Lavocat’s Family Greenhouse and Nursery: How To Turn Obstacles Into Success

With inspiration, a passion to grow, and a lot of support from family, the Lavocats are a shining example of how to turn a small greenhouse business into a thriving greenhouse, landscape operation, and garden center in a suburb of Buffalo, NY.

Don Lavocat Sr. started a small backyard greenhouse in 1980 with his wife Teri. Now, 45 years later, the Lavocat family owns and operates a 22,000 square-foot garden center, a 44,000 square-foot growing greenhouse with a 3-acre nursery, and a successful landscape operation where three generations work, grow, and help to make the Western New York region beautiful, one garden at a time.

We talked with Chris Lavocat, now CEO and President of Growing Operations, who shared that from the start, everyone was involved. He, along with brother Don Jr. and sister Kellie, learned the business early by caring for plants in the small greenhouse.

“Helping around the greenhouse was all we knew growing up,” says Lavocat. “But my father pushed me to go to college. He wanted me to do whatever I wanted to do. So, I entered college with sights on an engineering degree that quickly changed to finance,” says Lavocat. “My goal was to wear a tie every day and work on Wall Street and, you know, be that big city banker,” he says.

Lavocat quickly learned that was not for him. “I wanted more flexibility,” he says. “I was used to working with my hands. So, I came back and made a deal with my dad. I said, ‘I’ll take a pay cut, but I want to come back and slowly take over and take stuff off your plate’,” he explains. “I really just wanted ownership, so I had something to work for every day for my future.”

Lavocat now works alongside Don Jr., President of the Landscape Operation, and Kellie, General Manager of the Garden Center. Since the second generation has been playing a larger role in the business, it’s grown tenfold since 2010. But it wasn’t all roses and daffodils. Like anything worth working for, there’s always a little “fertilizer” in the form of obstacles that the universe throws into the mix to help us grow.

Obstacles to Overcome

Obstacle No. 1:

Finding Suppliers for an Expanding Business. The year was 2015, and the family was ready to make the investment to expand by building a 19,000 square-foot garden center. Then it happened. They received a call from one of their long-time vendors who said he couldn’t supply them anymore. With a little probing, Lavocat found out that a local competitor had called that vendor, and several others, and told them they wouldn’t do business with them if they supplied the Lavocats.

“I was crushed,” Lavocat says. “I thought, ‘This is it. We’re done.’ We were expanding from annuals and perennials to trees, shrubs, stone, and landscape products.” It was a very difficult time. “I had lost all my suppliers, even those I had worked with before moving to the new location.”

“I started calling everyone in town and finally found other vendors that would supply to us. It was a stressful time for sure. Now we have great relationships with vendors like Ridge Manor Nursery and Prides Corner Farms. I get solicited from other nurseries all the time, but I won’t leave these suppliers because they were so loyal to us early on. That experience turned into a good thing because I have really phenomenal relationships with these guys now,” says Lavocat. “Looking back, that experience was a blessing, because it gave us further drive to succeed.”

Obstacle No. 2:

The COVID-19 Shutdown – Impact on the Lavocat Business. When COVID shut down pretty much everything that wasn’t deemed essential in March of 2020, Lavocat says, “I had a greenhouse full of annuals and perennials. I remember just looking around thinking, ‘How am I going to sell all this if we can’t be open?’ I literally broke down,” he confesses. “Our business was in jeopardy, and we needed to make our loan payments. So we fast-tracked an online website for in-store pickup.”

Obstacle No. 3:

The COVID-19 Shutdown – Impact on the Community. COVID was difficult for everyone. When everything shut down, all businesses had inventory to sell, whether it was officially deemed essential or not. That downturn didn’t stop the Lavocats from wanting to reach out to help their community. They made space for local vendors – at no charge – so farmers, crafters, and local artists could set up on some of the family’s unused property. This helped local vendors while giving the Lavocats an opportunity to sell as well. It started with 50 or so vendors, and when everything opened up, they continued holding these pop-up events. They now offer one in the fall, two at Christmas, and one for Valentine’s Day. This year they had close to 1,000 cars for their Valentine’s Day pop-up.

The result of these obstacles? The Lavocats learned that they could adapt as a business in a short amount of time, and they are stronger for it. “This gave us a level of confidence knowing that we can overcome anything,” Lavocat says.

What’s Next?

This is an exciting time for the Lavocats. They’ve held a few small events in their garden center, including a small wedding and a children’s birthday party, and they’re planning to branch out into agritourism. They’ve also had great success with their pop-up events in the fall and then again around Christmas and Valentine’s Day, and they want to continue to offer fresh ideas for their customers.

“We held my wife’s baby shower in our garden center, and we’re planning another wedding shower in April,” says Lavocat. “We’re also adding on a 5,000 square-foot pole barn that we plan to use as a gift shop and venue for other events like small bridal and baby showers, corporate meetings, classes, etc.”

The Next Generation

Don Sr. and Teri’s grandchildren range in age from two to 22, so the family is now looking forward to a third generation in the business.

“While our parents still play a role in the business, and they will never retire, our goal is to eventually take over more every year,” says Lavocat. “They’re always going to be here working in the business in some capacity, and that works for everybody,” he says. “Mom works in the garden center merchandising our pottery and keeping our plants looking healthy, and Dad has been growing flowers longer than any of us, so we bounce stuff off him all the time. He’s also now our resident mechanic since none of us have that skill set. He can basically go anywhere in the business that we need him,” he says.