Regional nursery business able to meet demand with COVID-19 Jobs Support Loan

Queensland Indoor Foliage (QIF) has been trading at Ningi, near Bribie Island, since the 1970s and expanded into Northern New South Wales in recent years. COVID-19 meant there was a significantly reduced demand for indoor plants, many of which make their way into offices in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. 

A COVID-19 Jobs Support Loan allowed QIF to continue supporting fourteen employees across both nurseries, potting, picking and packing roles and to meet other working capital expenses.  

The loan scheme administered by the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA), provides finance of up to $250,000 for businesses and non-profit organisations impacted by COVID-19 to assist with carry-on expenses such as employee wages, rent and rates and other expenditure. 

QIF's Robert Moran said the indoor plant market, popular in the 1970s and 1980s, had become fashionable again, with open plan offices driving demand and homemakers again appreciating the benefits of green leafy additions to their houses. With offices vacated and people uncertain, immediate demand for indoor plants dropped rapidly in the early stages of COVID-19.  

He said sales started to slow in March and almost completely stopped in April.  

“That was quite unnerving,” Robert said. 

“People were not buying indoor plants. But as people settled into the rhythm of lock down, it seemed that indoor plants became sought after again.” 

Robert said the COVID-19 Jobs Support Loan meant the business was able to meet growing demand from May, as well as return to business as usual in the future.  

“It allowed us the working capital to continue operating,” he said.  

“The business stopped but the expenses didn’t. The loan was very helpful in terms of all the outgoing costs and helped to support the operations generally.”  

There are up to 35 varieties at the nursery, including Fiddle Leaf Figs, Peace Lilies and Happy Plants but Robert noted not all plants  would happily survive inside, so there is expertise and judgment involved in knowing what to grow when.  

“The main requirements are shade houses - the property has 18,000 square metres of shade houses – fertiliser, water and the expertise of our horticultural specialists,” he said. 

“We buy seedlings or strike our own cuttings, pot them, grow them and we look after them like the precious gifts that they are. Some may say that the main skill is ensuring that they don’t die but there is more to it than that – our customers want the healthiest and greenest plants, with longevity. Then we sell them into retail nurseries and to plant hire companies.  

“Indoor foliage is a relatively small part of the overall plant industry, but we are a material part of that market.” 

For important information about your loan visit the COVID-19 Jobs Support Loan page

QRIDA is delivering the $1b COVID-19 Jobs Support Loan Scheme on behalf of the Queensland Government.