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Community Highlights: Meet Kseniia Kondrashova of Tomatoes-Potatoes

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Kseniia Kondrashova.

Hi Kseniia, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Hello everybody! I’m a food-florist, I make bouquets from fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts and other healthy (or not so much) ingredients.

My family and I ended up in USA almost incidentally early in 2022, because my husband’s job offered a relocation, to which we have agreed. Since then, I spent a lot of time thinking about what to do with my life. I wanted to get into something creative and free, not go back to the job I had before I had kids.

One sunny day (it’s always sunny in Arizona) I was looking for a food bouquet online and could find anything… truth be told, I did find one large company in the edible bouquet business, however, it was not at all what I had wanted. The idea struck me. I didn’t sleep half a night, reading and researching how to do it, I’ve paid for a course from a foreign instagram account to learn more. The very next day I bought up a whole lot of fruits and vegetables and started the creative process while my husband would take photos. Since then I’ve been constantly learning more and more about composing food florist business.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was not an easy stroll. First of all, my English language is not so good still, and my husband has to assist with translation and all the writing.

Secondly, everything here is different:

– grocery stores stock up on different things (for example, every supermarket in Russia has Rafaello coconut candy, whereas they are almost impossible to find here);
– seasonal produce are not the same (for example, pomegranates are barely available for a month or two a year here, but are available most of the year in Russia, perhaps imported from Middle East; sweet cherries are present for the shortest of times, but both of them are very good and important regular components of fruiquets).
– you don’t always know the names of components as their translations are not always obvious (e.g. a child seat is called a high chair, cider is called hard cider, what we call carton is called chipboard, gallons and pounds vs litres and kilograms)
It is an interesting learning process, of course, although it adds up to time spent doing the work.
It is still a huge challenge to find adequately priced packaging for delivery of the bouquets. What is available is either not sturdy enough or too expensive or only available in wholesale quantities, which are not yet affordable for me.
Another challenge is promotion. When we bring bouquets to parties such as birthdays or get-togethers, there is always an amazing reception and a lot of gratitude, but I don’t get the number of orders I’d like. But I keep my head high and soldier on with a spark in my eyes.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I mostly refer to myself as we in the public space, because it is me and my husband, without whose financial and moral support the business couldn’t have started. We are a workshop of exclusive WOW bouquets made from fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts, sweets, flowers, greens, and so on. It has become a huge trend in Russia, where we’re both from, however in Arizona it seems to be a completely unknown idea. We feel like we are breaking some new grounds here!

To better reflect the idea of us being an alternative to the classic floral bouquets my husband came up with the words berryquet, fruiquet, nutquet, vegguet. Perhaps, we’re the only ones who happily allow the maximum possible flexibility in creating a base (a basket, a bouquet, a hat box, and others) and composition of a bouquet, its colors, shape, and size. We are sure that gifting our bouquets to someone creates a huge smile and lots of WOWs.

Readers of the Voyage magazine can get a discount of 10% if they use the FRIEND10 code at the checkout.

We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Presently, this workshop is based out of our home, but I aim to open a chain of shops throughout Arizona and, one day, the US. I dream of Tomatoes-Potatoes becoming a recognizable brand with unique bouquets.

Pricing:

  • Bouquet prices from $35
  • Hatbox from $75
  • Basket from $50

Contact Info:

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