quality is Priority #1 and that we must be the best in the industry at integrating high customer expectations with the uncertainties and uncontrollable elements Mother Nature throws our way.  Daily production meetings and a serious Total Quality Management initiative are helping us. Quality Assurance Manager Mary Luz Rodriguez has made great strides in our production area, and she’s recently expanded her efforts beyond these four walls to include our farms. We believe that long-term, lasting quality is about consistency and a common language that everyone can understand and embrace. Mary Luz and Gabe Gill are driving those efforts here at Dos Gringos.The plant layout is getting some attention this season. As we continue to grow and thrive, we insist on having the best possible flow between assembly and packing so we can deliver the productivity and volume improvements you want. With Thanksgiving around the corner, we’re working on a seven-day work schedule that will ensure you get what you need when you need it. Growers Caveat…Weather permitting of course! HEY GRINGO FANS, FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!  -  The Dirt - September 2011 Issue    No, I haven’t lost my marbles. Not all of them, anyway. And I certainly am not one to rush the holidays (though a ski weekend sounds good to me any time of year).When someone asked me what was up for September, I realized it was all about customers coming to town. Which means, of course, that the team and I are all about getting ready for those visits.   The second annual Dos Gringos Pack Trials are upon us. Fall is always a grand time of year for us and our products anyway, but the last two weeks of September give us an ideal opportunity to fluff the feathers a little and strut our stuff. Aaron, Todd, Marco and I will spend the last two weeks of this month at Gringo Farms, a separate trial farm we have created in North County San Diego, CA to test new varieties and hold off-site brainstorming sessions with team members and clients alike.     Last year we conducted a week of Sunflower pack trials and tests with a number of different customers. We had seeds from hybridizers in the United States, Japan and Israel, and we displayed 20 different beds of Sunflower varieties – everything from natural white to bi-color to lemon Teddy Bears to some of the commercial varieties.This year’s participants will get a look at the first-ever all-white and all-red Sunflowers plus a chance to see Pumpkin Tree and Purple Majesty plants pre-harvest, in their field plots. We’ll provide an update on the entire DG Sunflower product line, including new varieties in development, and talk some about the benefit of good, solid forecasting (Plan & Plant). And we’ll host some interactive discussions about the breeding/seed hybridizing process. Make sure you bring those burning questions you’ve been dying to ask!    Haven’t registered yet for the Pack Trials? No worries. Contact joan.saunders@dosgringos.net to sign up. On behalf of the whole team, we look forward to seeing you later this month!  Jason Levin President & Chief Gringo  -  The Dirt - August 2011 Issue 
I love everything about summer. I hope you are wringing as much enjoyment out of yours as I am from mine. Morning runs before the temps rise, flowers, hikes in the mountains, flowers, weekends near water, flowers, corn on the cob, flowers, and a quick run for frozen yogurt as a nightcap. My son Jack recently learned that it’s “legal” to put more than one topping from the do-it-yourself bar on this confection of choice. The folks on counter clean-up hate us, but I still love summer – and flowers. 
Out my window and along the road, the flowers still are decidedly summer. Open any of the DG coolers and you’ll still get a wonderful whiff of clover, asters, and strawflower. But the buzz is building about fall, and the fall shipping season begins in earnest at the end of this month. 
 
 
I’m just back from a trip to northern California to check in and catch up with our Sunflower seed hybridizer. Growing never-before-seen varieties of Sunflowers is a fascinating lesson in patience and perseverance – and biotechnology. So many things must come together and work “just so” before we can put a natural red or white Sunflower on our order form. It could take a crossing of almost 200 different lines to yield ONE commercial-grade product! It turns out that bees, whose procreation and pollination are critical to Sunflower production, aren’t a bit interested in Dos Gringos’ growth goals or production schedule. Who knew? The dream is very much alive, and we continue to test several colors both with our genius hybridizer and at our test farms near our corporate office. You’ll see some at our pack trials this fall, and some are almost ready for semi-commercial trials. We’re also learning more about Sunflower strength and longer vase life. Much more to come on that… 
I’m on the road again in August to visit customers in the East this month to learn as much as I can about what’s driving business right now and how Dos Gringos can help. Several DG Business Development Managers will be moving about the country as well to participate in various client shows and show off our current product lines. 
I’ll end with a quick shout-out to all the wholesalers I had a chance to catch up with at Fun ‘n Sun in July. I thoroughly enjoyed being back in touch with old friends and being on the floor to hear what’s going on in that market. “Faster and fresher to final destination” is a big priority of The California Flower Association, and of course, ours too. We see lots of opportunity for getting Dos Gringos bouquets into smaller, regional markets of the country, and we know some of our wholesalers can help. We’re working on it!  From Fukushima to all over Japan. They have now sent seeds to 13,000 locations in Japan and people are growing them all over.
