Julep featured in Fairlady Magazine

In the May/June 2026 issue of FAIRLADY, one of South Africa’s longest-running women’s magazines, Julia and I spoke about how Julep started, what we’ve learned about building the business, and the things we still care about most: the experience of sending flowers.

The feature looks back at the early days of Julep and the idea that first got us moving – that sending flowers could be made better for both the sender and the receiver. We talked about everything from our initial market research survey of 200 friends and family to navigating the chaos of our very first Women's Day surge. We also touched on what it's really like building a company alongside your partner, expanding operations from Johannesburg to Cape Town, and why we intentionally designed our fresh blooms to arrive in-bud inside our signature gift boxes.

Whether you’ve been with us since we were delivering just one day a week or you've recently received your first Julep box, we wanted to share the full Q&A from the magazine with you below:

 

EXTRACT: ‘Big enough to give great service, small enough to get all the details right…’

Julep has a fresh take on the flower delivery experience. Founded by Julia and Nic Rosslee, the business delivers blooms in beautiful gift boxes. The flowers are hand-packed fresh and in-bud. Operating across Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, Julep is built on a clear promise: thoughtful service, meaningful connection and a commitment to getting it right.

How did you two come to start a business together – and why flowers?

Jules: We’d only been dating a few months when we started talking about what we wanted our careers to look like, and we both knew we wanted to do something we really cared about, something that made people’s lives better.

Nic: We both loved giving and receiving flowers, and it struck us that there was an opportunity to make our own mark on the flower delivery and gifting experience.

Jules: Our mission is ‘Making your day’. Whether it’s for a big moment or no reason at all, those just-because gestures are actually our favourite.

Was there a specific moment you knew Julep could work?

Jules: We started by doing a lot of research on the local market. The more we learnt, the more excited we got.

Nic: One important part of that research was a survey we sent out widely to colleagues, friends and family. We got about 200 responses. That became our first mailing list. Many of those people were easily converted into early customers when we launched Julep. I guess it was the kind of product and price point that made it easy for them to support us in those early days.

What were those early days like?

Jules: We started slowly. We did deliveries one day a week. Once one delivery day started feeling like too much, we added another. Those early days were clunky, but a lot of fun. We were learning about the flower world, meeting wholesalers, and trying to find the right suppliers. We felt that early-startup hustle where you’re learning so much every day.

When did you realise you could both quit your jobs and focus fully on this business?

Jules: A day I remember clearly was the first Women’s Day after we launched Julep – it was very soon after we started deliveries. We were inundated with orders and pulling in family and friends to help us get through the day. The business has always been self-funded, so we had to balance giving the business time without putting ourselves under too much financial pressure. For the first two or three years, we were both still doing other part-time work.

Most people wouldn’t want to work with their partners. How do you make it work?

Nic: Jules was very much driving the business from day one, while I kept my full-time job for two more years. I think this gave us a good dry run to see if we work well together. If we had found that our work styles clashed, we would’ve adjusted and put more focus on our relationship, staying in our lanes professionally. But I really enjoyed working alongside Jules.

Jules: We quickly learnt how the other handles pressure, makes decisions and celebrates wins, which has been great for our relationship.

Flower delivery is a crowded market. How do you compete with NetFlorist, for example?

Jules: Our take on the market isn’t that it’s overcrowded. There are a few dominant players, but there’s also a very long tail of smaller businesses, which means there’s opportunity for some businesses to grow into the ‘midfield’ – and that’s where we saw our opportunity.

Nic: First, we wanted to make sure that what customers saw online reflected the product they’d receive. Second, we needed to get the delivery right, including clear communication around timing. Third, we wanted to deliver a joyful ‘unboxing’ moment.

Jules: Our box delivery model addresses all three points: It’s designed to arrive in perfect condition as advertised, the logistics around delivery are far smoother with our boxes, and it creates that unboxing moment for the receiver.

You’ve found that 85% of your orders are women sending flowers to other women. Did that surprise you?

Jules: Historically, marketing in South Africa has been strongly male-focused. So 85% surprised me at first, but it makes sense. It shows that flowers are really about emotionally important moments and showing up for your people. Women are amazing at doing that.

You have teams in Joburg and Cape Town. What made you want to expand, and what’s been the biggest challenge?

Jules: We were getting lots of requests from our Joburg customers – people who had received flowers from us and wanted to send flowers to Cape Town. The biggest challenge has been that you can’t just copy and paste your operation. We had to build new relationships and adjust pricing.

Nic: When we moved to Cape Town to open the studio, we were worried about how the Joburg team would cope without us, but they thrived.

What’s the secret to a perfect bouquet?

Jules: I think it really comes down to balance – in colour, texture, height and shape. Part of our offering is that the receiver arranges the flowers themselves. Leaving room for creativity is key.

What’s next for Julep?

Jules: We received feedback last week that stuck with us. It said that our service is ‘big enough to give great service, small enough to get all the details right’. It captures exactly what we want to maintain.

Moving Forward

Toward the end of the interview, Jules highlighted a piece of customer feedback that really anchored us: “Big enough to give great service, small enough to get all the details right.”

As we continue to grow our teams in Joburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town, keeping that promise remains our guiding standard. Thank you to everyone who has trusted us to deliver a little bit of joy to their loved ones over the years.

Originally published in FAIRLADY Magazine (May / June 2026).