Largest grower of seasonal plants and flowers in the Northeast.
van Hoekelen Greenhouses, Inc. (VHG) is a privately held Pennsylvania corporation operating two 7.5 acre greenhouses in Kline Township. The Lofty Road facility includes an 85,000 square foot Operations building, a 45,000 square foot Cooler building, and an additional 40-acres of outside growing area. The Plant Road facility includes a 20,000 square foot Cooler building. Another 7 1/2-acre building in McAdoo houses our Administrative Offices and 80,000 square feet of Coolers.
Lori and Cok van Hoekelen started the original 3 1/2-acre greenhouse facility on Plant Road in 1988. Since then, the company has maintained an exceptional growth pattern in both sales and expansion of facilities.
VHG grows and distributes many types of seasonal plants and flowers such as tulips, hyacinths, mums, poinsettias, cactus, etc. In addition, VHG has a Freight Department, which includes dispatchers, to keep the company trucks running year-round with outside loads during the off-season period. VHG has been continually expanding their fleet to accommodate the time sensitive delivery requirements of our customers in 48 states. The original fleet consisted of two delivery trucks. Currently, the trucking fleet consists of 30 tractors, 30 reefers, and 6 straight trucks.
Cok van Hoekelen has a lifelong work experience in the greenhouse field. His career began working with his father on a bulb farm in Holland and earning his degree in Horticulture. In 1969, he relocated to the United States to assist a firm in Northern New Jersey with their bulb crop. Two years later, he was managing a 100,000 square foot greenhouse facility. Within five years, he was their Vice President. By the time he left the company in 1983, the facility had increased in size to 484,000 square feet as well as increased sales by 2,000%. In 1984, van Hoekelen moved to Southern New Jersey and joined a wholesale greenhouse business with a 60,000 square foot facility. He supervised new construction, which increased the facility to 160,000 square feet. At the end of 1987 when he left this company, annual sales had grown 1,000%. Throughout the United States, Cok has established an excellent reputation in construction design, supervision, marketing, purchasing, production and shipping. His experience in the horticultural industry has given him tremendous insight into the plant and flower markets.
Lori A. van Hoekelen, CEO, has worked in the greenhouse industry for over thirty years. Her expertise includes all facets of financial planning, human resource management, inventory control, product development to promote sales growth, and contract negotiations.
Sharon Fazakas (van Hoekelen), Human Resources, Lori Bowser (van Hoekelen), Accounts Payable, and Alex van Hoekelen, Sales, are children of Cok and Lori van Hoekelen, adding a second generation to the on-going success of VHG.
VHG is one of the largest employers located in the Kline Township/McAdoo area, contributing to the local economy and tax base as well as the generous contributions to local government agencies, churches, and civic groups. VHG was ranked one of the top 100 growers in the United States for several years.
