YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Like many in the fireworks business, Bruce Zoldan, CEO and founder of Phantom Fireworks, expects this year’s landmark Independence Day celebrating America’s 250th birthday to be huge for the industry.
Planning within the industry has been underway for more than a decade, and Zoldan reports Phantom has been registering names for products reflecting the semiquincentennial theme for the past five to 10 years. In addition to this Fourth of July being the 250th birthday of America, the holiday falls on “the best day of the week for the fireworks industry” – a Saturday.
“We have for many years, for over a decade, looked at this as the best and biggest celebration ever,” he says. “We just think it’s going to be a spectacular year, and Americans will be celebrating like they’ve never celebrated before.”
Zoldan founded the company that today is known as Phantom Fireworks in 1977. He adopted the Phantom branding, which has been in use since 1990, for its corporate identity in 2016.
Since then, he has branched into sports ownership for enjoyment, including as part-owner of the Youngstown Phantoms and as part of a group that owns race horses, including the one that won the 2011 Kentucky Derby, Animal Kingdom.
Early Days
Zoldan’s involvement in the fireworks industry dates back to a year when he was a teenager and sold the fireworks that his father had purchased in Pennsylvania – they weren’t legal in Ohio back then – to neighbors.
“He was not happy driving back into Pennsylvania,” he recalls. After repurchasing the fireworks, his father told him he better not sell them.
The following year, inspired by the demand he saw and after researching the industry, he took money he had saved from his bar mitzvah and purchased more fireworks. He more than doubled his investment when he sold them, and similarly doubled or tripled his investment the next year.
Eventually, after he began selling sparklers to grocery stores, managers would ask if Zoldan had anything other than sparklers that they could purchase for their personal use, and he began further building his business from there.
In the late 1970s, a friend introduced Zoldan to a Chinese broker, who was impressed with the business he had built and invited him to visit Hong Kong. The broker told Zoldan he was confident he could “build up a great business” if he started importing fireworks. Zoldan returned several times and established relationships, eventually securing a bank loan to bring his first container of fireworks from China to the United States.
“Now I can say, we’re well between 1,000 and 2,000 containers of fireworks coming into our warehouses, the largest being here in Trumbull County,” he says.
The company today operates approximately 100 brick-and-mortar retail stores around the country and 1,500 to 2,000 seasonal locations, and sells products through various retail outlets, including Giant Eagle, Menards and Home Depot. Planning is such that stock coming into warehouses now is for sale 18 months in the future.
Unsurprisingly, the Fourth of July accounts for the vast majority – 85% – of the company’s sales, he reports. Another 10% are related to New Year’s Eve and the remainder is Diwali – the Hindu festival of lights – and other smaller holidays and occasions.
“We lose money six months out of the year, we break even three months out of the year, and we make a profit three months out of the year, primarily in a very short window,” he says. He also acknowledges the fireworks business isn’t an easy one, especially for people who enjoy golf in May and June and participating in other early summer activities. Also, around New Year’s Eve, many executives head to warmer states “where our stores are super busy.”
The challenges over the years have been many, he acknowledges. Early in his career, consumer fireworks were legal in only a handful of states.
“There were many fireworks that were very dangerous,” he says, including products such as M-80s and cherry bombs. He joined others to get a federal law banning the more dangerous products and establishing more restrictive rules to make products safer. In addition, his company also was involved with establishing the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, which issues certifications for fireworks similar to the ones Underwriters Laboratories issues for electronics.
The more stringent safety standards helped encourage more states to permit fireworks, he says. Now, every state but one – Massachusetts – permits sales of some type of fireworks. Massachusetts residents go to Phantoms’ stores in New Hampshire, Maine and Pennsylvania to purchase them, he reports.
Industry Leadership
Zoldan’s “unwavering commitment” to safety and his “vocal, political and financial support of that mission” represent his most significant contributions to the fireworks industry, according to Ian Gilfillan, president of the American Pyrotechnics Association. Zoldan, who served with Gilfilan on the APA board, is a past president and director emeritus of the organization.
“Bruce is widely recognized throughout the fireworks industry as an outspoken leader. Regardless of whether you’re in the consumer, display, special effects, or manufacturing segments of our industry, you know Bruce Zoldan and Phantom Fireworks,” Gillifan says.
