Box of Care is a local gift box company that adds a local twist to gift giving.
The founder of Box of Care, Jonathan Floyd, was born and raised in Kenner and attended LSU. He lived in Houston and worked in recruitment in the oil and gas industry before moving back to New Orleans to work for Ochsner, Entergy, and Amazon. He started his company in his two-bedroom apartment a few years before the pandemic.
Box of Care took off during the pandemic, and at the end of 2020, Floyd had an opportunity to provide gift boxes for the Sugar Bowl. In 2021, when conventions and conferences began returning to the city, Box of Care began gaining even more momentum. 2022 has been Box of Care’s best business year to date, with the opportunity to provide gift boxes for the Final Four and Fortune 500 companies that ordered gifts for their events.
Floyd’s Box of Care builds a bridge between builders and makers and those who love New Orleans.
“The boxes are for people who come into town for events or for people who just love New Orleans,” he said. “A lot of people who order them want a piece of New Orleans and Box of Care brings the city to them. Being able to bring a small business from all over the city to a major conference has been really special. It’s a way to get these smaller companies’ name out there.”
Box of Care utilizes small and large local companies to create gifts and memories for anyone who orders a box. Floyd’s goal is to help local creators have a platform to showcase their work and share it with those in New Orleans and beyond city limits.
Box of Care gift boxes can be ordered in large corporate orders or individually packed boxes, and are filled with different goodies, depending on your chosen category. For example, in the “eats” category, you can select other boxes packed with snacks, gumbo, coffee, or cooking essentials. The “sweets” box is filled with treats such as beignet mix and pralines. Customers can also customize a box to their liking.
“My best seller has Café du Monde coffee, Aunt Sally’s Pralines, beignet mix, Elmer’s Chee Wee chips, and different hot sauces,” he said. “We have other non-company specific things like Mardi Gras beads and masks, for anyone who wants to get into the New Orleans spirit.”
Floyd is always looking for local companies who want to be a part of his gift boxes. He wants the companies he works with to be a part of a community.
He said, “Going into next year, I’m going to be working more on making a space for everybody. It isn’t just about the box itself, it’s about the experience. Even if a product isn’t physically in the box, I want to be able to get word out about the company, maybe with an information card with a QR code. Another way we like to include local artists is by putting local, custom designs on the boxes.”
Plans for Box of Care include a subscription box. Floyd is still ironing out the details but hopes to dive deeper into the community and discover businesses that would be a good fit.
“I want to go further and showcase local artists, and a subscription box will be a great way to do that,” he said. “The challenge will always be how to continue to showcase various businesses that want to be a part of this. The most important thing is providing a platform for businesses.”
Floyd’s ultimate goal with Box of Care is to share the spirit and the love of the companies of New Orleans with the masses.
He explained, “We’re all about sharing the talent and skills of the people of New Orleans and, in turn, making a connection between these small companies and businesses and people outside of the city.”
