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April 20, 2006: An interview with Todd Bachman
For the fourth-generation CEO of a 121-year-old family business, the past often explains the present.
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For the fourth-generation CEO of a 121-year-old family business, the past often explains the present.
When people ask Todd Bachman why Bachman's, the well-known Minneapolis garden center and florist, selected purple as its signature color, he takes you back to 1943, a time of paper rationing because of World War II.
Given the choice of brown craft, green or purple paper, Bachman's uncle took purple because it wasn't as popular, and he could stock up on it. In keeping with its new color for packaging, Bachman's delivery trucks were painted purple beginning in 1953.
As much as Bachman and his cousins in senior management respect history, they've now decided to make some breaks with the past after two years of flat sales (revenue was $81 million for the year ended in January) and break-even results.
The company is undertaking a "rebranding" that does away with the purple packaging and trucks, and introduces a new gift boutique within the garden centers, called Wink, in the hope of attracting and keeping younger female customers.
The Wink rollout will be completed by Monday in Bachman's six full-service garden centers and a seventh location at U.S. Bank Plaza in downtown Minneapolis. Meanwhile, changes in Bachman's packaging and signs, to go along with a new logo, will be completed in the next few weeks.
Most of the delivery trucks have been converted to a white botanical pattern on a chartreuse background. A few vertical bars are all that remain of the traditional purple.
Bachman, 60, who has worked at the company since 1968, said that "it's important we have a fresh look," while his cousin Paul, 54, who heads marketing and merchandising, noted that the company needed to reinvigorate its floral and gift business, which represents 40 percent of sales.
Research done with women between age 35 and 49 told them things they needed to know, but were hard to hear.
"It hit pretty close to home when some of them said they think of Bachman's as their mother's store," Paul Bachman said. "Wink will add some of that whimsy that has been missing at Bachman's."
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