Zoldan also recalls having to deal with underworld pressure in the early days, which led him to hiring Robert Kroner, a retired FBI agent who led the fight against organized crime in the Mahoning Valley, as national director of security.
“Having him on board has helped tremendously in keeping the wrong people out of the business, and also helped us with our reputation tremendously in the eyes of law enforcement,” he says.
Other more recent challenges have included terrorists purchasing products from Phantom’s stores – the company has been able to help identify suspects, including in the aborted Times Square bombing in 2010 – and tariffs.
In addition to his leadership role with APA, Zoldan has led the Better Business Bureau of Mahoning Valley’s board of directors.
“He would challenge leadership and staff to be creative, seek out partnerships to support growth, and continue strengthening trust between businesses and their buyers in the Mahoning Valley,” Melissa Ames, president and CEO of the BB chapter, recalls.
Role Models
Zoldan cites his parents among his role models, as well as his uncle, Abe Yampolsky, whom he worked with in his early days in business. Traits that his parents instilled in him that he says he finds helpful include always being kind to people and not getting mad easily, as well as treating people with respect.
His “highest quality” as a leader is his ability to hire people who are good, hardworking and loyal.
“What I excel at is secondary to what they all do. I’m not a great accountant, I’m not a great advertising person, I’m not a great lawyer. I’m not a great human resource person,” he says. “I am, I think, someone who can identify a good executive, a good accountant, a good lawyer, a good advertising person, and I know those people work very hard. I like to be in meetings and I can make the final decision, but I’m always thankful that I have a great team.”
Sons’ Perspective
Zoldan’s sons, Alex and Ron, who serve as vice presidents with Phantom, both attest to their father’s skills as a company leader.
Alex Zoldan says his father has a good “internal identifier” of good people.
“He is very good at reading people. He can see when someone is genuine,” he says. “He has a lot of great insight at seeing people quickly for what are their intents, what are their strengths and weaknesses.” Many of Phantom’s employees have been with the company for more than 25 years, he points out.
He also says he has learned from his father that the right decision isn’t always the popular one.
“Your values are something that should never be compromised, no matter what,” he continues.
“One of the biggest lessons I would say he instilled in me is that the loudest person in the room is rarely the most effective leader. He taught me to gather input first, especially from those closest to the issue, before forming or sharing a final opinion,” Ron Zoldan says. “He really depends on and embraces others in the company to do their job, convey their opinions and let them do their job, while also being able to make the final decision after collaboratively listening to all the experts.”
Another key aspect of Zoldan’s leadership style is to listen more than speak, Ron Zoldan offers. At the same time, his father emphasizes the importance of using advisers to inform decisions, but not as decision makers. Also, part of his style is to “pressure test” decisions against his team.
“If your instincts align with a room full of informed people, that’s usually a strong signal you’re on the right path,” he says. “If you’re the only one seeing it differently, it’s a moment to pause and reassess.”
Lessons Learned
The No. 1 lesson that Zoldan learned over the years is that while he was the catalyst for starting Phantom Fireworks and gets the credit and accolades that accompany that, he isn’t “the smartest guy in the room,” he says.
“I think what I learned is that if I was giving advice to a young person, it’s to grind away, work hard, be honest, treat people with respect and apologize if you know you made a mistake to somebody,” he remarks. Those are lessons that he had learned and improved upon over the years.
He also recognizes that people who are willing to work need to be rewarded. To promote and develop leadership, Phantom provides incentives for people who work for the company and move into management, as well as people who want to work within the headquarters.
“They’re not going to stay unless they have incentive,” but that incentive isn’t always a financial one, he says. Employees have to enjoy what they’re doing as well.
“We work really hard by trial and error on how to improve keeping people here, and you learn by your mistakes,” and gathering input from exiting employees, he says.
When he gets the sign that it is time to retire or that he can’t work anymore, he is confident the team he has in place at Phantom will be able to carry on and not “miss a step,” he says.
“Will there be some adjustments to my absence? Yes, but the young team will be able to sit in board meetings in this room and our other board room, and fill the gap quickly and operate, probably even better than I’m operating,” he says.
