Four years ago, Phil Grucci ignited the largest fireworks display the world has ever seen. He and his family's company, Fireworks by Grucci, lit up the sky over Palm Jumeirah, an artificial archipelago in the Persian Gulf, in a nine-minute pyrotechnical show that could be seen from outer space. It was a technical and artistic triumph that not only set a record for the largest display ever but also marked the company's complete recovery from a tragedy that occurred 25 years earlier, almost to the day. That was when Phil Grucci's father, Jimmy, was killed in an explosion at the family factory on Long Island. A cousin died that day, too. The hopes and dreams of the close-knit Grucci family nearly died as well.
The family and the company survived that tragedy, however, and today the Gruccis are preparing for another milestone: transfer of company ownership from the fourth to the fifth generation. While the transaction is still in the planning stages, it's a foregone conclusion that Phil Grucci, 48, will soon assume management and ownership of the fireworks company his great-great-great-uncle founded in 1850 in Bari, Italy. Currently his aunt, Donna Grucci-Butler, 62, and his uncle, Felix Grucci Jr., 60, a former New York congressman, are his partners. Donna's husband, Philip Butler, is vice president of marketing. Eleven other family members work at the company as well, mostly in part-time positions.
Grucci pyrotechnical extravaganzas have been staged throughout the world. The Gruccis provided the moving visual climax for the Statue of Liberty centennial. Other massive events featuring Grucci fireworks displays have included multiple Summer and Winter Olympic Games and seven U.S. presidential inaugurations. Grucci's client list includes high-profile names like Steve Wynn, Donald Trump and Sol Kerzner, developer of the Atlantis Hotel on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, whose grand opening was the occasion for the record-setting spectacular in 2008. That $4.5 million program used more than 250,000 aerial shells, comets and mines. It took 250 technicians 14 days to set it up, using 50 miles of control cable and 46 computers that controlled 36,000 firing cues. The entire 11-mile coastline of the palm-shaped, man-made archipelago was outlined in blazing light.
As awe-inspiring as such spectacles may be, they make up less than half of the $18 million Grucci family business. Today, contracts to provide explosive simulators and other training devices to the U.S. Department of Defense represent 60% of the company's annual sales. Diversification, first into international markets and then into defense contracting, enabled the fifth-generation company to stay atop its field.
Gunpowder bloodlines
The Grucci family traces the company history in America to 1870, when Angelo Lanzetta brought his fireworks artistry to Elmont, on New York's Long Island, from Bari, Italy. His son, Anthony, carried on the business after Angelo's death in 1899 and brought in his nephew, Felix Grucci Sr., as an apprentice in 1923. After a brief stint in Miami, the duo moved the business back to Bellport, N.Y., in 1929. The company struggled through the Great Depression, but Felix and his wife, Concetta, known to friends as Clara, raised three children—Jimmy, Donna and Felix Jr.—all of whom entered the business and eventually took over ownership and management.
For the most part, the family stayed near its roots on Long Island during the early years, providing displays for local events in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The company's big breakthrough came in 1976, when the Gruccis stepped outside the region to light up the Charles River during Arthur Fiedler's Boston Pops concert celebrating the nation's bicentennial. Three years later, the business went international in a big way, becoming the first American company to win the Gold Medal at the annual Monte Carlo International Fireworks Competition. Eldest son and heir apparent Jimmy had pushed his father into entering the contest, convinced that the family's artistry and expertise would stand out.
The Gruccis parlayed the Monte Carlo medal into a major growth spurt. Invitations poured in from all over the country. They provided displays for the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in 1980, Ronald Reagan's presidential inauguration in 1981 and the Brooklyn Bridge centennial celebration in 1983. “That really drew attention to us,” Felix Jr. says. He recalls with a chuckle that Ed Koch, New York City's mayor at the time, was speechless during the TV coverage. “The anchor said that was the first time the mayor couldn't talk,” Felix Jr. says.