Garden club volunteers from all over San Diego gathered at Dos Gringos and, combined with a group from South County made 700 bouquets which were distributed to military hospitals and care homes from the donated flowers from the show. 
Picture is of Charlotte Fan, North County Manager for MOW. We donated all the tabletoppers and bouquets for their gala last month! 
Enjoy this last month before school starts – and start thinking fall flowers! 
Jason Levin President & Chief Gringo
-  The Dirt - July 2011 Issue   A belated “Happy Independence Day” to all! We hope everyone enjoyed a nice, relaxing long weekend with family and friends.   As summer heats up – looks like Mother Nature finally found that “On” switch -- it’s time for some serious Fun ‘N Sun, and we look forward to seeing many of you at the semi- annual California floral convention running July 20-23 in the La Costa Resort in Carlsbad. I’ll be in the Dos Gringos booth with Marco Rivera and Rich Fruman on Friday the 22nd. We’ll have plenty of California-grown items to show, and we’ll be happy to discuss the latest and greatest innovations meant to keep us Number One in freshness. Grower Bunches and our Just Add collections are great florist items; check them out as well. Because we’re Dos Gringos, we like to think the “Sun” in Fun ‘N Sun is all about Sunflowers, so we’ll be showing off at least some of the most impressive varieties this summer. See a Promo Video of Rene van Rems at IFE last month! (from flowersandcents.com) http://www.flowersandcents.  While you’re in town for the show, don’t miss a guided tour of our operations in Vista. Joan Saunders will be meeting and greeting clients throughout the four-day show; if you’d like to set something up ahead of time please reach out to her at joan.saunders@dosgringos.net. Can't make it? Take a Virtual Tour on our site! (Click here)   This month features more work with our Total Quality Management (TQM) initiative. Many of you know that we’ve rolled out the program company-wide with the immediate goal of elevating customer service at every level of the organization. Our primary objectives are to: • Fully understand and then satisfy our customers’ requirements; • Establish a culture of “zero defects” and a passion for continuous improvement; • Dissect critical processes to improve workflow; • Use customer satisfaction as the ultimate measurement of quality. We’ve created a Quality Council to steer our TQM work, and we’ve built eight Quality Improvement Teams to do a deep dive into key business processes, including raw material intake, grower standards, the cold chain process and sales forecasting. We’ve had some breakthroughs related to better-defined standards on our receiving docks and throughout the plant. Much more to report in the coming months…   On the family front, our own Gabe Gill (Plant Manager) will be married this month at the San Diego Botanical Gardens. Congratulations and best wishes, Gabe and India. I’m also getting a chance to recharge the batteries a little this month. A week off with the family included a 15-year anniversary celebration for Melissa and me. Fun fun!   Jason Levin President & Chief Gringo -  The Dirt - June 2011 Issue    The excitement is building around here as we put the final touches on our displays for this month’s International Floriculture Expo in Miami Beach. I’ll be in Booth #1933 with Creative Director Rene’ van Rems, AIFD, Director of Sales Marco Rivera and National Account Manager Charlotte Russeth as we show and tell how Dos Gringos is Different by Design™. Unfortunately it’s a quick trip to Miami for me and I will only be on the show floor on Wednesday. For some crazy reason I was selected as a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition and need to be back in San Diego Thursday night for this ceremony and announcement.  Rene’ and Dos Gringos have a great new DVD available with hands-on instruction and detail about Sunflower care and handling, merchandising and design. Don’t miss your free copy!  The Half Pallet Program, a patented merchandising system we introduced in 1999, is updated with a variety of seasonally goof-proof bouquets. Please come and see some of the newest varieties of Sunflowers currently on trial for mass production and check out our enhanced grower bunch line up.   We’ll also have the latest and greatest seasonal bouquets for 2011-2012, including the wildly popular gilded series of foliages and botanicals so perfect for the year-end holidays.  Last but not least, the new edition of “Cup of Sunshine,” the very handy ranch-to-retail promotion, is available in many varieties.   