On how we think about our place – and how it’s organized.
What we do is, in a lot of ways, straightforward. We make our community more beautiful. We sell plants, garden supplies, patio furniture, and seasonal décor. We landscape. We grow and manufacture what we can. And perhaps because of that very straightforwardness, the complexity of our business system can be surprising. If not overwhelming. Particularly to those trying to fit into it all – team members, customers, and partners alike.
So to try to help clarify that complexity, an overview of how this place is organized.
Today, at the highest level, we talk about our family of businesses as four units: Mulhall’s Garden + Home, Mulhall’s Landscape, Mulhall’s Farms, and Shared Services. They’re united in purpose and values, but each with their own plan.
Mulhall’s Garden + Home
After getting our start in the family garage in 1956, we opened our store at 120th and Maple a couple decades later. Since, we’ve added some greenhouses and other buildings, but our focus remains the same: growing the conversation about making Omaha a more beautiful place to live. And even more specifically, to become the area’s most loved, frequently, and efficiently shopped destination for plants, garden supplies, patio furniture, and seasonal décor. Do-It-For-Me, Do-It-Yourself, and Professional customers all included.
Most fundamentally, at Garden + Home we provide value to our customers through the products we sell. On the benefit side of the value equation, we focus on serving each of our different customer segments by providing the customer service, products, and store environment necessary to inspire and empower them to elevate their outdoor spaces and lifestyles. On the cost side, our focus is twofold: price and convenience. Our goal at Garden + Home is to locate ourselves at the optimal value point in each of our product classification’s supply chains. And to deliver those products to our customers when and how they want them delivered – all costs considered – at the best value in our target market. Or to not carry the products at all.
Mulhall’s Landscape
John Mulhall came to Omaha in 1953 to landscape, and now, 60 years later, it remains at the core of what we do. We’ve learned a lot along the way, but our focus hasn’t changed: delivering landscape services consistently of the highest quality. And even more specifically today, to become the most loved landscape management company in the Midwest.
Our landscape business consists of five divisions: landscape management (including snow + ice management), landscape construction, biophilic design + maintenance, design-build, and our home office. And while we’re still in the process of laying the foundation of a more decentralized service delivery model, our most fundamental strategic goal is supporting our people. To become the best employer in our market. To become the best trade labor employer in our market. To really listen to our team members. Focusing on those customers that see value in our attention to training, our level of service, and who understand the reputational risk of a poorly managed landscape.
Mulhall’s Farms
For three generations, we’ve been perfecting the practice of growing plants for our Midwestern landscape. It’s a passion of ours. And we’re dedicated to sharing that passion through our Farms’ collection of the plants we really believe in – plants grown to ensure your success here in Omaha and the areas around.
And while our roots remain in plant production, the Farm today has evolved to include a number of other garden-related product lines. From bulk soil recycling to wintergreen-branch bundling, we are increasingly looking for simple manufacturing opportunities to help our Farm level-out their otherwise seasonal workload. To help grow the people that make it possible. And all of it revolving, still, around our deep desire to leave our community a little more beautiful than we found it.
Shared Services
Shared Services is our newest business unit, created to pull together those critical support functions that would otherwise exist separately in all of our business units. And in pulling them together, to build stronger dialogue in the team that makes it up. We think of it as three groups: Accounting + Finance, Employee Experience, and Facilities. And while not directly “plant-related,” the purpose still applies: how do all of the actions we take in Shared Services support our making our community more beautiful?
Also, importantly, among Shared Services’ biggest charges is the data of our business. What are the small handful of numbers that really drive our different business units, work areas, and processes? How do we use them to establish goals? And how do we build a culture that celebrates the role of measurability, data integrity, and its ability to empower the people that work here?
Sound Interesting?
Any of this sound like something you might be interested in? Have more questions? Contemplating a career in horticulture but not really sure where to go from here? Don’t hesitate to reach out! If we believe anything, it’s in the power of dialogue. The dialogue that we’ve built, are building, and will continue to build every day. And using what we’ve built to support people who care about what we care about: amplifying the dense, natural beauty of this place we call home.
