Mariko Mitsueda
Representative Director, Applause Association

1. Applause Garden flower shop in Minami Aoyama

Applause Garden is a social firm certified by Tokyo Metropolitan Government in June 2021. We run a small flower shop in Minami Aoyama, Minato Ward.

At Applause Association, the parent organisation, we have developed business projects dedicated to supporting disabled people, and we are about to celebrate our tenth anniversary. At present, the Association includes a support for continuous employment type B workshop, group homes, and an independent living support project, as well as the social firm.

“The social participation and financial independence of disabled people” are our Association’s principles, and we have focused particularly on employment support, producing graduates who go on to find work with companies each year. However, aiming to back our disabled staff even more strongly as they move into society, we thought about whether we could create an “intermediary workplace” within the Association, neither “welfare-type employment” nor “regular employment”, as a stepping stone towards regular employment. At that time, since there was an overlap between the philosophy of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government social firm system which had been established and our Association’s aims, we volunteered to become a certified business operator, feeling hopeful about these new possibilities.

2. Our colourful, highly individual staff

These were the beginnings of Applause Garden, but the content of our work is exactly the same as that of any florist in your neighbourhood. We make bouquets and flower arrangements, delivering these to company reception desks, hotels, shops, restaurants, and so on. We also handle orders from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, single-handedly supplying decorations adding a touch of colour to diplomatic occasions such as press conferences between ministers, dinners, receptions for foreign dignitaries, and so on. A high level of quality is required for such a public stage, and so staff feel nervous as they go about their daily work.

Our staff include people with disabilities, mothers of disabled children, single mothers, people with experience of social withdrawal, and so on – the difficulties with employment which they face are varied. There are a range of ages and personalities, and these highly individual staff (referred to as “staff who face difficulties with employment” for the sake of convenience) are all mixed up together as they work.

There are staff assigned to support them, but unlike welfare businesses, there is basically no dividing line between “those providing support” and “those being supported”. All our staff cooperate and work in a way which complements one another in order to get the job in front of them done. This is the Applause Garden style.

3. Big trouble during COVID!

Applause Garden was founded in June 2021, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and, just as we had feared, we faced one problem after another.

Hotels to which we supplied flowers cancelled their contracts due to falling guest numbers, restaurants closed, and scheduled events were cancelled in succession. COVID-19 had a great impact on the floristry business as a whole, and this steadily cast a shadow over the operations of Applause Garden, too.

Moreover, COVID-19 infections and self-quarantine unfortunately occurred among multiple staff at once, causing instant staff shortages. Just when we were due to prepare the decorations for an important event at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we had no-one who could arrange the flowers, no driver, and generally, not enough staff!

Just when the situation made us turn pale with fear, it was the staff who face difficulties with employment who rose up to fill the gaps. Staff who face difficulties with employment are intrinsically those whose health situations, family circumstances, and so on mean that it is all they can do to find ten hours or so a week when they can work. Despite this, staff proactively discussed with each other to adjust shifts or extend their working hours, exerting themselves desperately to avoid leaving gaps in the business and losing customers’ trust. Thanks to them, the event passed off successfully and, when they saw the news of this on television, all our staff were filled with pride, at the same time as breathing a deep sigh of relief.

At that time, I felt moved to see that a spirit of pulling together in times of difficulty had naturally emerged and spread among staff, and experienced a sure confidence that this was the best aspect of being a social firm.

4. The only way out is to take on more orders

Great teamwork is being fostered at Applause Garden, but we are faced with a big issue that we must overcome at all costs. This is “becoming independent within five years”.

Our business receives a social firm operating costs subsidy from Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and this pays for the majority of our sales and general administrative expenses such as personnel expenses and rent. This subsidy has a limit of five years, and the rate and amount are reduced in stages over the five years. In other words, during that time we have to develop the ability as a business entity to become fully commercially viable through our business revenue alone.

Applause Garden is a flower shop, so increasing our revenue from flowers = expanding the number of orders we take on is essential. At the moment, we are focusing on opening up new business with companies and government agencies in order to increase our revenue. At the same time, we are working intensively on branding and marketing, using the expertise of an expert (consultant) dispatched by Tokyo Metropolitan Government to raise our brand appeal and construct a PR system.

The social firm structure is different from disability welfare services whose operations are based on benefit payments, so I feel that this point requires me to change gears in my own head. The responsibility of continuing this project over a long period to come is a big one, but I believe that this, too, is a new challenge for Applause, and intend to continue enjoying taking it on.

5. Living and blooming together

The origin of the name Applause Garden is a garden, as the name suggests. The image is of a garden in which highly individual, multicoloured flowers naturally coexist. We hope that Applause Garden will become an entity which encompasses the diversity of its staff who face difficulties with employment as they work together there, sending them out into society in due course.

Just as seeds which sprout eventually blossom, and the flowers scatter their seeds to set out on journeys to new worlds, we hope that the staff who face difficulties with employment will leave Applause Garden someday and set off into the world.Applause Garden has only just got off the ground, but we look forward to your continued support. Thank you.