Sunbelt Greenhouses is the Chamber of Commerce’s 2018 Industry of the Year. Sunbelt received the award at Thursday night’s annual Chamber event at Central Square Complex.
Lawrence Wenke of Tampa started Sunbelt Greenhouses in 1984 with 19 employees. Over the years, the operation has grown from a tiny facility tucked away in Douglas into one of the top commercial greenhouses in the United States. Today, the 25-acre facility employs 85 full-time and 145 during the peak growing season.
Sunbelt produces a number of different varieties of plants, including bedding plants, hanging baskets, annuals for container gardening, mums, and poinsettias. After stepping in on very short notice to fill poinsettia orders for Disney two years ago, Sunbelt shipped over 33,000 poinsettias to Disney this past holiday season, over a third of the total number of poinsettias Disney bought.
“We started as a small company 33 years ago. The Chamber of Commerce has been a big part of the success we’ve enjoyed. We certainly appreciate this award,” said Kevin Koeppler, Sunbelt’s general manager.