Vikaas Gutgutia

Vikaas Gutgutia is the founder of Ferns N Petals which is a florist and gift portal with branches in India.

Born in a modest, middle class family in Vidyasagar – a village in Bihar, Gutgutia’s father was a government contractor. After school, he moved to Kolkata where he graduated in Commerce. He started his career by assisting an uncle in a small flower business in Kolkata.

In 1994 Ferns N Petals began on a pavement in South Extension in New Delhi. There was a lack of air conditioned flower shops in Delhi and flowers were sold on the roadside. He had only Rs 5000/- but found a partner who invested 2.5 lakhs in the business. The partner later cashed out.

It took Gutgutia nine years -- from 1994 to 2003 – to break even. In that period he imported flowers and personally transported them to franchisees. At the high end of the spectrum, he joined hands with fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani with a view to set up luxury floral boutiques under the auspices of FNP Tahiliani. He has also ventured into luxury weddings with another designer and old friend -JJ Valaya.

According to Gutgutia, a foray into street foods proved to be a disaster. With his success in FNP, he ventured into “Chatak Chaat” – a chain which served north Indian street foods. But the venture failed and Gutgutia lost a large amount of money with this business failure.

Today Gutgutia’s focus is directly on gifting, his core proposition. Within this trade he has found room for diversification. His gifts have included flowers, and cakes, stuffed animals and potted plants. He has also adopted several forms of home delivery – express, superfast, midnight and international. After having established shops in tier 2 and teir 3 markets such as Coimbatore, Tirupati, Nellore and Sangli, Gutgutia is targeting cities like Kottayam, Bhillai, Jalandhar, Amritsar, and Bilaspur. He has taken Ferns N Petals’ wedding vertical international starting with Dubai and has expanded the e-commerce arm which currently delivers across 150 countries worldwide. Ferns N Petals has expanded from a single store in South Extension to 185+ outlets across the country. With seven active verticals expert the franchise model, he has stated he wants "to add a mile to the trade of floristry, event and weddings".