In 1926, Margaret Mitchell, a journalist for the Atlanta Journal Sunday Magazine, had to leave her job because of an ankle injury that was followed by debilitating arthritis. Her husband suggested that to keep busy she should write a book. Three years later, the manuscript of “Gone With the Wind” was ready for seven more years of editing and massaging before Mitchell was satisfied and Macmillan Publishing was ready to start the presses.
With that as context, it is not at all surprising to hear Joe Armentano, CEO of Paraco Gas, which is headquartered in Rye Brook, explain that it took years for him to write and polish his new book, “A Helluva Ride: How a father-son family business overcame crisis to achieve the American Dream.”
The book tells the story of how his father Pat, beginning in their garage in Mount Vernon, founded a family business specializing in welding supplies. Through a series of acquisitions and expansions, the business grew into the Paraco of today.
The company has more than 425 employees, 28 locations and $150 million in annual revenue. Over the years it has acquired 53 companies and services more than 110,000 residential and business customers.
The book also focuses on father-son and other family relationships both at personal and business levels.
“I was there as a kid before he started his business so I”™ve kind of seen all of the things that bridge a few generations, because we”™re now in our third generation with my daughter Christina,” Armentano told the Business Journal.
He explained that he had arranged for his father to be interviewed in a series of audio recordings to preserve the family and business history as well as capture personal thoughts and advice. When his father passed away in 2010 at age 80, Armentano realized it was time to organize and transfer the material into written form.
“I said I don”™t really have the time to get this done, so let me hire a ghostwriter,” Armentano said. “About eight years ago, I gave her about 100 hours of my tapes. I had her come down and interview about 18 people who I thought were important.“
Armentano said that he wasn”™t satisfied with what the writer produced but her efforts did organize the raw material.
“It wasn”™t me, it wasn”™t my voice, it didn”™t capture the emotions. Over the last seven years, I”™ve edited this manuscript probably 50 to 100 times,” Armentano said. “I don”™t think one of her words survived. I”™m not winning a Pulitzer with this but I became a pretty good writer.”
In 1968, Armentano”™s father established the welding supply company Patsems Inc. The products it carried included items such as welding rods, masks and helmets.
Armentano recalled that to expand the welding supply business his father had decided to add industrial gases such as oxygen and acetylene. Propane joined the mix since it was used as a source of heat at construction sites and to power forklifts; it became a niche, growing to be about 25% of the business.
“Right around ”™79 he goes, ”˜Joe, find me a propane company,”™” Armentano said. “I knew nothing about propane. I had no idea people used it to heat their homes or for cooking. I thought everybody barbecued with it. At that time we had no clue about the industry, we knew nothing about it and my father”™s thought was, ”˜Well, I”™ll save some money on product and get into another business.”™”
In 1979, Patsems bought Paraco Fuel Corp., a Peekskill distributor of fuel oil and propane. The operation adopted the Paraco name and expanded to Long Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and into other parts of the Hudson Valley. It soon expanded even further into Rhode Island, Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Colorado, Missouri and Massachusetts.
Joe Armentano was born in Mount Vernon, the oldest of four sons He attended Fordham University, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He earned a Master’s in Business Administration from Iona College in 1988.
Armentano said that a successful family business needs to start with passionate family members.
“I”™ve seen many family businesses where there have been family members who never should have entered a business because they didn”™t have that passion,” he said. “Second, there needs to be a commitment to continuing education. Third is a willingness to take risk.
“You have to be able and willing to take risk in business, in a family business in particular because you have all your wealth normally tied up in that family business and if you”™re going to expand and grow you need to take risk,” he added. “Our risk was really through acquisitions, going out and buying companies and assuming that we could make them pay for themselves and work.”
Armentano said that Paraco has been through every business cycle imaginable but what”™s happening right now is unusual and affects all forms of energy.
“This will be a year when energy prices will be extremely hot,” Armentano said. “I”™ve never seen propane prices go up this high this quickly. We”™re talking about a 200-plus percent jump in propane prices in a four- or five-month period.”
Armentano expressed a belief that energy prices will stay high throughout the winter.
“I do think you may see supply shortages in certain energy markets,” he said. “For us, we have a very diverse supply strategy to ensure that we have supply for our customers going into this winter.
“We”™re 100% confident we will have adequate supply but there will be some of our competitors, potentially, and some people in some other areas of energy that may have supply shortages,” Armentano said. “The other issue is not just having the supply but making sure that you have the manpower to deliver. We”™re reading about labor shortages right now especially in drivers, truckers. We”™re working extremely hard to stay ahead of the curve.”
The paperback version of Armentano’s book is set for a Dec. 8 release date on Amazon with Armentano offering copies both in paperback and hardcover through his website joearmentano.com.
A Dec. 8 book-signing event is planned at a meeting facility in the building where Paraco”™s offices are located, 800 Westchester Ave. in Rye Brook.