Displayed on the walls of the company's conference room are pictures from that time, most of them black-and-white photos featuring either patriarch Felix Sr. or son Jimmy showing one of their many innovations, like the 42-inch, 700-pound “Fat Man II,” an exploding shell Jimmy created that set a Guinness world record at the time. Phil's favorites are pictures of his father at age six holding fireworks and another of himself at that same age on a barge with his dad near Coney Island. He also has a photo of his own son at age six with fireworks in his hands in Naples, Italy.
Regrouping after tragedy
In November 1983 — a month before his 43rd birthday — Jimmy was working with a 19-year-old cousin outside one of the big metal containers at the factory in Bellport when something (the cause is still unknown) started a fire that set off a series of massive explosions. “It completely wiped out our facility, took out all of our inventory, destroyed all of our equipment, rocked houses in the neighborhood off their foundations and took the lives of my brother and my cousin,” Felix says. “It devastated our lives.”
Hours and hours of family discussions around the dining room table were held to determine whether the company would stay in business. “My mother and father had had enough,” Donna explains. “They didn't want to continue any longer. I was on the fence. My brother's children, Phil, Vincent and Debbie, had lost their father, but they knew the business was his life so they wanted to keep it going.”
The Gruccis pulled themselves together as a family and used that strength to bring their business back from the brink. Insurance took care of the damages to their neighbors, but the business itself was not covered. They pledged everything they had to secure a Small Business Administration loan and line of credit based on their contracts for the coming year to replace the inventory and equipment and keep the company going. Competitors jumped in to help cover the Gruccis' New Year's Eve shows that year. The family rallied community support to allow them to continue to operate on Long Island and swapped 200 acres of property for a 100-acre site in an industrial section of Brookhaven that isolated them from residential areas.
“The tragedy not only destroyed us emotionally,” Donna says, “it absolutely destroyed us financially. It took a good 10 years to recover.”
But recover they did. They also took major steps to protect the company's future, both physically and fiscally. The facility in Brookhaven today houses mostly administrative functions; manufacturing was moved to an army arsenal in Radford, Va., in 1996. Some material is still stored at Brookhaven, though, so the compound is surrounded by barbed-wire-topped fences abundant with “No Trespassing,” “No Smoking” and “No Hunting” signs. Huge sand and gravel barriers outline many of the low concrete buildings, and copper plates are embedded in the ground at entrances to discharge static electricity. No more than four workers at a time are allowed in any one assembly building.
Management moves forward
Currently Donna is president of Fireworks by Grucci, Felix is vice president and CFO, and Phil is executive vice president as well as president of Pyrotechnique by Grucci, but titles don't hold much water for any of them. “My title is president, but what does that mean?” Donna says. “Am I going to tell my brother what to do? It doesn't work that way.”
Management is basically by consensus, according to Phil. “Sometimes the family dynamics get ferocious,” he says. “There are three strong personalities involved with the company. There are occasions when we bump heads. The beauty of it is, we sit down around the table, break bread, and what happened yesterday is over.”
All of the Gruccis pretty much pitch in to do what needs to be done. “In a family business, titles don't mean much,” Phil says with a laugh. “Today I might be president in front of a client, but five days ago I was walking on the roof of a building measuring a layout.” Felix and Phil both design shows, although Donna often starts the design process by choosing music to fit the theme of the event. She also oversees contracts and insurance, which can be quite complex. Phil overseas most of the international programs and Felix coordinates the domestic ones, including one of the company's most successful and longest-running (eight straight years), New Year's Eve in Las Vegas, which involves launching fireworks from eight hotel and casino rooftops for an audience of 300,000.
Diversification has been key to the company's financial security. Traditionally, the American fireworks business was built around Fourth of July week, a thin stream of low-budget fairs and festivals, and one-time events like grand openings and anniversaries. The Gruccis made a major push to add to that by promoting fireworks displays for corporate events and branding campaigns, a market that hadn't really been tapped by the industry. They landed lucrative contracts to put on shows that promoted brands like Lever Brothers' Wisk and Phillip Morris's Merits around the country. They also stepped up their international business, staging shows from Korea to the Persian Gulf. Today, about 40% of the Gruccis' fireworks business comes from overseas.
