Zorn’s of Bethpage has a history dating back more than 85 years where some things have changed, but one thing remains the same since the first day: The family name, like a flag, flies over the business.
P.C. Richard & Son, led by President and CEO Gregg Richard, has grown far beyond Farmingdale, keeping the family name current. And the EGC group, named for its founder’s initials, also bears that family link.
There’s a lot in a name, especially when it comes to a family business. Just as every family is different, so is every family business, or at least every business with family members in it. But for family members working at a business bearing the family name, and consumers shopping there, there is often a special connection to the company.
“I take a lot of pride in that, having the store being my last name. I take a lot of pride in the name,” Merrill Zorn-Jensen, owner of Zorn’s of Bethpage, said. “A lot of this stuff that we did back in the fifties is the same. We’ve added many things, but the staples are the same recipe.”
From agriculture to advertising to electronics, Zorn’s of Bethpage to the EGC Group and P.C. Richard & Son, Long Island is home to many companies bearing a family name.
“I love it. I love my staff. I love my customers,” Zorn-Jensen, the owner, said of continuing a family history. “I love keeping my grandfather’s tradition alive, his legacy, and what he made.”
The business has a long history of family involvement and, after some land was sold, including to Honda City, continues to rely on recipes and procedures handed down through the family.
“When we did have all the family working, it was my grandfather, my father, my brothers, myself,” Zorn-Jensen, a fourth-generation owner, said. “I wasn’t working when my great grandparents were in the store.”
P.C. Richard & Son, launched by Pieter Christian Richard and joined by A.J. Richard as the son, has grown with various family members involved in the company. It today operates 65 showrooms in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, as well as three distribution centers and two service centers.
Meanwhile, at the EGC Group, an advertising firm founded by Ernie Canadeo named for his initials (Ernest Gerard Canadeo), father and son have worked together.
“Its truly a blessing to work in the family business and with my father,” said Chris Candeo, director of growth at the EGC Group and the only other Canadeo connected to the company. “It has kept our relationship very close and I am proud to be a part of the EGC legacy.”
Nicola Penn, who is not a family member, is CEO of EGC Group, where family is one element of the company. “Nicole is also purchasing a portion of EGC,” Ernie Canadeo said. “Until Chris joined, I was the only family member.”
History is often a key part of family businesses, including at P.C. Richard & Son, which includes its more than a century as part of its marketing. And Zorn’s sells shirts, including one saying “Zorn’s, a little bit of history in every bite.”
Zorn-Jensen leads the company, but Executive Vice President Kathryn Onorata, who has been there about 29 years, oversees a wide range of operations. While they use AI in marketing, they still use family recipes, along with a history of innovation.
“We produce everything here,” Zorn-Jensen said of dishes made in-house the old-fashioned way. “Everything is made from scratch. We really make our food homemade with the same recipes.”
The Zorn family, which emigrated from Germany and began farming here as early as the 1920s, at one time operated eight farms on Long Island and one in New Jersey, selling wholesale.
Peter Zorn decided to sell retail around 1940, initially selling turkeys before Thanksgiving in what expanded into a recipe for success.
“He was one of the largest growers of turkeys on the East Coast,” Zorn-Jensen said. “He grew his own turkeys and hatched them in Bethpage and other farms. We had chicken farms also.”
She said he was the first to sell oven-ready turkeys, a tradition that continues. Zorn-Jensen grew up in the company, helping since age seven.
“I was making pot pie tops as a little kid,” she said. “I would mix the mincemeat for the pies, the apples for the pies.”
She studied business management as a major with minors in biology and psychology at Monmouth University.
Zorn-Jensen became the administrator, overseeing the retail portion, catering, the office, registers and front of the house. Her brothers worked in systems and processes as well as recipes.
“We started getting a new customer base during Covid. Restaurants were closing around us,” she said. “There was a time when we were the only ones who did the turkey feast. Now everybody does it.”
She had five brothers, but two died and three are out of state. Other members of the Zorn family on Long Island are in other industries such as excavation.
“A lot of this stuff that we did back in the fifties is the same,” she said. “We’ve added many things, but the staples are the same recipe.”
While Zorn’s and P.C. Richard & Son both date back far into the past, Ernie Canadeo started EGC in 1985 after a career at RCA Records as advertising manager, naming it for his initials (Ernest Gerard Canadeo).
The company currently has nearly 50 employees, including Canadeo’s son Chris, who graduated from the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University in 2019, with a degree in marketing. “Our plan together was for him to join EGC after getting experience at another marketing agency,” Canadeo said.
Chris’ first job out of college was at Interpublic Group, where he worked his way up from a business analyst to analytics manager, working with clients such as Keurig Dr Pepper, T-Mobile, and Liberty Mutual.
“I asked him to join EGC in 2022 after we survived Covid, and became our Director of Growth,” Ernie said. “He is now part of our senior management team.”
Ernie said Chris adds “much to the agency’s skills” in areas such as AI, analytics, research, and other ways to enhance campaigns.
“No two days are the same and there remains significant opportunity to grow,” Chris said of his job.
While some family businesses can point to many generations, it’s exciting for Ernie to see his son at the company along with long-term employees. “I am thrilled that Chris is learning the business, is part of the management team, and will eventually become an owner,” Ernie said, adding he is happy his son will help “continue the legacy.”
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