Freddie’s Flowers slashes staff numbers as pandemic boom wanes

Freddie’s Flowers has instituted sweeping job cuts, with many affected staff given just a week’s notice and statutory redundancy, This is Money understands.

The job cuts are understood to have affected most departments in UK operations, with Freddie’s last week offering staff the chance to take voluntary redundancy or risk being let go with a pay-out equivalent to just one week for every year served.

It’s not clear how many staff members have been axed, but just one staff member took voluntary redundancy, according to Freddie’s Flowers.

 A spokesperson confirmed that staff at risk of redundancy were informed on 6 July and Freddie’s remains ‘in consultation with a number of departments and [expects] to conclude the whole process by 15 August’.

The flower subscription service has expanded rapidly in recent times, with a hiring spree, and new business in Europe and the US.

A pandemic-driven boom led Freddie’s to an 81 per cent increase in revenue in the financial year to August last year, with turnover rising from £26.4m to £47.8m over the period

However, its rapid growth plans led to losses surging from £333,537 to £4.5m in 2021, while its average number of employees rose from 96 to 225

The firm is still advertising for a number of roles on its website, primarily within London and Heston, including a logistics job in Bavaria, Germany.

The Freddie’s spokesperson said: ‘We are in the process of seeing if any of the skill sets required [for jobs currently being advertised] can be met by those in roles affected with redundancy.’

As a non-listed business, Freddie’s is not expected to provide another update to Companies House until September.

But last week’s job losses suggest that 2022 has seen much less buoyant trading for the firm, which has also been forced to hike prices in recent months.

Other businesses with subscription models, such as streaming services, have reported a downturn in trade in recent months as sky-high inflation forces consumers to cut back on non-essentials.

The company’s business model is built on a weekly subscription for fresh bouquets that buyers self-assemble. Its target market is affluent Britons aged 30-plus.

The latest report shows that Freddie’s Flowers’ most recent cash reserves were up from £1.6million to £28.4million. 

Freddie Garland founded the London-based company in 2014 aged 26 after quitting his job at organic food outfit Abel & Cole.