40 Years Strong - Looking Back on a Legacy of Excellence
Rotolo Consultants Inc. Celebrates Forty Years in Business
As B.C. Forbes once said, "History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to be discouraged by their defeats." 2018 stands as a benchmark year for RCI as the business celebrates its 40th birthday. Rotolo Consultants Inc.'s original founders Joe and Kerry Rotolo and current RCI President & CEO, Keith Rotolo, sat down to reflect on how they established one of the country's largest and most successful commercial landscape companies.
In 1978, in the small community of Slidell, Louisiana, Joe Rotolo Sr. began a new chapter with the purchase of Jack’s Little Nursery - a chapter which would forever change the trajectory of his family, and that of many others. His interest in Jack’s began with one of his sons, Rod Rotolo. Rod had developed a deep-rooted passion for horticulture, which he originally took up in an effort to impress a crush that had a greenhouse. Because of Rod’s new found hobby, and Mr. Rotolo's plans for near retirement, he purchased this small, locally run nursery from his wife’s brother, Jack Strecker.
Just a year later, in 1979, Mr. Rotolo’s two oldest sons, Kerry and Joe Rotolo purchased ninety percent of Jack’s Nursery. At twenty-five and twenty-two years old respectively the two admitted, upon reflection of forty years in business, they hadn’t an idea about how to run a company. In 1979 Jack’s made just under $115,000 in gross revenue and employed only three people. “There were times early on when Joe and I didn’t earn a paycheck,” reflected Kerry. While it was a slow start, it wouldn’t be too long before Jack’s Nursery found its niche in working within the world of multi-family communities.
In 1979, Kerry was about his usual business of knocking on doors to develop business for Jack’s Nursery. During this time he came across an apartment complex in Baton Rouge in need of design and landscape services. “Kerry took me to the site and said all I needed to do was design the project and it was ours. I had never designed anything in my life!” mused Joe. “The truth is I have always had more confidence in Joe than he’s ever had in himself. I’ve always said, if you put something on a wall, Joe could tell you how to make it look good and I could tell you how much it was worth.”
Thus began a new era for Jack’s Nursery as the early eighties brought with it contracts with multiple apartment complexes throughout the greater New Orleans area. From Eastover Country Club, Jack’s first project with irrigation, to English Turn, the first million dollar contract for the company, business was growing at a steady and healthy rate. Jack’s Nursery was voted Premier Landscape Company in the NOLA market in 1987-88. The projects became more and more high profile, and at the height of Jack’s success, the company was tasked with providing landscape service for the 1988 Republican National Convention. Things were going well – until it all came crashing down with the price of oil.
The 1980’s oil bust is a well-documented event which greatly affected the economy in the southeast – namely Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Commercial projects were scrapped, thousands lost their jobs, and scores of companies went belly-up. Joe and Kerry feared Jack’s Nursery had seen its last days. “It was October of 1989. Business had dried up and we made the decision to close down shop. Without telling our wives what was going on, Kerry and I planned a joint family trip to Disney – one last trip while we still had the money for it,” reflected Joe. “While we were in the hotel, with our families, we got a phone call from business contact, Georgia Hopkins. She wanted us to meet with a representative from Team Disney about a landscape and irrigation project. I told her no thanks – we were shutting our doors after this trip. It only took her a few minutes to convince us to change our mind. We walked down to the lobby and met with Team Disney.” Kerry flew up to Atlanta, directly from Orlando, FL and met with Holder Construction. The project was theirs. By June of 1990, Kerry and Joe had moved their families to Orlando to work on the project. Younger brother Rod, who joined the team full-time in 1983, remained in Slidell to manage the day to day operations of Jack’s Nursery. “Working with Disney changed everything. It was brutal but it turned us into businessmen. We grew up on that job site.” From 1989 to 1993 the brothers handled the multi-million dollar landscape contract for Disney. The project was a huge success, earning Jack’s Nursery the prestigious award of Best Commercial Landscape Company in 1992 – presented to them by then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Jack’s Nursery had been battle-tested, survived the oil bust in an oil-based economy and was ready for the next chapter.
The casino boom on the coast began in the early ’90s and with it a new opportunity. Joe sensed the new construction back home in Louisiana and Mississippi could change everything. During a brief trip back to Louisiana, Joe called his wife, told her to pack up the house and get ready to move back. “I remember telling her ‘there’s gold in those streets and we’re going to go pick it up’. All she said was ‘how soon do I need to be ready?’”, smiled Joe. “Our wives, gems – all of them. You couldn’t replace a single one,” Kerry replied. In 1993 Jack’s landed a project for Lady Luck in Tunica, MS, which began the companies winning streak within the gaming industry. Since that time, the company has been a part of forty-seven casino openings. In 1996, Joe Rotolo was named New Orleans Business Person of the Year. As Jack’s entered the new millennia, the future felt brighter than ever.
