Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana & Oliverio Alvarado
Hi Ana & Oliverio, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
We first started working at Zuma Canyon Orchids in the early 80s after emigrating from El Salvador. The two of us started as the orchid growers and worked in the greenhouses helping plant, maintain, and grow the orchids. Ana primarily worked in the laboratory planting orchid seeds and helping the owner at the time (Amado Vazquez) with the creation of different hybrid orchids. During this period of the business, Zuma Canyon Orchids was known for selling loose/single plants to retail businesses and orchid enthusiasts.
Over the years, Ana transitioned to supporting the office functions of the business and Oli transitioned to general manager who oversaw the ongoing operations of the greenhouses, the staff, and worked closely to fulfill the orchid requests of customers and clients.
Starting in the early 2000s, Amado’s son, George, who had been working at the company since its inception, took over the business and began making exciting changes to the services offered to customers. George’s time spent judging orchid competitions across the world, but primarily in Japan, allowed him to see how artistic orchid arrangements were becoming popular. With his vision, Zuma Canyon Orchids became one of the first businesses in the country to begin offering high-end, artistic orchid arrangements to clients.
Oli worked with George to learn how to make custom orchid arrangements. As the custom arrangements became more popular, Zuma Canyon Orchids participated and won in many orchids shows and competitions. This helped the company become known as one of the best businesses for custom orchid arrangements and grew the clientele to include many high-end and faithful customers.
In late 2018, the Woolsey Fires severely impacted both the valley and Malibu. Zuma Canyon Orchids lost three structures of the business (a greenhouse, the office, and the warehouse) to the fire and had to close down for over half a year. It was during this time that George decided to retire. We took over the business and renamed it Zuma Orchids. We immediately focused on fixing some of the damage done to the structures while closed and then reopened in August 2019 under the new name Zuma Orchids.
Since taking over the business, we have focused on making custom arrangements more accessible to various clientele by launching a website to place orders (www.zumaorchids.com) and creating social media pages on Instagram and Facebook (@zumaorchids). We have expanded our area of service by offering delivery all the way from Santa Barbara to Orange County, even shipping across the country. We continue being lucky enough to have loyal and long standing customers, along with new and welcome customers who can find us more easily on the web. One of the things our repeat customers love about Zuma Orchids is that they can bring in their own pots and pick and choose from all the single plant orchids in the greenhouses – the color, size, and style of orchids they want made into a custom arrangement that will work for their home, their office, or anywhere they plan to put them.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the past 8 years there have been quite a few big challenges that were unexpected. The first was the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which burned down three structures on the property, damaged two other greenhouses, and killed all the plants that were in the greenhouses at the time. When the fires first broke out in the valley, no one really expected it to travel as quickly or as far as it did to reach Zuma beach. Both of us were working the day the fires broke out and as we followed the progression of the fire over the mountain, we decided it was time to evacuate. Ana made the quick decision to grab the company computer and put it in her car as a just in case. This would prove to be extremely valuable down the road as it was the only thing that survived from the office that burned down, and had all the company’s customer and vendor information. There was a lot of uncertainty during that time on whether the business would shut down permanently or even be able to recover from the impacts of the fire.
During the closure and following George’s retirement, we decided to take on the challenge of owning the business and finding a way to recoup post the Woolsey Fire. As Zuma Canyon Orchids had always been a family business, we wanted to keep that tradition under the new name of Zuma Orchids. We enlisted the help of our three children to help us navigate how to open a new business and what to consider. One of our sons helped us registering the business and setting up all the paperwork, our other children assisted with launching social media and creating a website for customers to more easily find us and place orders. We were able to relaunch the business as Zuma Orchids in August 2019 and invited former customers and clients to come back.
We were preparing for our first orchid show as business owners, when COVID-19 hit in March 2020. One of the largest and most recognized orchid events in Southern California is the Annual Santa Barbara International Orchid Show that takes place in March of every year. We had been going for many years under the previous ownership, so we were well aware of the preparation it took to get ready for the show, which included having a large inventory/stock of orchids to sell, many prepped orchid arrangements, and large displays to compete in the show. The judging of the large orchid displays was set to occur on a Thursday in early March, with the show opening to the public from Friday to Sunday.
At this time, just as the whole country was, we were closely following the rapid spread of COVID-19 and watching as governments and businesses decided whether to continue with planned events or cancel them. The call was officially made on Thursday, the day the judges were going to evaluate the displays set up, that the show would be cancelled. While it was understandable given the public health crisis, this caused a lot of concern for us and various other owners who had invested significant time and money into the weekend and would be stuck with orchid stock that couldn’t be sold.
To make the best of a bad situation, we decided to utilize social media and run ad campaigns promoting a “Spring Sale” that would help move all the inventory that couldn’t be sold at the show. Within a few months, the need for people to socially isolate and avoid going out when possible was impacting people’s mental health and well-being. Orders started coming in online for orchid arrangements that could help brighten people’s stay while indoors, this all helped keep the business afloat during the early days of covid. As restrictions lifted or changed during the pandemic, the business saw more customers returning or finding us through the website. Just as the 2018 fire had been a turbulent time with an unknown future, we pushed forward again and our community continued to remain strong and show us why we love to do what we do.
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?
Zuma Orchids is now in its 5th year under our ownership but continues to offer custom and unique orchid flower arrangements. Our orchid flower arrangements are made from the best quality phalaenopsis orchids and customers have options to add decorative moss balls, succulents, air plants, and willow branches to make the arrangement to their liking.
We are best known for our well manicured phalaenopsis orchid arrangements, and what sets us apart from others is our attention to detail in ensuring the arrangement’s presentation and quality is top tier. We are proud to consistently win awards at the Santa Barbara International Show for our orchid displays and our quality of phalaenopsis orchids, be it a miniature or standard orchid.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
We both grew up in El Salvador and immigrated to the United States during the civil war, where we met in Los Angeles amongst mutual friends and family. Oli helped me get my first job at Zuma Canyon Orchids, where I was able to work in the laboratory with Amado Vazquez.
Growing up in El Salvador looked very different for us. For the first 11 years, Oli lived in a canton with his immediate family and they had no running water or electricity. He would walk a mile to school and when getting home would help his father on the farm. He dreamed of a better life and was able to move to San Salvador with his aunt at 11 years old. There he had to repeat a year of school but continued to go to school, worked selling clothes, and dreamed of going to college so he could work in finance.
Ana, also grew up in a small canton with her aunt and uncle, who adopted her. They moved to San Salvador when she was 6 years old, as her adopted father was a commercial business owner and her mother owned a cafe. She went to school, would help her mother at the cafe after school, and dreamed of becoming a flight attendant when older.
Both of our life trajectories changed when El Salvador broke out in a civil war in 1980. During the civil war, young men were being recruited to join the national army or the resistance/ guerrilla fighters. Oli had just turned 19 and was entering his last year of high school. He did not want to fight in the war, so he decided to immigrate and join his older brother in the US. Upon arriving in the US, he was able to get a job at Zuma Canyon Orchids.
Ana was able to finish high school during the first few years of the civil war, but by the time she graduated the situation in the country was extremely dangerous and unstable. Her father decided it would be safer for her to immigrate to the US and sent her to live with her uncles in the US. She first worked at a hotel in the US and then after meeting Oli was able to get a job at Zuma Canyon Orchids.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://zumaorchids.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zumaorchids/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zumaorchids/
