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  Randy Morishita has succeeded in Las Vegas through knowledge and education. | |||||
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By Todd Davis People flock to Las Vegas to strike it rich. It's a place where one pull of a slot machine can change a person's life. But Randy Morishita has found something that pays off far more consistently than any one-armed bandit -- the constant demand for foliage plants. Las Vegas is not only home to some of the world's grandest hotels, it's also one of the fastest-growing U.S. cities. As a result, there is an ever-growing need for indoor plants. Morishita is owner of Far West Foliage, a wholesale company in Las Vegas, and Sansei Growers, a foliage production facility in Encinitas, Calif. He saw the opportunities developing in Las Vegas and moved there 10 years ago. But it has taken more than just relocating to Vegas to become the city's No. 1 supplier of foliage plants. It has taken knowledge of products, plants and customers and the ability to educate clients to reach the top. For taking the extra steps to succeed, Morishita has been named a GMPRO Innovator. Roots in floriculture Morishita grew up in the greenhouse industry, as his father was Frank "Pat" Morishita, the well-known University of California entomologist who went on to work as a special consultant for the Paul Ecke Ranch in Encinitas, Calif. Randy has been a cut flower grower, a distributor of horticultural supplies and floriculture distributor in the past before starting Sansei Growers. It was after this firm was founded that he discovered Las Vegas and the opportunities it presented. "Once Home Depot announced it was moving two stores to Las Vegas, that's when I decided to move there. The city needed an in-town supplier of foliage. I was the only stocking wholesaler in town at the time," Morishita said. Word spread and soon Morishita was supplying not only chain stores, but hotels, casinos, interiorscapers, florists and convention centers. He said supplying this diversity of clients takes skill and knowledge. "You have to understand their thinking," he said. "Each type of customer looks at the same plant differently. One won't take a particular plant because it doesn't fit his needs, and another will consider it an ideal plant." Here is how his customers view foliage plants: * Mass marketers. They're looking for good presentation (something attractive), but also want to know what the plants will add to the bottom line. They're also interested in how plants can lead to add-on sales such as fertilizer, potting soil or containers. * Interiorscapers. They want to know if plants can be taken from an interiorscape, rejuvenated and resold. They're also aware that foliage plants are the heart of their businesses and reflections on their companies' images. They also want to know what maintenance plants will require, as less maintenance means more profits. * Hotels/casinos. They view plants as decorations and are also interested in how plants will hold up in the interior environment. However, unlike interiorscapers, they're not interested in rejuvenating plants. * Convention centers. Plants are only temporary decorations. Foliage will be moved in for a certain convention, then removed once that event is over. Maintenance and longevity are not concerns. * Florists. Quality is a must and plants must convey a personal touch. When someone buys a foliage plant from a florist and gives it to a loved one, that plant has an emotional attachment. The florists know they are the vehicles through which that emotion is delivered and they want products to have longevity in the home. Changing attitudes Timing couldn't have been better for Morishita to move to Las Vegas, for since he's moved there, the city's major casinos and hotels have changed their perspective on live greenery. Take for instance the MGM Grand, the world's largest hotel, located on the Las Vegas Strip. When Morishita arrived, the facility was filled with silk plants. Since then, the company's management has changed its attitude. "They now see that live plants make a statement and add to the image of the property," Morishita said. "All nice hotels, not just the ones in Vegas, are beginning to think this way. They understand the way plants reflect on the company." MGM Grand now has more than 70,000 square feet (almost 2 acres) devoted to interior plantscaping. And this doesn't include the hotel's high-roller suites, which the company reserves for its biggest-spending clients. Few are allowed to see inside these suites. Morishita himself has never gotten a peek, but he sells a lot of plants for use inside them. "All the casinos are following suit, but not just because of MGM. The whole trend can be traced back to Steve Wynn and what he did to the Golden Nugget casino 20 years ago. He was the first to incorporate live plants on a large scale and he's followed that formula with his other casinos like the Mirage and most recently the Bellagio. "If you sell plants in this town, you should thank him. He was the first committed to 100 percent live plants." Consistency and education As a wholesaler, Morishita sells plants produced by many companies in Florida, California and Hawaii, not just his own growing facility. Because of this, it's difficult to deliver consistency. A 4-inch pothos grown by a grower in Florida will differ from one grown in Hawaii. For one thing, the media used will vary and, as a result, care requirements will be altered. The peat-based media used predominantly in Florida will hold water better than the lava-rock-based media from Hawaii. "You can't place those two side by side in an interiorscape because the person responsible for caring for these plants will treat them just the same," Morishita said. He quickly found that educating clients is a key to succeeding in the Las Vegas market. While many of the large hotels hire trained professionals to manage the interior plantscapes, they still need help in many aspects of their jobs.
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