In 2000, youngest brother, Keith Rotolo joined the fold at Jack’s Nursery. “I had been part of the team for about six weeks when we sold Jack’s,” recalled Keith. 2000 brought with it a consolidation within the green industry, and as a result senior partners Joe and Kerry made the decision to sell to a national company. The Rotolo family was still very much a part of the business after the sale. “During that time, we really honed in on our individual strengths and weaknesses. We finally figured out how we could best work together. I had the mind for finance; Joe developed new business better than any of us. Rod had a skill for construction and estimating, and Keith was the best manager of any of us,” reflected Kerry. “Absolutely,” agreed Joe. “We had finally figured out who we were and where we wanted to go.” In 2004, after it became clear the national company running Jack’s would not be nearly as successful as the Rotolo brothers, the Rotolo’s purchased back the company with a new name and a new sense of direction – Rotolo Consultants Inc. or RCI.
While things at RCI were new and exciting, the Rotolo family was experiencing a trying time personally. Mrs. Pat Rotolo, their beloved mother and matriarch of the family, had fallen ill and was subsequently hospitalized. “She spent time with each of us before she passed. When she spoke to me in private, she told me she believed each of her boys deserved equal partnership in RCI. Partnership divided four ways. It was a huge decision, and there were a lot of factors to consider,” stated Joe. “I told Kerry what mom had requested and we started discussing how to move forward with mom’s request. It didn’t happen overnight, but we were both in agreement that it would happen. We were going to honor our mother's request.” Not long after Joe and Kerry divided up their partnership, making brothers Rod and Keith equal partners; a decision they now feel is directly correlated to their later success. The brother’s honored their mother, and in doing so, had earned her blessing. The first part of 2005 was great for RCI with the Rotolo brothers leading as a united front with a clear sense of direction.
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina ripped through the gulf coast taking with it the lives of over 1,800 people and displacing over one million. “It was absolutely devastating, it was chaos. We were all spread out and had no way of getting in touch with our employees. We had to figure out how to pay our people”. Kerry, Joe, Rod, and Keith all met at their sister’s house in Baton Rouge, which had been spared damages from the storm. “We had to come up with a game plan. We didn’t know what this would do to the business, and we had employees to worry about,” reflected Keith. “We sat at that table for hours, and by the time we were done we had a plan of action,” Keith recalled his wife Jodi’s comments during the chaos. “She said she was worried that we had just lost our home and that the family business was in jeopardy but then, she looked at our meeting, our collaborating, and she just - stopped worrying. She knew we had a plan.” The brother’s whose homes were not affected by the storm took employees in. The Rotolo wives were cooking about fifty meals a day to feed not only their own families but also to feed those employees whom they housed. The Rotolo’s went to withdraw cash and paid their employees one by one that Friday. “We have never, never missed payroll.” The challenges brought by Hurricane Katrina will not be soon forgotten and RCI adapted in order to stay afloat during such tumultuous times. Disaster clean up services began a new branch of business for RCI, something the company is still widely known for.
While RCI moved onward, charging ahead and growing at record-breaking speed, Rod Rotolo, Senior Vice President and beloved husband, father, and brother was diagnosed with cancer. After a brave battle, Rod passed away in June of 2018. "Rod's skill set was invaluable. During the time he was ill his team of estimators really stepped in. They were well-trained, with a sense of purpose; they did it for him while he was fighting cancer. Rod was tough on his team, but he was fair. He was never tougher on people than he was on himself. He pushed the envelope - moved RCI forward. He had a system for everything and was the most like our dad," remembered Joe. Rod's memory and legacy are tied into the fabric of RCI. His passion for his industry, his work ethic, and his leadership is remembered and is an instrumental part of how RCI continues to move forward, into the future.
Today, RCI has been in business for forty years, employs nearly 700 people and has operating locations in five different states. The company is in its second generation of executive leadership with Kerry's sons Michael and Brian Rotolo stepping in after their father's retirement. "In the beginning, we were not prepared to run a business. Every day for the first 20 years, we had to reinvent the wheel to survive", recalled Kerry. Keith Rotolo, President of RCI since 2014, knows the key to RCI's success. "The key is this - RCI, the business, takes precedence. RCI will be fine so long as we continue to put it first and keep our personal feelings out of it. We have to make the decisions which are best for the company." Joe Rotolo agrees, "When I retire and I leave work that last Friday, if I have done my job right, they won't miss me when I am gone on Monday." RCI's tradition of excellence has contributed to the company’s current standing as a regional powerhouse in the commercial landscape industry. Throughout the growth of the company, the spirit of Jack's Nursery is ever present in the day to day operations of RCI. Employees today are proud of the rich history of RCI. There is a deep-rooted respect for the integrity and leadership exemplified by RCI's original founders and present leadership. As new generations take up the mantle of RCI, one thing is certain; RCI will continue to thrive and continue to adapt to the ever-changing market. Rotolo Consultants Inc. stands as a company rooted in tradition and growing the future.
