Hilltop Florist & Greenhouse

November 1, 1997May 2, 2008 Roger Matz

This story is a condensed version from Connect Business Magazine.

Well before the century turned, a German immigrant family tended vegetables along what would become Mankato’s Madison Avenue, planting spacious gardens overlooking the city and river valley. Those German gardeners would be amazed at what grows there now all year long.

This family, with the odd surname of “Windmiller,” became “truck gardeners,” supplying fresh produce to Mankato citizens in the late 1870s. As did many truck gardeners of that era, they added fresh-cut flowers to the trays of beans and peas, the bushels of onions and potatoes, and gradually became more florists than truck gardeners. Their enterprise eventually evolved into what’s now known as Hilltop Florist and Greenhouse, one of the largest and oldest operations of its kind in Minnesota.

Where the Windmiller family began raising vegetables, bright flowers and green plants sprout from seeds and cuttings in the shelter of immense greenhouses. Thick foliage and a barrier of trees mask the greenhouses from the heavy traffic along Madison Avenue. Only the retail floral shop stands out on the seven-acre site, easily spotted by customers.

Noel Keane Van Tol, a partner in Hilltop Florist, laments the company’s inability to expand along the street and gain greater visibility. Two homes, which had been part of the property until the late 1940s or early 1950s, aren’t available for sale. Just how much frontage does Hilltop have on the avenue? “We’ll have to ask Larry. He’s the numbers man,” she answers. Larry is Larry Van Tol, the other Hilltop partner and her former husband.

The answer is 175 feet, but much more would be available if the adjacent properties ever came up for sale, according to Larry. He has other impressive numbers about Hilltop Florist:

42,000 square feet of enclosed greenhouse space;
256th largest of the 23,000 floral operations in the U.S.;
One of only four companies growing roses in Minnesota (producing 100,000 roses annually).
One of the less than 5% of U.S. florists growing their own stock.
The Van Tols divorced in 1981, five years after buying the business, but stuck together as partners to build Hilltop Florist into an enterprise that’s widely recognized as a leader in its field. While most divorces are characterized by acrimony, the Van Tols appear to have skipped that part and retain an obvious respect for each other’s talents.

“There wouldn’t be a Hilltop without Noel,” Larry said, describing her as “one of the very best in the state in terms of her skills, ranging from managerial to floral design. She’s had designers come to work for us with very little experience and then leave to open their own shops or manage others.”

Both have remarried. Noel’s husband, Gene Biewen, an avid gardener himself, spends the spring season in Hilltop’s garden center as a sales consultant, and makes deliveries during peak periods. Larry’s wife, Kathy, works full-time at Hilltop. “She does a wonderful job as shop manager,” Noel said. “I feel proud and fortunate to have her here.”

The story of how Noel and Larry came to buy Hilltop Florist contains universal elements familiar to entrepreneurs everywhere. Noel grew up in the business, which had been owned by her parents, Marguerite and Edward Keane, for 20 years. She wanted no part of it. She envisioned a different career, perhaps being in business, or becoming an artist, but not a florist. “I saw how hard my parents had to work all the time,” she explained.

When her parents decided to retire, Noel said, “Larry talked me into coming back here and buying the business.” By that time, they were living in Chicago and facing a transfer to New Hampshire. “I was sick of traveling, flying here and there,” Larry said. “I just wanted to be home with the family and thought Mankato would be a nice place to raise our children.” (They have 2 daughters, Renee and Chantal, 2 grandsons and 2 more grandchildren on the way.)

Hindsight crept in as they recalled the decision made 21 years ago. “I knew you were pretty reticent because you knew what you were getting into and I didn’t,” Larry said to Noel. “I had to learn it all. But it was second nature to you.”

For her part, Noel set aside the images of all the hard work involved and looked forward to the chance to be creative. She’d inherited her mother’s talent for designing bouquets and arrangements, which she compares to “doing an art project.”

When they bought Hilltop Florist in 1976, it already was a well-established business with a reputation for quality based on growing its own stock in what once was the largest clear-span greenhouse west of the Mississippi. And despite his understanding of business principles, Larry almost made the mistake of tearing down that greenhouse and mimicking what more than 95% of all florists do buy fresh flowers from wholesalers who deliver by truck.

“My business background said ‘get rid of the greenhouses because they’re too costly,’ even though that would have forced us to buy off the market,” he admitted. “But after a year of looking at it, we decided we’d be left to the mercy of the market, left to the quality of the market, whatever that was on a given day. So we decided to renovate the greenhouses to make them more cost-efficient, which meant tripling our investment in the business.”

It paid off. Despite an increasing number of flower-sellers, including supermarkets and service organizations, Hilltop grew from month to month. “From the original business plan we wrote in 1976, we’ve always been within 2 to 3 percent of that plan,” Larry said. “We tried to provide the best quality we could to the public, the best varieties, as fresh as possible. By supplying ourselves, we could control the quality. And the future potential was almost limitless because so many different varieties are being developed.”

Hilltop went from a single delivery vehicle to three, from 28,000 sq. ft. of greenhouse space to 42,000, from two floral designers to 20 designers and sales consultants. (Noel and her mother are among the 20.)

The Van Tols have introduced new plants to the market and improved varieties already familiar to customers. One example of a new plant is the dipladenia, a hanging plant native to Costa Rica. “Ivy geraniums for hanging baskets were always the biggest sellers, but the dipladenia takes the west sun and wind better. It takes temperature variations better, it stands up better,” Larry said. “We’re always modernizing, trying new products every year. Some work, some don’t.” The poinsettias Hilltop sells “are not the poinsettias we grew in 1976, 1980 or 1990. We’ve gone through fifty varieties to get to the variety best for this locale,” he said.

No business, not even one as natural as growing seeds and cuttings, is immune from the benefits of technology. Larry cites Hilltop’s fertilizer injection system, which laces the greenhouse watering system with the proper amount of fertilizer, anywhere from 150 parts per million to 300 parts, depending on the season. He talks about advances in insect control “that’s a thousand times better, so it’s safer for our customers and ourselves.” Another innovation is a computerized order-entry system installed in 1995. “We never lose an order and we have no paperwork,” Larry said. “When a customer calls wondering if their order has been delivered, we don’t have to look through 750 pieces of paper. We know which designer did it, which driver took it. It was just one more service we could offer our customers.”

Even after 21 years in the business, Larry believes “our biggest problem is and always has been that people don’t know what we do and how we do it and who we are,” he said. “Two or three times every day, people say they didn’t know we had our own greenhouses. They probably don’t have a good understanding of the value we’re trying to provide with the freshest, highest quality product that can be bought anywhere. They don’t know we have the latest technology.” Despite those perceptions, Larry still talks about the satisfaction he gains from his association with Hilltop, working with customers. “I’m happiest with our reception in the community, happy with the place we have in the community, and with what people say about us.” He mentions Hilltop’s 1995 inclusion in Mankato’s Business Hall of Fame as a notable honor, and expresses pride at the impression he believes Hilltop’s showroom makes on customers. “People who come in will never see a larger selection of fresh-cut flowers in a cooler than here. They won’t find a better group of designers who can take an idea and put it into a finished bouquet, using the most diverse selection of high-quality stock.”

So reluctant at the beginning of the venture in 1976, Noel now enjoys a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. “I’m thrilled with our growth and most of all with the friends and customers that we’ve made, and that we’ve made so many people happy,” she said. “I’m always excited to come to work and I think it’s because we get instant gratification. When people come in to pick up their flowers, or pick up flowers for someone else, right away you can tell you’ve made them happy. It’s such a wonderful feeling.”