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By PJ Taylor
Tucked away in a quiet corner of Highbrook business zone, looking over the upper reaches of the Tamaki River, is the sweetest smelling working environment in Auckland.
It’s where about half of the upper North Island’s flower produce for the retail market is traded, and the hard-working staff of United Flower Growers are on a high after winning a coveted prize.
At last month’s RSM East Auckland Business Awards 2026, United Flower Growers (UFG) collected the Excellence in Innovation/Excellence in Creative and Digital accolade, a highly contested category sponsored by ClearEdge and Business East Tāmaki, and judged by Brett Lawson, Jim Doyle, Candice Baker and Emma Fern.
When the Times visited the expansive UFG premises this week, we were welcomed by the friendly staff led by Peter Brown, the energetic, enthusiastic, and very knowledgeable chief executive.
On the tour, we inspected the freezer where fresh flowers are stored ready for selling to retailers, and that’s where the ‘sweetest smelling working environment’ is realised, as the pleasant aroma of about 10 different varieties of flowers wafts into the nostrils.
Mid-afternoon, fresh cut flowers for the next day’s trading – in an online auction starting at 5am – are winding their way from more than 500 growers, to be bid for by more than 700 buyers.
There are three web-based auctions a week, and by about 7.30am it’s all wrapped up and the thousands of flowers are heading to market – retail outlets such as florists, dairies and supermarkets.
Southland-raised Brown, who joined UFG in 2023 with an extensive and varied business leadership career that started out in accountancy, says the company trades in about half of the country’s flowers, from its distribution centres in east Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and there’s a wholesale venue in Invercargill servicing the lower South Island up to Queenstown.
UFG is a “technology and logistics business”, says Brown, and it has to move quickly in handling merchandise with a limited shelf-life because of its natural freshness only lasts for so long.
Brown says UFG is owned by long-time and experienced flower sector operators. “MG Group merged with United Flower Auctions in 2011 to become United Flower Growers (UFG). UFG then acquired competitor Floramax in 2017 off Turners and Growers.”
In a few years, the way flowers are bought and sold wholesale has moved from the traditional physical market halls and yards to an online system.
The motto is “fresher, faster, fairer,” says Brown, who has taken the company on a “technology journey” since his arrival, turning UFG into the “New Zealand’s only flower auction and the largest wholesaler of fresh cut flowers”.
UFG’s mission statement is: “We connect growers and buyers in a fair, transparent, and forward-thinking marketplace, delivering outstanding service and sustainable growth for future generations.”
Brown adds that during his time at UFG, the selection of services for the way buyers purchase flowers has expanded from “one-to-two to four-to-five”.
The judges for the RSM East Auckland Business Awards 2026 said: “United Flower Growers has executed one of the most impressive digital transformations in the sector, successfully evolving from a traditional auction house into New Zealand’s largest and most advanced digital flower marketplace.
“By looking to international categories for inspiration, the leadership team made brave decisions to move their operations online, creating a powerful suite of tools that connect local growers with more than 1000 florists nationwide.
“The judges praised the ‘slick’ nature of the operation, noting that even as the business moved into the digital realm, it ensured that traditional growers and buyers were not left behind.
“UFG represents a business that never stands still – constantly testing, learning, and innovating to improve absolute efficiency and better serve its nationwide market.”
