Business Updates

Phase one of National Highways project nears completion

We were delighted to welcome representatives from National Highways to Greenwood in June, to inspect the first batch of the Three Million Trees project, and to tour our Fresh Acres and Pigeon House Farm nursery sites. The project was first announced in June 2023, with Greenwood committing to grow three million UK native trees from seed in peat-free media. “It was fantastic to see the love and care with which Greenwood have cultivated these trees, of course without the use of peat” said National Highways’ Environmental Sustainability Director Stephen Elderkin.

Q2 EPM Target Achieved

Congratulations to the entire G Team for your efforts in Q2, which resulted in a bonus payout for the second consecutive quarter. In what has been a challenging period for the industry, 2024 has been nothing short of a major success at Greenwood, thanks to your hard work. Despite many projects and call-offs being held due to economic uncertainty, the cost control from the production teams, and maximising of every sale and lead from the sales team, has resulted in our success. We hope you all enjoyed the staff lunch as recognition for your efforts, and that we can keep up the momentum in the second half of 2024.

G Team Focus: Dominik Jakubczak

Dominik is the Nursery Manager for the Northern Nurseries, overseeing the growing and dispatching operations at Willaston and Acresfield. As of this September, Dominik has now been with Greenwood for 20 years, being one of the longest serving current G Team members. He’s a valued member of the team, always bringing joy to the EPM meetings with his natural sense of humour!

Greenwood waste trials

At Greenwood, sustainability and innovation are two of our core values. We’re always looking for ways in which to increase our efficiency, as well as minimise our impact on the planet. This is why we’re delighted to be undertaking a new plastic waste recycling trial, alongside our existing G Cycle scheme, which allows us to sell our used and broken plastic pots to a recycling centre, not only reducing our waste, but generating revenue at the same time. The team at our Highleigh nursery site have been working hard to create the bales of plastic, and ensuring they’re packed efficiently for us to get the best return for our efforts. Since the trial’s beginning in June, we’ve already managed to pull in a considerable revenue, whilst reducing our plastic waste at the same time. Well done to those involved for a successful beginning to this new initiative.

G Team members attain qualifications

We’re delighted to announce that two members of our G Team, Accounts Assistant Jess Virgoe and Internal Sales Co-ordinator Liam Spencer, have both attained passed their respective training courses, and received qualifications for their efforts. Liam, as we shared in last edition’s G Talk, was undertaking a Level 4 Sales Executive program, alongside his role as Internal Sales Co-ordinator, which we’re happy to share that he has now passed, having completed his final assessment last month. Jess Virgoe, who recently joined us in our accounts team, has been undertaking her AAT Level 2 foundation certificate in accounting, a qualification recognised by the Association of Accounting Technicians. Having now passed this course, she will be able to move onto the level 3 Diploma. In addition to this, four G Team members have also undertaken a 3 month accounting course (3MAC) and have passed their final exam. HR and H&S Admin Patryk Zielinski, Nursery Manager Emilia Tinkler, Production Director Karolina Forgacz, and Marketing Manager Chris Williams, have all successfully completed the course, which covers a wide range of business-relevant accounting topics, such as profit/loss, balance sheets, cashflow projection, and financial ratios. Growth is one of our core values at Greenwood, and providing opportunities to train and develop the G Team is incredibly important to the future success of the company.

Staff discount available at Greenwood Choice

Have you been envious of the plants you’re growing, selling, packing, or dispatching to our clients? Do you have a small space in your garden that could do with some brightening up? Well, you can also take home some of Greenwood’s award-winning shrubs, trees, grasses and perennials, at a special G Team discounted rate! All staff purchases are priced at 25% off our standard client rates, and apply to every member of the team equally, whether you’re a nursery operative, or the CEO! All sales will be handled by the Greenwood Choice team at Fresh Acres, either via Kevin Merritt or Kasia Niemczyk. To place an order, please get in touch with either Kevin or Kasia via email, over the phone, or in person. If you work on one of our other nurseries, no problem! Just speak to your nursery manager, who will be able to arrange the purchase for you.

Greenwood Choice £1 million challenge update (By Kevin Merritt):

A few weeks into 2024, after a slow start to sales at Greenwood Choice, I decided to set an ambitious target of £1 million in sales at Greenwood Choice by the end of the year. This would represent more than a 100% increase on sales achieved in 2023. At the end of week 31 (16th August), the yearly sales total is almost £400,000. This comes after a difficult period in Q2, where sales are now increasing, with a number of larger customers trusting me to select plant mixes and plan which areas they are planted in. This has allowed me to use a lot of our own stock, and some of these orders have been very large. To reach the ‘Magic Million’ Greenwood Choice needs to achieve sales of approximately £29,000-30,000 per week for the rest of the year. This weekly target will be a real challenge, but myself and Kasia will do everything we can to get to the target!