How Edible Arrangements inventor created a multi-million dollar business

Tariq Farid knows what it’s like to start from the ground up.

As a 12-year-old, the oldest of six children, he moved with his family from Pakistan to Connecticut, where he was quickly put to work helping the family make ends meet. He worked a variety of odd jobs, including one at a flower shop, which would spur his interest in florals and—more importantly—eye-popping gifts. 

Farid is an entrepreneur in the true sense of the word. Sensing his potential, his boss at the flower shop loaned him $6,000 to open a flower shop of his own. From there, he taught himself computing and information technology and was able to balance both an IT business with flowers. At age 30, with his brothers, he opened the first Edible Arrangements storefront in his local New Haven. 

Farid has been bootstrapping his business since the beginning. He described an attempt to secure a bank loan of $120,000, which was rejected “because no one thought the idea was going to work.” The joke is on them; Edible, recently rebranded from Edible Arrangements, has become a sprawling international chain with thousands of franchises, millions of orders, and a suite of new category offerings, including baked goods and real flowers. And he’s kept it in the family; he recently passed the reins along to his daughter, Somia Farid Silber, who is currently Edible’s…