Things took off for Indira and Tom right away. “Our start
was a whirlwind adventure,” she says. “We flew out to Tacoma,
Washington, for the Maximum Yield Indoor Gardening Expo
in April 2014. By April 11, our company was established, and
we opened our doors in July 2014.”
Why Bedford Hills? “We selected
this area because it has an avid gardening and holistic care community that is very aware of where their
“Collaborating
produce comes from,” explains Indira.
with our
“Collaborating with our community to
educate and create year-round indoor
community to
gardens felt like a logical evolution.”
educate and
Of those first few months, the pair
describes their start-up days as both challengcreate yearing and incredibly rewarding. “Our greatest
round indoor
pleasure has come from our First Timers’
gardens felt
Club, a group of moms and professionals
who have never started a seed or grown
like a logical
a garden who we have been mentoring
evolution.”
from the seed-starting stage. They’re
now enjoying their first harvests
and are getting ready to start their
seeds for their indoor gardens to
harvest as the snow starts to fall,” shares Indira. “We attribute
our successes to our unique, clean, open, bright, welcoming
environment and our outstanding customer service. We are
approachable and eager to share our knowledge and expertise so that our clients can experience the joy of successful
honeybee-keeping supplies; educational books and DVDs;
gardening.”
and kids’ growing experiments.
In the beginning, the challenges the couple faced did not
So far, Indira and Tom remain an operating staff of two.
necessarily revolve around attracting customers, but providTom is the in-house gardening expert, while Indira is in
ing them with great pricing for what they were looking for,
charge of the back-of-the-house, social media and commuIndira says. “The greatest struggle has been working around
nity outreach efforts. They both spend a lot of time tending
the competitive pricing on the Internet. We’re mitigating this
to the dozen working models set up in their showroom, and
by offering gardening coaching services that help our clients
enjoying their harvests.
grow successfully.”
When it comes to running a hydro store, the pair has
The next steps involved marketing their shop to solidify
learned a lot, and have the following advice to pass on to
their position in the industry. “This is something that we’re
store owners: “Think different. Don’t limit the scope of your
continuously working on,” says Indira. “Luckily, we’re the
business to just products. People can easily get the same
only organics and hydroponics garden supply retailer in
products online, but the guidance they get from someone in
Northern Westchester County. We are active within our
person is priceless.”
community and often give workshops at local schools and
With a full year of running a successful shop to add to their
events, including hosting an event for the holistic network of
resumes, this is only the beginning for Indira and Tom. As
Westchester County, and collaborating with a local veterinarthey look into the future, they hope to open additional locaian who is raising milk weed and monarch butterflies.” Social
tions through franchise opportunities, and well as further
media has also been a great avenue for Delicious Gardens.
partnerships with their community.
“We leverage local community groups to announce events
“We are looking forward to collaborating with our commuand provide gardening tips and activities for kids. This is a
nity to create green roofs to grow local food so that produce
great way to engage the community and drive them to our
doesn’t have to be brought in from across the country or
showroom for supplies,” Indira explains.
other countries,” says Indira. “We’re overjoyed with the sucIn terms of what they offer growers, Indira and Tom have
cess we have been able to give our clients. From teaching
hand-selected the products they felt were top quality. They
children how to start seeds, to being able to exchange ideas
stock more than 60 brands, specializing in aeroponics,
and success stories with seasoned growers, we love helping
aquaponics and hydroponics, micro-garden systems; vegan,
growers enjoy their success by giving them the guidance to
organic and brew-your-own nutrients; coco-fiber-based
unlock the full potential of their gardens.”
growing media; micro-garden climate control systems;
Maximum Yield USA | November 2015
159