Floral Terrace is a luxury event venue located in Floral Park, New York that can host a wide variety of celebrations, ranging from weddings, birthday parties, Bar Mitzvahs, and just about anything and everything else that you can imagine.
But what really sets Floral Terrace out from the competition is its welcoming, inclusive nature and the interesting story behind its owners, the outgoing and charismatic Daniel Akilov, along with Steve & Albert Samandarov.
Floral Terrace distinguishes itself by offering both international and American cuisine menus for their events, with two separate kitchens to accommodate each. In addition, Dan notes that inclusivity and diversity are a major mantra of his business model, and people from all walks of life have held a variety of important celebrations at his venue.
“I come from Queens from a humble simple family that immigrated here, and I'm very intertwined with community outreach because I brought that international aspect of the business to Floral Terrace, “We really diversified Floral Terrace, and we are so multicultural. We have all walks of life having events here because we make people feel comfortable with who they are. We've had many diverse weddings and parties here, and they came out happy as ever with their event. We have events from South Africa, India, we even had the president of Nigeria here recently for an event.”
Another standout aspect of Floral Terrace is their exceptional menu, which is crafted by skilled and creative professionals who produce culinary excellence, time and again.
“Our menus are amazing, our food is exquisite, our chefs have been in culinary institutes in France, working and learning and experiencing how to perfect our menus, so I really have a good position with my kitchen that makes the cuisine that much better,” Dan said.
Dan and his partners bought the business from its previous owner in January of 2020; fast-forward a mere three months to March, and the COVID-19 pandemic hit, making this acquisition one of the most unfortunate examples of bad timing in history.
“I had 200 parties booked, millions of dollars from these folks. We don't come from money, and it took everything out of me and the team,” Dan lamented. “I had hundreds of people calling me, saying ‘Danny, what are we going to do? What about my money, my event?’ The brides were just hysterical. But you know what we did? We gave back a million dollars in deposits, because it was the right thing to do. And unfortunately, we didn't even qualify for any government pandemic loans because we were a new company and we didn't have the tax track record to qualify.”
For Dan the partners and the team, it was a rough introduction to the hospitality business, a field at the time that he had no prior experience in.
“I was thrown into the Lion's den, but we came out unscathed,” he said.
My partners and I ended up purchasing Floral Terrace for what was an exceptionally good deal after establishing a good relationship with its owner. Up to that point, we were not familiar with how event venues worked, so Dan hired a team to run the establishment in his place, initially taking a hands-off approach.
However, it was when COVID first hit that he began to take an increasingly larger interest in the business, and before he knew it, he was taking a far more active role on a day-to-day basis.
“COVID comes around, all the shutdowns happen and I'm not going to have my manager speak to my brides about financial matters, that's something the owner should do. So, I began interjecting myself into the business and started speaking to the brides and making deals with them,” he said. “It got to the point where I was so driven into the business that I began to realize that I had an interest in this field and really began to like the industry. Why? Because a newer more updated event hall was much needed in the local community, especially on a international level, and we decided to make our move when we saw the happiness, the joy that our business was bringing people.”
“I really fell in love with the business, and I decided it was time for me to tackle it personally,” Dan added.
While Dan was able to make the majority of his customers whole following the COVID shutdowns, one declined to give him the chance to make things right and filed a lawsuit against him. The case was decided on the popular television show The People's Court, where Dan not only prevailed, but also gained a degree of celebrity for his spirited performance before the cameras.
“Shutdowns due to COVID were a big thing on TV at the time, and the producers of The People's Court reached out to me, and offered to pay for the judgment if the case was found against me, so I agreed,” he said. “During the episode I was the star of the show. I won the case and everyone there, the judge, the host, everyone was on my side, on national television. Still, it was unfortunate that the customer filed the lawsuit to begin with, because if they had just come to us, we would have settled things the right way.”
The exposure he got on The People's Court thrust Floral Terrace into the national spotlight, and before he knew it, Dan had more people reaching out to him to book events than he knew what to do with; however, he certainly didn't take his newfound fortune for granted.
“It's one thing to start a business at zero and work your way up, but to start a business at a negative one million while you're already at zero, starting a brand-new venture, that was very heavy for us,” he said. “I think the reason we are successful now instead of closing up like everyone else was the energy that we brought back to Floral Terrace. We didn't corrupt ourselves for money, we actually did what was right and I think that karma came back to us.”
Daniel Akilov along with his wife.
With his growing success comes yet even more media focus, with the event venue hosting movie premieres and even serving as a filming location for a new Brooklyn-based mob drama on Amazon Prime called “Gravesend,” with Dan himself actually being given a minor role on the series.
“A whole episode was actually dedicated to Floral Terrace on the show, and I actually have dialogue, because if they didn't offer me any I wouldn't have done it,” he laughed. “The producers of the show are my friends, and they were actually going to give me an even bigger role initially, but I didn't want it because I didn't want to have to commit to flying to other States. So, they gave me enough dialogue that I was happy with it.”
It's not many people that take an already successful career and pivot into an entirely unknown field and enjoy a comparable level of accomplishment. But Dan and the partners have not only accomplished this feat, but done so in style, noting that he takes great pride in having elevated Floral Terrace profile significantly and is looking forward to the future.
“At first, it was inconceivable, but I eventually saw the writing on the wall and I saw that this was something I had to do,” he said. “I learned the business in a short amount of time and I ended up being content and happy with the position I'm in. As a matter of fact, I am excited because this is a warm-hearted business where you make a living putting smiles on people's faces. You don't take people's money away, you actually earn the money you make, and that makes me very happy.”
"The world we live in today is full of surprises at least we can make people feel good and create a lifetime worth of memories," Dan said.
To find out more about Floral Terrace and to book an event there, please call 516-488-2626 or visit their website at https://floralterrace.com.
Instagram: @floralterrace
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Ring in the New Year in style at Floral Terrace’s exclusive Gatsby Inspired Masquerade Gala on Tuesday December 31st, 2024, from 7:30 pm to 1:00 am! Step back in time to the roaring twenties as they transform the venue into a glamorous Gatsby-inspired wonderland. Get tickets now!