SEATTLE, WA - Royalty is of utmost importance when it’s in your name, and RipeLocker is upholding this regal trait with its latest announcement. Recently, the innovative company closed its first purchase agreement with The Queen’s Flowers, a floral importer and grower in Colombia and Ecuador with wholesale and distribution warehouses across the United States.
“Queen’s is a major player in fresh-cut flowers. They have an excellent in-house technical team who sets the bar high for quality,” detailed George Lobisser, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of RipeLocker. “We are honored to be working with them.”
As an early adopter of RipeLocker’s green technology, The Queen’s Flowers saw the immense value created during initial commercial trials conducted earlier in the year to suppress the senescence and decay of its fresh-cut roses. Together, RipeLocker extended the post-harvest life of Queen’s previously harvested roses by an extra 2–4 weeks.
This occurred around Valentine's and Mother's Day. In anticipation of the need for more inventory during these high-demand holidays, Queen’s partnered with RipeLocker to proactively solve this problem and use the innovative containers to prolong the freshness of its roses, increasing the quantities available for sales during peak seasons.
“The data and technology around the RipeLocker containers will help us manage production ups and downs, assuring a better supply and freshness of our roses,” commented David Gonzalez, Chief Operating Officer of The Queen’s Flowers, noting the benefits of the company’s agreement with the tech provider.
RipeLocker containers offer a unique, patented system to manage the atmospheric pressure, humidity, and gas composition (oxygen and CO2) within the receptacles to extend the life of fresh produce and flowers. Based on the specific needs of each type of fresh produce or flower, RipeLocker tailors operating parameters, such as internal pressure, oxygen, and CO2 levels, to optimize longevity and freshness. The system reports and responds to changes in the storage or shipping environment, making automatic, precise adjustments to predict and prevent damage and reduce decay.
The innovator designed its pallet-sized containers so that they can easily be deployed and used in the existing cold chain. Produced using novel materials and highly scalable manufacturing processes, RipeLocker has patents on both the container design and method of operation.
Find out the latest plays our industry continues to deploy in the pursuit of fresh.