: NEWS & MEDIA

Keeping It Fun
ART CONFORTI, owner and president, Beneva Flowers & Gifts

Coming to work for Art Conforti of Beneva Flowers & Gifts may be many things—challenging (“He’s a pain in the neck, but in such a great way,” wrote one employee), surprising, tiring—but it’s never, ever boring.

“Even though he has 50 employees under his roof, he treats us all as vital contributors to his success,” writes employee Teresa Taft. “Art is never too busy to talk, to coach and to listen, not only to his employees but also to shops all across the country. Art is a humble guy with a huge heart.”

Conforti, whose mile-a-minute speech reflects his New Jersey roots, grew up in the floral business. His parents were florists in New York for decades before moving to Sarasota and opening a flower shop here. Conforti purchased the business from them in 1992. He started out with just one employee, but one of the first changes he made as the new owner was investing in a larger staff.

“You’re only as good as your employees,” says Conforti. “When I started, I thought all I needed was myself because help was looked on as an expense. Now I look at it as an asset.”

A sports buff, Conforti says his management style is much like a coach who puts the right players in the right spots and then hands them the ball. At that point he switches from coach to cheerleader. He prides himself on almost total accessibility and doesn’t mind carrying his Blackberry everywhere. His enthusiasm is contagious among employees, and while he does not balk at the idea of disciplining someone, he’s especially good at making sure an employee hears about what’s being done right, whether that’s by taking a driver who received a compliment from a client out to lunch, handing out gift certificates for massages on Mother’s Day or taking the whole staff out for a Tampa Bay Lightning game and dinner afterwards for Christmas.

And his employees stick around: one has been here for 17 years, and several have hit their decade-long mark.

It all pays off. “There are good things going on here,” says Conforti. “There’s buzz. There’s energy.”