Back at headquarters in Vista, the team is working on a number of summer projects meant to fill the potholes that winter so often leaves behind. We’ll conduct annual maintenance on all of our equipment to keep it in tip-top shape. Line leaders and assemblers will be trained on new techniques for keeping our bouquet making as efficient as possible. We’ll get familiar with a new software package for streamlining shipping. And Rene’ and Marco will work with the sales team on our Summer 2012 line. This always includes conversations with  clients about what they’re working on, where the market is headed, etc. Thank you in advance for your invaluable input on this project!Constant improvement is a mantra around here, and this summer is no exception. Under Mark Young’s direction, each department will undergo an audit of all its processes with an eye toward how we can make everything better. Because fresh eyes and a different perspective are always a good idea, we’ll form cross-functional teams to evaluate areas they don’t typically work in and to ask questions and offer insight that push us all to the next level.  Weekly - 17 Vases for Scripps Health Ctr. Meals on Wheels Bouquets Petals for Patriots Bouquets 1/24 - Scripps Health Center Flowers 2/5 - 480 Wristlet Corsages for YMCA 2/11 - 5 Bunches of Suns in Box - Donation 2/22- Bouquets to Alzheimer patient group visiting DG 2/24 - SamLive 12 Suns shipped to Salvation Army Kroc Ctr  2/26 - Education Foundation Scholarship Circle 13 arrangements 3/2 - 15 Bouquets 10 Arrangements 3500 stems Chelsea King Project 3/2 - 100 Stems of Suns with SFG Tags for Nobleza Tequila 3/9 - 20 bunches Suns & 4 bunches Greens Christina's Scholarship 3/12 - Women's Hall of Fame $1000.00 in product 3/12 - Jason Patrick Funeral Flowers 35 Agmt, 8 vase, 2 large sprays 3/25 - 12 Agmts, 150 St. Sun - Soul Sharing Sister (leukemia fund) 4/8 - Bouquet - San Marcos Garden Club 4/13 - Bouquets - Point Loma Garden Club 4/14 - 210 Bouquets for Meals on Wheels Volunteer Luncheon 4/30 - 72 Sunshine Cups, 2 Long Centerpieces Volunteer Teacher Brunch 5/4 - Carehouse Fund Raiser 260 Bouquets 5/10 - Vista Woman's Club donated 11 Bunch of Suns 6 Bunches Solidago 5/10 - Meals on Wheels 11 arrangements 15 Bouquets Board Meeting 5/10 - 5 Bouquets for Santana High La Cross Team in Oceanside L.Garcia 5/16 - 14 Bqts. for Vista Flor- School Athletic Banquet Donation 5/20 - 20 Tropical Centerpieces Naturvet Foundation Fundraiser 5/22 - 100 Bqts for American Cancer Soc. Donation  • Fun & Sun Convention (July 20th- 22nd), Carlsbad, CA • IFE Show (June 13th- 17th), Miami Beach, FL - DG Booth #1933  In May flowers were used for two really cool things that may surprise you. The Japanese government decided to plant Sunflowers around Fukushima Prefecture to see if they can absorb radioactive materials in the soil that came from the recent nuclear plant disaster there. Go, Sunflowers!  More locally, Melissa and I sponsored a fundraiser to save the volunteer art program at our daughter Annie’s school. Each grade was assigned a flower for each child in that grade to paint. We provided frames and the corresponding flower, parents purchased the masterpieces, and the art program lives on! Gosh I love being in the flower business! Jason Levin President & Chief Gringo -  The Dirt - May 2011 Issue   As Mother’s Day mania hits us all this week (and the last three,) I want to thank all Dos Gringos clients for your business and support throughout April. Farming and assembly operations have gone quite smoothly, and I hope your bouquets and grower bunches have all arrived in great shape. If not, I want to hear about it personally!  I especially love this time of year and all the spring “stuff” that always brings smiles to so many: Purple Pride Waxflower, Spring Ranunculus, and gorgeous Yellow Sunflowers, to name a few. Spring seasonal items will have their final harvest this week and we’ll be sad to see them finished.   • Fun & Sun (July 20th- 22nd) • IFE (June 13th- 17th) • African Marigold (May 23rd ) • French Marigolds (May 23rd ) • Sunflowers for Aug. 28th- Oct. 30 period (Booking deadline is May 23rd)   I’m proud to share with you that we just broke our own record for highest sales volume in a single day. We shipped 127,720 bouquets, but who’s counting. April 29th was the big day and, as always, it was a huge team effort. What’s behind the big numbers? There are two things Dos Gringos does well, and in over 20 years in this business it hasn’t changed. We are freaks about design and freshness. Those are two key elements of the many ingredients in our bouquets that continue to drive us forward. Everyone who works at Dos Gringos played a part in this New Record. 23 year historical record... Beat. I am proud to be here!   When it comes to design and freshness, our philosophy begins and ends with keeping it local. Almost every element in every Dos Gringos bouquet comes from no further than a 15-hour radius of our bouquet assembly and quality control center in North San Diego County. These flowers and greens are always cold and always fresh, and by cutting down on transportation we reduce the impact on the environment. That’s not all. Once they arrive here, your flowers and foliage are in the best hands possible – those of our creative director, Rene’ van Rems, AIFD. His knowledge, expertise and unparalleled experience come together to ensure that every bouquet, every arrangement, every time brings smiles and a “Wow!” factor you won’t receive from any other company. We are truly Different by Design™.  