Say it with fruits

When you love some-one, say it with … fruits?

That seems to be the trend nowadays. Instead of spending money on expensive flower arrangements, people are starting to look to edible arrangements to express their sentiments.

“The concept started in the States,” says Leah Dy, marketing director of Fruits in Bloom, which provides clients with fresh, gourmet fruit arrangements to mark special occasions.

In America, fruit bouquets were a fresh alternative to the clichéd flowers and chocolates: you wouldn’t have to throw away wilted blooms or gain weight finishing off a box of chocolates.

“Here in the Philippines, there’s also a trend towards health,” Leah notes. “Instead of sugar-laden cupcakes or cake, you can give healthy fruits instead.”

What makes Fruits in Bloom (FIB) different from other startups is a youthful style and playful yet modern sense of design. The three friends who started it are all in their 30s. Leah met creative director Patricia Kierulf-Mauricio and operations manager Kathleen Tan in grade school. FIB’s stylist consultant is Kiki Nimanwathani, a half-Thai, half-British toy designer Patricia met in Bangkok, where she is now based.

“All the arrangements that you’ve seen in the past, they don’t have height to it or it would be all the different fruits jumbled in together,” Kiki says. “But we have more height and dimension and we do a lot of dipping, like we have chocolate dipping and chocolate moldings that other brands don’t have.”

Party animals: A Kiddie Collection bouquet with pineapples, apple wedges, and orange slices drizzled with chocolate

“We can customize it according to what our clients want,” says Patricia, who travels back and forth between Thailand and Manila frequently for Fruits in Bloom. Needless to say, the four friends communicate a lot through BlackBerry Messenger and Skype.

They’ve done parties, weddings and corporate giveaways. For a bridal shower, instead of a cake they supplied a kinky arrangement (where bananas must have been the featured fruit). And for a science-themed children’s party, they laid out a whole spread of desserts, crafting astronauts and rockets out of fruit instead of the usual birthday cake. “It’s a way for parents to encourage kids to eat fruit, and they do, actually,” says Patricia. “We also did a sports event, so they wanted balls in it made out of fruits. That was a challenge but it was fun.”

For an upcoming function they are creating an Angry Birds “fru-quet,” for which they are planning to dip carved bananas in different-colored chocolates and decorate them.

“I don’t think other brands could come up with this,” declares Kiki, who says she’s inspired by the kinds of fruit available, especially the more exotic varieties like guava.

Leah says that Fruits in Bloom are also ideal for hospital visits: “Instead of bringing flowers, it’s something that can really cheer up the patient because it’s something they can eat, and they keep the mugs.”

When working with clients, first they find out what the customer wants, then choose an appropriate vase, which determines the color motif and kind of fruits they’ll include. Packaging also plays a big role in Fruits in Bloom’s visual appeal; the vessels they use — whether pitchers, watering cans or vases — are all beautiful enough to be reused and all bouquets are delivered in striking green boxes with window panes.

Turnaround time is fairly quick: they can deliver an order within two days or less. To maintain maximum freshness, they create all the arrangements on the day itself, at times starting work as early as 4 a.m. to prep all of the fruits.

Strawberry bliss: Plump and juicy strawberries rest on a field of greens.

 “There are some functions where they require 12 arrangements by noon, so we start and prep by midnight,” Kathleen says.

Like chefs, they need to know which fruits are in season and how to work with it: how to select it, slice it, how much pressure can be applied to it — skills they had to learn through trial and error. They pay a remarkable amount of attention to detail, even wrapping the fruit skewers and the foam base so that every detail’s clean and been thought out.

“The cutting of the fruits is very particular,” adds Leah. “You can’t put too much pressure on it because destroys the cut of the fruit.”

They’ve learned that the best fruits to work with are the harder, solid ones that last longer like apples and oranges, though they’re willing to accommodate any special requests.

Ideally, an edible bouquet should be consumed within a day, or if not, the fruits can be removed from the sticks, put in an airtight container and it will last for a couple of days.

Friends and business partners: (from left) Fruits in Bloom’s creative director Patricia Kierulf-Mauricio, operations manager Kathleen Tan, marketing director Leah Dy, and stylist consultant Kiki Nimanwathani

Fruits in Bloom began in May of this year. Leah, who also runs a spa business, was getting bored with what she was doing. She first encountered edible arrangements in Hong Kong and so made an inquiry, but it cost too much to franchise that particular brand from the States, so she shelved the idea. Then, after a visit to Bangkok, Pat called her and said, “I have a business proposal for you.” “Pat came up with the idea and I said, oh, my God, I was actually eyeing that!” Leah says.

They started providing arrangements for family and friends, but after just a month, word of mouth spread and they started doing functions and developing a customer base.

“It’s a fulfillment to see a business growing from something that wasn’t there before,” says Kathleen, “and you get to help a lot of people.”

The price range for a Fruits in Bloom arrangement is from P750 to P3,000, but they can customize cost with a client depending on budget and occasion, like for corporate giveaways with a big volume.

So far, their most memorable arrangements include an abacus and one with airplanes in it, for a company in the travel industry. Next year they hope to open a satellite store, perhaps in Bangkok, where fruit arrangements are still not available.

“All of them have their own characters,” says Kiki. “We get inspired and carried away by each design as we’re doing it.”

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Fruits in Bloom is located on the ground floor of the Frabelle Building, 109 Rada St., Legazpi Village, Makati, tel. no. 812-0380, mobile 0915-326-9136 or visit www.fib.com.ph.