An explosion of opportunities
The Gruccis' business got a big boost in 1986. That year, the company landed a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to build a training device that simulates the distinctive whistle of a wire-guided missile when it is launched. “The troop shoots a $2 shell rather than a $14,000 missile and experiences the same sound coming out of the barrel,” explains Phil. More defense contracts followed, and in 1997 the family officially founded a separate manufacturing business, Pyrotechnique by Grucci, based at the Virginia facility. Today the company manufactures mock hand grenades as well as simulated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to train troops for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, it makes some components for real armaments, such as lifting charges for 155 mm howitzers.
The Gruccis' ties to the military go back to the 1940s. Right after World War II, the U.S. Navy asked Felix Grucci Sr. to build a device to simulate a tactical nuclear explosion on the battlefield. He came up with a display bomb that produced not only a brilliant flash of light and high-decibel noise, but also a mushroom cloud. Over a decade he created several devices to simulate nuclear bombs dropped from airplanes and launched on missiles.
The move to Virginia and the timing of the company's major emphasis on defense contracting was fortuitous. “When 9/11 hit,” Phil says, “the fireworks business took a major hit. The military work saved us.” The defense contracts are generally long-term, providing solid stability to offset the fickle display fireworks business. “On government work like this, you're only making pennies per piece but there are millions of pieces,” Phil says. Defense work accounts for some 60% of total company revenues.
Today the Gruccis employ about 150 full-time workers in the Virginia facility and fewer than 30 in Brookhaven, although the ranks total well over 300 during the peak fireworks display seasons of Fourth of July and New Year's Eve.
Transition on the horizon
What's next for the Grucci family? “Each generation adds to the foundation that the next generation builds upon,” Felix observes. “My dad built a solid, economically feasible company. We saw his artwork and built on it.” Now it is the fifth generation's turn.
The family is at a natural succession stage, according to Phil. “Donna and Felix want to retire. It's a good thing. But they'll still be involved.” They've been working with valuation consultants and accountants to put together a transition plan. Phil, for his part, has been giving thought to adding to the management team. “The biggest obstacle to the transition is finding people to fill the roles of Donna and Felix and Donna's husband, Phil,” Phil Grucci says.
Phil's cousins, Donna's and Felix's children, have chosen to follow other careers, as have his own brothers and sister. Many of them pitch in as pyrotechnicians during peak seasons. But, “as generations keep moving forward, they develop other interests,” Felix notes. The sixth generation is in the wings, although a long way from committing to careers with the company. Phil's 17-year-old son, Christopher, is a senior in high school. His daughter, Lauren, 21, is studying commercial photography and museum curating at Parsons School of Design.
While certainly no one knows what the future holds, it is safe to say that the Grucci family will continue to innovate and make their mark with ever more spectacular displays. Computer chips are now built into their shells so they can explode them at precise points in the sky. In December, they staged a performance piece for Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang at the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar that was billed as the largest fireworks display ever done — in the daytime. And Phil Grucci has his eye on taking back a title once held by his father: “On my bucket list is to reclaim the world record with a 52-inch exploding shell,” he says.
Dave Donelson is a business journalist in West Harrison, N.Y., and the author of the Dynamic Manager guides and handbooks.
From Our Articles Library: A renewed commitment
Family Business Magazine first profiled the Grucci family in 1990, seven years after an explosion that blew up their factory, killing Jimmy Grucci, who was slated to succeed his father, and a cousin. Phil Grucci called the fireworks business “the glue that held the family together” after the accident.
At the time of the 1990 report, Fireworks by Grucci was generating $4 million in annual revenues. “The company is still digging out from under the debt acquired after the explosion,” the article said. The family credited their ability to recover from the 1983 tragedy to the booming U.S. economy at the time and their reputation as a world-class entertainment company.
To read the full article, see our Articles Library at www.familybusinessmagazine.com.
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