Performance Nutrition

Meet LidoChem, Inc founder – Don J. Pucillo –

Note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of LidoChem. Inc. This month’s Performance Superstar features a conversation with company founder Don Pucillo.

How did you decide to get into the specialty fertilizer business?

Pucillo: After graduating from Wagner College in NJ in 1976, and working for BASF, I took a position with a NY subsidiary of a European water-soluble phosphate producer, Prayon-Rupel, and learned about specialty fertilizer production and input sales. I loved the business, but when the New York office closed, I discovered my entrepreneurial spirit and decided to go out on my own. At that time there were only two producers of high-quality water-soluble phosphates. I believed if I could secure the source of products, price them more competitively and serve my customers well, I could build a sustainable business. On May 26, 1981, together with my wife Lisa, we started LidoChem, Inc. in the second bedroom of our home and, with the $2,500 we had saved, bought a desk, chair, business cards, stationary and a telex machine. I flew to Belgium and negotiated an agreement with Prayon-Rupel to act as their exclusive sales agent in the USA. During subsequent years I made several trips to Europe and secured exclusive rights from other manufacturers of raw material that my customers used. Within three years of dogged determination, we had captured about 33% of the USA market. After ten years, Prayon-Rupel opened their own office in the USA, and I was ready for my next challenge.

What are your goals for LidoChem?

Pucillo: My guiding philosophy is to be “Partners In Growth” with our custom-

ers, helping them solve problems and bringing value in everything we do. The overall mission of LidoChem and the

Performance Nutrition Division is to:

• Develop & market economical, effective and “greener” products & programs for crops, turf and ornamental fertility and disease control utilizing natural resources to provide nutrition for plants and soil microbes; • Respect the contribution of each component of the ecosystem through a comprehensive Ecosystem Management approach that allows for the optimalization of chemical fertilizer and pesticide applications while correcting the “stressors” that inhibit plant performance and vitality; • Delivering value to our customers each and every time.

What do you see as highlight to your success?

comes opportunity. In 2000, the internet was becoming part of everyday life. Off-shore producers that relied on companies like ours, bypassed our place in the channel of distribution and pursued business directly with end users. We maintained our Raw Material

Division while I charted a new course.

EPA initiated FIFRA regulations that removed or restricted the use of certain

pesticides and that opened up an opportunity to use Nutrol as the vehicle to start the PERFORMANCE Nutrition Divi-

sion with the mission of delivering easyto-use, sustainable, greener, effective and competitive technologies to the agricultural crop and turf & ornamental fertility and disease management markets. I continued my quest to source products for this new division from offshore suppliers and located and introduced the first biological fertilizer, NutriSmart®, for the USA market. Needless to say, it was well before its time and the markets

were slow to adopt this new technology. But we stayed true to our mission and our guiding principles, and, with the addition of Frank Dean, we developed patented and proprietary products for almost all market spaces. Each of these products were true to our mission and were designed to solve problems and to be used in Ecosystem Management programs for a wide variety of crops, turf and ornamentals. Today, Performance Nutrition has an arsenal of well-established brand names

including the patented Prudent® family of phosphite fertilizers, Krystal Klear® chelated micronutrients, Pennamin® amino acid-based products, Korban® humic acid products, KaPre® yield and quality protection products, and Kelpene® plant extract-based products. Used together in programs, they have proven to be very effective while being respectful of our environment.

What was your biggest setback to growth in growing the Performance Nutrition Division?

Pucillo: Just as we were beginning to hit our stride with Performance Nutrition, Stoller Chemical launched a smear cam-

paign in 2001 spreading rumors that our products contained poison and enticed a large grower to file suit. This campaign lasted for nine years followed by 5 years of litigation. A Federal Court in Michigan heard the case and we prevailed recovering much of our lost profits. However, we couldn’t regain the time invested in protecting a three-state market instead of expanding to neighboring states. With that ordeal behind us, we focused on expanding our distribution in both the T&O and Agricultural markets and today we are fortunate to have a network of dealers with sales professionals who have been instrumental in the growth of our company. As a college professor once told me “The one thing all businesses must have are customers”. We appreciate the trust growers and turf managers place in us when they buy our products, and we honor that trust by continuing to offer the best products we can.

Who was your inspirational leader and why?

Pucillo: I have had a number of men-

tors over the years but Dr. Haim Gunner, professor emeritus at University of Massachusetts stands out. His wisdom

and knowledge of microbiology was the backbone of our Ecosystem Management philosophy.

What’s the future look like for Performance Nutrition?

Pucillo: We are in the marketplace at the right time where more agricultural and turf caretakers recognize the value of regenerative practices. I see this business growing as the global environmental conscience raises and sustainable and

regenerative practices become the norm.

What words of wisdom would you impart on the next generation of entrepreneurs?

Pucillo: My advice to anyone starting a business would be to put your customers’ needs first, keep your eyes open, believe in what you are doing, seize opportunities as they present themselves, watch your back and the rest will take care of itself.