You could say that small-business owners Sondra and Andrew Sebastian are in the business of fooling people. Their livelihood is selling gifts that look like flowers … but aren’t. For instance, their “Flowering Money” bouquet is made of real-deal moola folded to resemble roses. But in this column, we’re concerned about food, so let’s concentrate on their most popular product: cookies.
“People are just looking for something different to send besides flowers,” says Sondra, co-owner of Send Me No Flowers, along with her husband Andrew.
It’s a mom-and-pop company, run out of a warehouse in Pittsburgh’s east suburbs. For the last 20 years, the Sebastians have been delivering gift bouquets and baskets — not flowers — to Pittsburghers celebrating birthdays, Valentine’s, new babies and so on.
Their most popular item: the cookie bouquet. It’s a long-stemmed rose box, tied with a ribbon and disguised as a flower delivery. The cookies inside are even on “stems.”
“Women like to send them to their husbands at work to embarrass them,” Sondra says. “They think they’re getting flowers, but when they open them, all of their co-workers are happy.”
If the order is in by 11 a.m., a same-day delivery can be made to any ZIP code beginning in 151 or 152. For next-day delivery, orders need to be placed by 4 p.m.
“Sometimes we’ll even go further if it’s a birthday, and we don’t have the opportunity to ship it next day,” Sondra says. Fortunately, cookies are easier to transport than flowers.