And then there’s our Quality Control/Quality Assurance Team. Led by Gabe Gill, this group of ten team members works tirelessly to remain on the cutting edge of equipment, technology and process management to ensure the freshest product with the longest possible vase life on a consistent basis. In addition, our own Raul Meza (aka “Blue”) has put in yeoman’s hours coordinating production so your bouquets arrive fresh, beautiful and on time. This month the Quality Team welcomes Mary Luz Rodriguez. Born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, Mary Luz developed a great passion for working with flowers and eventually decided to pursue an agricultural engineering degree in the United States. An enthusiastic trainer and teacher, she’s excited to get all of us up to speed on the latest quality control innovations and advanced tools. With these applications in place we’ll be able to recognize problems faster and address them more efficiently for the benefit of our clients. Mary Luz’s determination and discipline are great assets for Dos Gringos and for the new team she’ll be building over the next several months. We want your flowers to be fresher and last longer than ever before.  - Our very own Chief Gringo, Jason Levin, is a Semi Finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition! - We donated Sunflowers for “Finish Chelsea’s Run" and raised nearly $2,800.00 all of which goes to the foundation. A very Happy Mother’s Day to all! Thanks for everything you do to make this world a better place. After adding an eight-week-old black lab mix to our brood in April, I know my wife Melissa deserves more than a day of R&R. Hope yours is special -- and free of dog duty! Jason Levin Chief Gringo -  The Dirt - April 2011 Issue    Can you smell it? Just a little?Sniff again. It’s there… fainter in some spots than others, but it’s there… Thank goodness for spring and the renewal it brings! The sun is shining, birds are singing and it looks like some warmth is sneaking slowly but surely back into our winter-weary country. April and May call folks outside to get their gardens growing (Our very own Joan “Always dressed to the 9’s” Saunders planted her vegetable garden last weekend. I’m pretty sure this is what she wore to plant!) and the calendar announces several festive, flower-friendly events.  Passover, Administrative Professionals Week and Easter all hit at the end of April, and Mother’s Day is a hustle-y, bustle-y, beautiful occasion in May. April Dates to Remember: • 19th Passover • 22nd Earth Day/Good Friday • 24th Easter Sunday • 27th Admin. Professionals Day   Personally I’m very glad the month of April is here. March was a brutal weather month for us here in California. Besides more rain than we’ve seen in years, temperatures were 15 degrees below normal. This proved to be a little challenging, however, we’ve seen it before, we know how to get through it and stand ready to put flowers in boxes that will bring smiles to you and your customers.I assure you that Dos Gringos’ fields in California and Mexico are bursting with fresh, top-quality favorites including Waxflower, Ranunculus, Marguerite Daisies, and lots of fresh Sunflowers!    Ranunculus and Waxflower are healthy and in ample supply, and we’re very happy with our Larkspur from the dessert.  Dos Gringos is running on all cylinders and ready to work with you to make all of the spring holidays a huge success! All the best! Jason Levin Chief Gringo -  The Dirt - March 2011 Issue    Hola everyone! Bring on the sunshine, the growing variety of products, and the wonderfully Green Sunflowers that are so fun and festive this time of year. As we like to say around here “Green-goes” with everything.   The weather has cooperated nicely over the past month, and we are thrilled to present – in excellent quantity and quality – our Green Burst Sunflower. The green center and jagged edges are a perfect twist for St. Patrick’s Day and beyond; especially this year, I think people are craving signs of spring and splashes of color. Tinted Suns are a great way to kick winter to the curb and throw open the windows for spring.   Green Suns, Marguerite Daisies and gold Eucalyptus – stunning and very festive!  Please let us know if you’re seeing – or not -- the benefits of our efforts to improve communication within our sales team to give better service to you. I spent a few days in Denver last month at a Global Leadership Conference that gathered approximately 2,000 business leaders from more than 75 countries to hear world-renowned speakers and access resources to address key issues in business, politics, philanthropy and humanities. This is a great way for our team to get beyond the walls of Dos Gringos and the world of flowers and to learn from other disciplines and industries. Together this group generates $15 Trillion in sales and employees 15 million people. Pretty amazing experience!  We are proud to be helping with a great cause for FINISH CHELSEA'S RUN on March 5th, 2011. We are donating 2,000 Sunflowers which will be sold for $1.00 each with ALL the proceeds going to the Chelsea's Light Foundation Scholarship Fund. We are also donating bouquets to the winners. Learn More or Donate Today: www.cheleaslight.org.    