A tree grows in their factory: couple are a natural for artificial plant business as they produce customized foliage displays for hotels, restaurants and corporate offices worldwide. (Small Business).SUSIE Lewis remembers the moment she knew her business was ready to grow. Using her living room as a makeshift workspace for her artificial foliage company, Lewis' then 5-year old son complained that the 9-foot ficus trees being prepared for delivery were blocking his view of the TV. "Mommy, I can't see my cartoons' she recalls him saying. Now housed comfortably in a 6,500-foot office and production facility, Agoura Hills-based Make Be-Leaves has created a niche in the hospitality industry by producing custom artificial trees and floral flo·ral adj. Of, relating to, or suggestive of a flower: a fabric with a floral pattern. flo arrangements for hotels and restaurants using silk leaves and real wood stalks. Clients include the Luxor Hotel The Luxor Hotel is a hotel and casino located on the famed Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada (but like many other hotels on the Strip it uses a Las Vegas address) and was one of the resort city's first fully-themed megaresorts. in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. , Casino de Deauville in France and the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne, Australia. The company also creates arrangements for government and corporate offices, a business Lewis said she wants to expand. Along with her husband Jack, who retired as an L.A. fire-fighter in 1998 and now works full-time in the business, the couple started the company 19 years ago after failing at their first venture, an exercise consulting firm Noun 1. consulting firm - a firm of experts providing professional advice to an organization for a fee consulting company business firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a aimed at corporations. At the time, walking through the lobbies of corporate offices, she noticed how unhealthy the live plants looked. Remembering how an artificial ficus tree purchased for her mother had fooled all the guests at a Christmas party, Susie Lewis believed there was a market. Silk and wood At that time, most artificial plants were plastic and fake looking. But using silk leaves attached to real wood stalks produced a realistic mimic. "I always ask skeptical clients to choose between a real plant and a silk and they can never tell the difference' says Roy Sklarin, owner of Los Angeles-based Sklarin Interiors, among the interior designers that has hired Make Be Leaves for projects. Lewis, who has a B.A. in studio arts, was able to get business by developing relationships with interior designers. By starting small and working out of their home, she and her husband were able to keep overhead costs overhead costs see fixed costs. low and reinvest re·in·vest tr.v. re·in·vest·ed, re·in·vest·ing, re·in·vests To invest (capital or earnings) again, especially to invest (income from securities or funds) in additional shares. everything they made. The Lewises now have a dozen employees. Plants are customized for each client, giving the company an edge over competitors that produce "cookie cookie File or part of a file put on a Web user's hard disk by a Web site. Cookies are used to store registration data, to make it possible to customize information for visitors to a Web site, to target Web advertising, and to keep track of the products a user wishes to cutter cutter, small, one-masted sailing vessel, with a rig similar to that of a sloop except that it usually has a sliding bowsprit and a topmast. From 1800 to 1830 cutters were in service between England and France. " trees, Susie Lewis said. Make Be Leaves begins with realistic silk leaves purchased from Asia. Wood for the stalks is imported from as far away as Africa. Starting from the top, wire branches of leaves are drilled into, glued glue n. 1. a. A strong liquid adhesive obtained by boiling collagenous animal parts such as bones, hides, and hooves into hard gelatin and then adding water. b. or sometimes welded to the trunk. Then the tips are whittled and tapered ta·per n. 1. A small or very slender candle. 2. A long wax-coated wick used to light candles or gas lamps. 3. A source of feeble light. 4. a. to reflect authentic foliage. "Anything that is live you can mimic," Susie Lewis said. The most life-like are preserved palms, which include real palm fronds and trunk pieces from actual trees. Artificial Japanese maple also look natural, reflecting subtle differences in colors. Larger plants, like a banana banana, name for several species of the genus Musa and for the fruits these produce. The banana plant—one of the largest herbaceous plants—is said to be native to tropical Asia, but is now cultivated throughout the tropics. tree or birds of paradise, are tougher to copy. "Sometimes it's hard to get the majestic look of a large plant," Susie Lewis said. The Luxor used 18-foot artificial olive trees from Make Be Leaves to adorn its buffet A buffet is a meal serving system where patrons serve themselves. It is a popular method of feeding large numbers of people with minimal staff. The term is also used to describe a sideboard, an antique form of furniture which was sometimes used to offer the dishes of a buffet meal area. "No light and a busy buffet area made it difficult to use live plants," said Michelle Head, an interior designer with Pasadena's Dougall Design who worked with Lewis on the project. On most projects, the company is responsible for the creation, delivery and installation of the plants. "What sets the company apart is their customization," said Meri Meis of Meri Meis Associates, an interior design firm in Moorpark. Make Be Leaves gets from $12,000 to $30,000 to install plants for most hotel projects. A larger project, such as one done for the Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Virginia that included setting up 200 palm trees, brought in $90,000. Sept. 11 effect Revenues in 2001 were $700,000, down from $850,000 in 2000. Jack Lewis said the drop was due to the slowdown For articles with similar titles, see Slow Down (disambiguation). A slowdown is an industrial action in which employees perform their duties but seek to reduce productivity or efficiency in their performance of these duties. in the hotel industry after Sept. 11. Plus, competition has heated up. Las Vegas-based Plant works has the benefit of being located near the hotels and casinos. While Las Vegas remains a core part of business, the company is moving to get more government office and health-care business, such as hospitals. The couple admits to being slow in developing a business plan--another reason for the still-low revenues. Much of their first 18 years involved "knee-jerk, reactionary-type planning," Jack Lewis said. "But we've stumbled and found our niche as we grew," he said. RELATED ARTICLE: PROFILE Make Be-Leaves Year Founded: 1983 Core Business: Artificial foliage and floral arrangements for hotels, restaurants, and offices Revenues in 2000: $850,000 Revenues in 2001: $700,000 Employees in 2000:12 Employees in 2001:12 Goal: To obtain more government and health-care business. Driving force: To make each project as customized as possible. |
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