Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Devon Klingman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Devon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?
For my husband and I, vacation has always been an important part of our work life. Before we bought a 60-year old garden center business, we worked on commercial cargo ships as officers. That profession required us to work 24/7 for 3 to 4 months at a time while we lived on board a ship. When our contract was finished, we went home, took our vacation pay, and were completed detached from work; truly on vacation.
When we bought Rockledge Gardens, the daily work of a small business owner was a big adjustment for the two of us. We were still always on call, technically, but with different responsibilities and different problems to solve. For us, the key to feeling fine (aka, not guilty) about taking vacations has been our willingness and ability to cover for any and all of our team members who also want to take vacation. As a retail garden center, we are open 7 days a week and we require a fully equipped team to do landscape, sales, beautification, cashiering, management, and customer service. These are all jobs that we learned when we took over the business, and made ourselves comfortable in. Yes, my job is still to sit at my desk in my office and make sure Sales Tax is paid, permits are up to date, and that payroll and accounting issues are dealt with – but we are also available to move around palm trees, help with a backed up line in our checkout building, and take a difficult phone call with an unsatisfied customer. We encourage our team (and our managers especially) to take time off of work to recharge for our busy seasons (spring and fall). We act as managers in their place so they can take time off. When we want to vacation over the holidays, for our honeymoon, or even just a long weekend away, we have open communication with our scheduling team and managers about what they need from us before we aren’t available on the property.
Technology is a beautiful thing and there aren’t a lot of issue we can’t solve with a phone call, text, email, or even looking at a video camera of the gardens from an app on our phones. My husband always reminds me that we have taken all the risk by purchasing and owning the business – and while that can feel like a heavy weight of responsibility, we do get all the rewards as business owners. This simple fact is what drives us to keep an appropriate work-life balance when it comes to vacations and time away.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My husband/business partner and I have a very different background compared to the independent garden center and green industry that we entered in 2022 when we bought Rockledge Gardens. I graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy with an Unlimited Tonnage license to work as an officer aboard commercial cargo ships. That’s where my husband, Brendan, and I met and we continued to work in that industry until fall of 2021 when we quite literally walked into Rockledge Gardens that was owned by a friend of my sister-in-law’s. When we found out the 60-year-old beloved garden center and event venue were for sale, we almost immediately decided that we would try to buy it – once we could figure out if that was even possible. We were craving what was next, and wanted to cultivate a type of life and work that would allow us to be home (and on land) more and so we could start a family and work for ourselves.
It’s not just a garden center, it’s a garden destination.
Rockledge Gardens is the largest and most complete garden center in Brevard County, located on Florida’s Space Coast. It is a 5-acre retail space that sells landscape plants, annuals, trees and palms, fruit, houseplants, garden supplies and so much more. There are over 200 permanent plantings at our garden center, which gives it a beautiful botanical garden feel. We pride ourselves in the plant knowledge and customer experience that comes from very knowledgeable horticulture experts that help make garden guests successful in their projects. We offer round the clock plant information help via phone, email, and in-person to help with plant selection and plant problems. Rockledge Gardens offers educational seminars, workshops for adults, and children’s activities monthly for kids.
We also host weddings and private events in our outdoor wedding venue and historic indoor space, the Riley Room. Our Events Team also puts on over 10 events per year through the seasons that are open to the public, and create a unique outdoor atmosphere for our community. The Market at Rockledge Gardens is a gourmet market that sells local produce, meat, dairy, and unique grocery and home goods. Beer and wine are available in the Market every day, which makes garden center shopping a true pleasure! We also recently added a plant-based cafe and ice cream counter to the Market.
Overall, Rockledge Gardens does SO MANY things and we are striving every day as a business to be a place where you get the best plants, the best plant advice, and a great experience with our team. We want you to sit at one of our tables outside and work on your laptop while you enjoy lunch and a drink. We want families to enjoy ice cream while they pick out a palm tree! And we want couples and families to use our beautiful historic and carefully tended-to garden backdrop to celebrate their most important and memorable days and moments.
When Brendan and I bought Rockledge Gardens in 2022, we wanted to make sure we were the best stewards of the property, the gardens, and the business for the next 60 years and beyond. There isn’t a day that goes by that we’re not thinking about how to make our business better and make it the best garden destination it can be.
Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?
When we acquired Rockledge Gardens, the previous owners and members of the founding family had been trying to sell the business for almost 5 years. The previous owner was the youngest daughter of the founder, and her and her husband had been operating the garden center for over 45 years. When we found this business, we weren’t looking for a change in career or even looking to make a business purchase – we actually didn’t even own a home!
At the time, they had been in discussion with another potential buyer (another couple) for about one year. When we offered to be the “plan B” if the other couple fell through. Within 2 weeks of sending that email, they reached out and said the other buyers were no longer interested and asked to meet us and show us around the gardens. Within a month, we were working on finding financing and putting together a business loan package. At the time of purchase, Rockledge Gardens had great systems in place – a new point-of-sale system, an employee intranet, a great website with e-commerce and curbside pickup, substantial social media following, and a General Manager and team of about 40 people that we decided to fully inherit. Touring the gardens and seeing all of the structures, internal organization, training, and ultimately, all of the happy and dedicated team members, we were sold. The business was profitable and had doubled their revenues in the past 4 years. This was ultimately what made us feel like the purchase was a no-brainer if we could pull it off.
One of the biggest challenges was finding an SBA lender that would lend to us without the collateral of a residential property (remember, we didn’t own a home at the time) and that would also accept a smaller percentage down payment than is traditional for a business loan.
During the winter of 2022 and 2023, we did most of our business loan paperwork from a ship because we both had prior commitment to contracts for our previous professions. We were able to close on time in June of 2022. I have to note that this process went quickly because the previous owners had all of the information organized for the sale, which made the process very streamlined.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
I have found that for a retail garden center, the most effective strategy to grow clientele and customers is to surprise them. Once we started fixing up the gardens and adding in a cafe, ice cream, beer and wine, and putting together more public events, we found that people would come to see the changes and enjoy all that we had to offer. Almost all of our advertising and marketing has the intention to get people in the gate to see all of the wonderful products and experiences we have to offer.
We also have made an effort to have all of our events very well thought out and predictable so customers know what to expect when they show up or have to buy a ticket for admission. For private events, we are super transparent and let them know all we have to offer and pricing for wedding packages on our website, as well as offering virtual tours and galleries.
Overall, the most effective strategy for us has been to be predictable and intentional with our planning of events, create surprises in our retail experience, and create marketing that draws people physically to our business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rockledgegardens.com
- Instagram: @rockledgegardens
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockledgegardens
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RockledgeGardens
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rockledge-gardens-rockledge?osq=rockledge+gardens
Image Credits
Liz Cowie Photography Danielle Taufer Jessica Castillo Liz Lark-Riley