Banker John E. Ritacco knows the hard work and the good days and bad days of running a small business common to many in his audience at the recent Westchester County Family-Owned Business Awards presented by the Business Journal.
A banker for 35 years and president and CEO of CMS Bank headquartered in White Plains, Ritacco ventured beyond his chosen career when he and a few friends and fellow professionals bought a delicatessen business in his native Providence, R.I.
“We were absentee owners,” Ritacco told his audience of about 150 persons at Mapleton at Good Counsel, “so the roast beef and the turkey were going out the back door.” The new owners had to call their balking wives to help out when deli staff failed to show up for work.
After six months, the harried owners sold their deli business ”“ at a quite delicious price, he noted. They took with them an “appreciation of having to run a small business.”
“It requires so much work and so much dedication and so much intestinal fortitude each and every day,” he said.
Ritacco was one of three judges for the inaugural awards event sponsored by People”™s United Bank and Red Door Spas. His co-judges had their own stories of family businesses to share.
Anthony Davidson, dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at Manhattanville College in Purchase, said his father started his own business in England and went on to be a serial business owner over the years. Davidson reckoned he started his own business at 14.
“It”™s not easy running a family-owned business,” he said. Those who haven”™t done it often don”™t see the bad days in a small business.
“It”™s like when you go into casinos when you see the person with a big bag of chips,” he said. “You don”™t see he or she on the day they”™re losing money.”
Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester, grew up in a household where her family”™s beer distributing business provided materials recycled for adaptive reuse. “My little troll house was a beer crate that my mother wallpapered,” she recalled.
Gordon backed up Ritacco”™s advice to families in business: have a good website.
Ritacco said he visited the websites of all finalists for the business awards to guide him in judging. “You should all take great pride in your websites and always look to freshen them up,” he advised, “because it does give insight into your company.”
The family-owned companies were grouped according to length of time in business, with award categories for companies 51 years and older, 26 to 50 years and 5 to 25 years in business.
Judged the top family business in the longest-operating group was Red Oak Transportation in Port Chester. Winning in the 26- to 50-year group was Murphy Bothers Contracting Inc. in Mamaroneck. Judging in the 5- to 25-year category resulted in a tie between award winners Adcorp Media Group in Irvington and Strategy Leaders Inc. in Chappaqua.
Founded in 1937, Red Oak Transportation is led by brothers Andrew and Edward Stoppelmann, who serve as company CEO and president, respectively.
Their grandfather, Nathan Levine, started the family business as Bell Transportation in New York City with a single Chrysler DeSoto. The company grew to operate the largest fleet of yellow or medallion taxicabs in the city. The brothers”™ father, Ronald Stoppelman, added black car radio-dispatched service to the business.
The Stoppelmann brothers in the late 1990s brought their corporate car and leisure service to Westchester County. The business was first based on the Platinum Mile at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel on West Red Oak Lane ”“ the origin of the company name ”“ and later on Corporate Park Drive in Harrison before moving to Port Chester.
“Being third generation is just as hard as being first generation, perhaps even harder, because you feel like you need to leave your mark on the business,” Ed Stoppelmann said when accepting the award.
Red Oak Transportation has left its mark on Westchester”™s business community, receiving the 2008 The Business Council of Westchester”™s Family Business Success Award.
Murphy Brothers Contracting, winner in the 26- to 50-year category, is also led by a fraternal duo. Christopher Murphy serves the company as president and construction director while brother Sean Murphy is vice president and operations director. The brothers founded their company in 1979. Their two daughters joined the 45-employee family business about 1½ years ago.
Starting out as a local residential remodeling company, the Murphy brothers have expanded to custom home construction, whole home renovations and light commercial construction projects, including golf, boating, beach and tennis clubs, throughout Westchester and southern Fairfield counties. The company offers its clients general contracting, construction management and owner representative services.
Among other honors, Murphy Brothers earlier this year won The Business Council of Westchester”™s Small Business Success Award. A strong supporter of community nonprofits, the Mamaroneck company has donated its employees”™ skilled labor on construction projects of Habitat for Humanity Westchester. (See related story, page 1) Its work on behalf of victims of Hurricane Sandy in New York City earned the company the first annual Rockaway Award for Exemplary Relief Effort from Habitat”™s Westchester chapter.
For companies in business from five to 25 years, Adcorp Media Group in Irvington and Strategy Leaders in Chappaqua emerged as co-winners.
Founded seven years ago by Peter Broccole, its president and CEO, Adcorp helps businesses identify their customer base and establish themselves in their marketing area largely through advertising and signage in major supermarkets. The company maintains revenue-based partnerships with more than 1,500 supermarkets in 13 states nationwide.
The company”™s founder is joined in business by his sister Eva Broccole, Adcorp”™s chief financial officer; his brother Carmine Broccole, who serves as corporate counsel, and other family relatives. Adcorp has 30 employees at company headquarters in Irvington and another 30 sales employees in the states where it partners with supermarkets, among those New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.
Adcorp also offers web design and development, graphic design and printing services to its business customers.
“We are all family in Westchester County,” Peter Broccole said when accepting the award. “Together we will build Westchester County.”
In Chappaqua, Andi Gray founded her business consulting company, Strategy Leaders, in 1995 to provide established, privately held small and midsize companies with business strategy and implementation plans.
Gray launched her business after a corporate career that included 20 years in sales, marketing and new business development at Xerox, American Express and Contel, progressing from field to corporate management positions. She was no stranger, though, to small business operations, having grown up in family-owned businesses and learning about computer and construction companies while working for her father.
Gray”™s daughter, Robyn Goldenberg, joined the consulting business part-time in 2007 and three years later took a full-time position at Strategy Leaders, where she is director of marketing and operations. Gray”™s husband, attorney Steven Goldenberg, is a partial owner of the business and serves on the company”™s board.
Gray is a weekly contributor to the Westchester County and Fairfield County Business Journals with her “Ask Andi” advice column for business owners.
