When we last spoke with Keely Sindler, she and her sister Marcy were about five years into their floral business, Mayfield Flowers. Needless to say, lots has happened since 2017. We recently had a chance to catch up with Keely and get an update from Mayfield Flowers — which has grown from blooming to flourishing.
“The past year was interesting for us,” admits Keely. “Luckily, we were still able to do quite a few weddings.” While Covid definitely caused lots of couples to postpone and reschedule their weddings, Mayfield Flowers has still found themselves in the position where they’re planning to expand in the very near future.
And that concept of physically expanding their flower studio would be a lot more daunting if it weren’t for their CoolBot. “It’s stress free — besides the pandemic! — because we will be able to take apart our CoolBot and put it back together in a new location,” Keely tells us.
(We’re personally thrilled to be able to eliminate any bit of stress from an otherwise harrowing year, whew!)
The last year actually put Mayfield Flowers in a position to try out some new things that they don’t typically do. Generally, they provide custom floral arrangements for weddings and large scale events. But because events weren’t a thing in 2020, Mayfield Flowers got involved with some neat collaborations with a local chocolate shop to provide flower deliveries for holidays, such as Mothers Day.
Micro weddings also were popular in 2020, quarantine restrictions be damned. So Mayfield Flowers was able to provide flowers for these smaller scale weddings, and are seeing a lot of return customers who want to throw bigger secondary parties — so now they’re occasionally doing two weddings per customer. And now, they’re so busy with spring and summer weddings that they had to turn down offers to repeat last year’s holiday collaborations for flower delivery services!
“We really just like to go with the flow and not force our clients into minimums or anything,” Keely speaks to Mayfield Flowers’ flexibility, especially during these confusing times. Trying to safely plan an event within each state’s unique guidelines and restrictions has been challenging at best. Mayfield Flowers strives to accommodate each client’s wants and needs without putting up additional hurdles or roadblocks.
And now that we feel like we’re collectively turning the corner on the pandemic, Mayfield Flowers’ calendar is fully booked with all sorts of weddings — large events, intimate gatherings and everything in between.
“The weddings have come out of the woodwork with inquiries,” tells Keely. “Our business is really booming. We’re even having to turn business down, because it’s too much for us to handle. We usually do multiple large events throughout each weekend. The dates are still constantly moving around a bit, but everyone is really moving forward as things are opening up, even with lots of restrictions. And it seems like, even if people are wanting to throw smaller events, more guests are wanting to attend.”
As far as Mayfield Flowers’ physical space is concerned, they’re got two of them. Their “pretty space,” that the sisters adore, is where they hold client consultations. And their production room — which is actually (still) their parent’s garage — that they also love because it’s got built-in babysitters, snack delivery services and a fridge stocked with beer. “Our mom and dad were nice enough to let us transform their garage into a full on flower studio. We put in A/C, heating and, of course, our CoolBot,” says Keely. The thing is, the girls are debating potentially moving their production space into a bigger industrial warehouse — or toying around with the idea of relocating our CoolBot outside of the garage to free up some more work space.
If they do opt to relocate their CoolBot outside, we recommended they invest in our outdoor kit, which includes an A/C hood, a rain gutter for door (to keep water out of seams) and a thick roof membrane that adheres to the cooler (sort of like a fancy shower cap for the cooler that protects it from any snow, hail, rain and sun, so that nothing warps!). Email cooler@storeitcold.com for more information.
Whatever they decide to do, Keely isn’t worried because “just knowing (they) can always take apart our CoolBot and put it back up wherever (they) need to move it” provides them with some solace.
And how has their CoolBot held up over the last five years since we last spoke?
“We’ve had zero issues,” boasts Keely. “Well, one nonissue, which was the A/C just went out. We just trashed it and replaced it. It was the quickest, easiest and most cost effective solution. No compressor, no condenser, no budget breakers. And certainly no freezing flowers, ever. It’s been almost too good to be true.”
Keely and Marcy’s dad, who they’ve lovingly nicknamed “Mr. Mayfield” since his recent retirement, is actually the one who discovered CoolBot for Mayfield Flowers. “I’m very ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,’ and my dad was like, no. This is legit, it’ll work,” laughs Keely. Mr. Mayfield (aka Mike) does all of Mayfield Flowers’ research. And he’s become one of CoolBot’s biggest cheerleaders, going above and beyond to educate fellow florist industry members about the benefits of utilizing CoolBot to store their goods. (And we love him for that.)
In terms of customizations or modifications of the interior of their CoolBot, Keely tells us they’ve filled their cooler with heavy duty wire racks from Costco that can hold “about a gazillion pounds,” in various configurations, with three levels.
TL;DR: Mayfield Flowers is killing it. They’re booked out through the end of the year with events and, so far, 2022 is looking “really big and promising,” as long as things go in the right direction. So if you’re planning a big event in the Chicago area and need flowers, don’t hesitate to reach out.
You can check out some of Mayfield Flowers’ stunning designs, custom arrangements and glamorous wedding shots on their beautifully curated Instagram page.