To all of our hoops fans, enjoy March Madness!  Visit our page: Click here We are fired up for spring – is there anyone who isn’t? – and ready to work with you to cover the country in flowers and bring smiles to millions! Adios, Jason Levin Chief Gringo -  The Dirt - February 2011 Issue   Okay, so 2011 hasn’t come in exactly as we would have liked. There’s no wildly positive movement in the economy. Our friends on the east coast can’t catch a break from the snow and the cold and the operational headaches they can bring. Now we’re watching a monster storm move from the heartland to the south and northeast. Even here in California, January was filled with cold, dark and inclement weather that put our Sunflowers and other key crops well behind schedule. Good grief.  On the bright side, January is history, February is here, and it’s time for love, sweet love. The good news now is that we’re harvesting Sunbeam Sunflowers and Dark Center Sunflower like crazy and our “Just Add” programs are doing very well across the country. Dos Gringos provides and prepares fresh and unique foliage with a splash of gyp just waiting to be “finished off” by a gorgeous batch of Roses or Tulips. The “Just Adds” are a great way to help out floral departments and to reach out to end users with ideas and products that make life simpler.    Valentine’s Day is here, of course. We are harvesting and shipping Sunflowers and “Just Adds” as quickly as possible and will be running at full strength through the 14th. We stand ready to make this holiday productive and profitable for you. Recent upgrades include: • An new updated automated wet pack line that doubles our capacity.  • A new ice machine to ensure water is pre-chilled to a temperature that makes your flowers last longer. • New digital signage installed in the warehouse to track productivity and keep us ahead of truck delays and/or other opportunities for communication.  • New carts being tested in the warehouse to make us more efficient and to maximize space. • A new Potting Room in the building, a place “where ideas go to grow.” All team members are invited and encouraged to stop in any time to brainstorm, jot down a thought or two, and help us bring the best seeds to flower. • SalesForce.com, a new CRM tool to improve customer service. • New strapping machines on all dry pack lines to help speed up the process and reduce packing material waste.   We are ready to serve! Here’s hoping the next several months are good to all of us. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!  The Dirt - January 2011 Issue   We are very excited about 2011 and a new opportunity to serve you. Fresh, unique California flowers and foliage are different from the standard floral fare. We can’t wait to continue to show you how and why. Several upgrades and accomplishments in the second half of 2010 give us good field position for the new year: • An additional 120 acres of production that allows us to harvest 100,000 Sunflowers every day! • Additional automatic assembly lines for increased production. • New and improved water chiller. • Quality Control expertise and personnel that we believe is the best in the business. • Improved sales support focused specifically on better client services.   “Always be Testing” is a new and extremely effective program in our QC department. We pull a sample from every lot we ship and keep it here at headquarters under the same conditions the rest of the lot will experience in transit and at the final destination. We’re getting a much better read on shelf life, durability and overall appearance, and we’re making necessary adjustments along the way to ensure you always get the best product possible.  Software and hardware upgrades are ongoing at Dos Gringos to ensure state-of-the-art forecasting and effective, efficient client communication. We’ve had some great feedback about the speed and visual appeal of our revamped web site and we have upgraded this newsletter to speed up our communication to you.  We've updated our Dos Gringos Products Page with several new sections: • New Instructional Video by World Renowned Floral Designer, Rene van Rems, AIFD • A section about our Just Adds™ product offerings • Interactive Online Seasonal Catalog • Sunflower Varieties Page that showcases all of the wonderful types of sunflowers we offer         COMING SOON! The leadership team will meet this month to finalize budgets and hammer out our top three priorities for the year. Look for details about that in our February issue. In the meantime, the entire Dos Gringos family wishes you and yours a happy, healthy, flower-filled New Year! -  | Newsletter Archive 2012 (4)May (1)April (1)February (1)January (1)2011 (12)December (1)November (1)October (1)September (1)August (1)July (1)June (1)May (1)April (1)March (1)February (1)January (1)2010 (9)December (1)November (1)October (1)September (1)August (1)July (1)June (1)May (1)April (1) |