FLOWER TRUCKS

Are vintage flower trucks practical? No, not so much. But who ever wanted practical flowers? Flowers are an emotional product bringing joy, life, and happiness wherever you put them up and this style of flower truck does much the same.

Chances are you’ve seen and been inspired by Amelia’s Flower Truck – and no, unfortunately that’s not one we built. However, since that truck gained popularity there’s been a noticeable uptick in requests for units like it that we are more than happy to fulfill.

Although imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and we can and do stock and convert them, if all flower boutiques switch to Volkswagen Kombi conversions nobody stands out anymore. Being your own unique you is a much more valuable long term proposition. Additionally, there are many vintage truck options that allow that such as the iconic Citroen H van (also available as a trailer version).

Downsides to consider when getting a vintage flower truck are the limited top speed, more frequent and costly maintenance, and limited space vis-a-vis a modern truck or step van.

A clear upside is that your truck is free extra marketing for your business – and not only that, you can often rent out the truck for weddings and other events and occasions where a more practical trailer would be out of place.

In the practical and demanding category of cargo vans and delivery trucks we have a very clear favorite: the Mercedes Benz Sprinter is simply the Mercedes among flower trucks and is our go-to unit for practical conversions that favor function over aesthetic.

Although similar models, such as the Iveco Daily and Fiat Ducato, can work as a transporter, we advise customers to go with Mercedes. Not only is the initial ticket price quickly earned back through the reliability and lower operational costs, but ultimately you can count on also getting a higher resale value after a five or more years of use.

A Mercedes van does not have to be as pricey as you think due to our custom, fabricated prefab boxes that can be mounted on the cab chassis and it not being necessary to use a new model as the base for your build. Karpatia makes prefab cargo boxes with refrigeration and shelving installed for your flower transporting needs or we upfit our solutions to an already existing box.

It is significant to note that the length and diameter of the flowers you would like to sell will greatly influence the carrying and display solution that can be provided. This is one of the major items to consider during the design phase – What kinds of buckets or other containers will your flowers be in? Are you delivering just the bouquet or is there a vase coming with it? Thinking ahead greatly increases the efficiency of your flower truck.

You can view an example illustration of one of our solutions for a mixed inventory below.

A public secret to most flower trucks is that they are actually trailers. As far as Europe goes, virtually all of them are. Across the continent there are many hundreds if not thousands setting up shop on markets multiple days per week. That is quite the pool to draw inspiration from for your US based flower business!

The flower trailer is a cost-effective solution with a high degree of customization, too much to show on one page. Like all trailers, we build the flower truck version from scratch and it can be any size, width, and height that you are allowed to operate.

When stationary, the trailer folds out in multiple directions to allow extra display areas for your merchandise. It can come with a mechanically lowering trailer bed so it can be closer to ground level allowing customers to walk inside easily, or alternatively with a set of lightweight aluminum terraced steps that both allow customers to step up and in to your trailer as well as provide extra shelving for flower buckets.

An awning is considered essential. Truly European is to go for a full weatherproof wrap-around tent, not a bad idea if you are outside of the sun belt to shield both flowers and customers from the rain and wind.