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October 22, 2018

A Post-Michael Portrait: One Promo Pro’s Storm Story

Hurricane Michael wrought catastrophic damage in Florida. Here’s perspective from a promotional products executive who is picking up the pieces, helping his community, and trying to move on.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Jacob Gelardos, president of Brilliant Tees (asi/42007), considers himself lucky.

Hurricane Michael’s near Category 5 eyewall passed directly over his home and promotional products business on the Florida Panhandle. Miraculously, both structures escaped devastating damage. Yes, the air conditioning units on Brilliant Tees’ production facility were blown off, and the business sustained water damage. Yes, two trees at his home were decimated, and siding was blown from the garage. But he was okay. And, the buildings remained standing and functional.

The same could not be said for other businesses and residences in Gelardos’ Panama City, FL. “The devastation is pretty bad here and the economic impacts of the storm probably won't be fully realized for months after the initial shock wears off,” Gelardos told Counselor. “Many businesses and homes are totally destroyed, and I have already heard that several acquaintances and businesspeople plan to take their insurance checks and leave permanently.”

Gelardos, however, is soldiering on, helping his community, helping fellow apparel decorators in need, and doing everything he can to maintain staff levels and even generate more jobs through strategically positioning his business toward opportunities, particularly those in the contract decorating field. “We want to be able to keep all of our staff and hopefully add more as many local jobs were blown or washed away by the storm,” he told Counselor.

To be clear, Hurricane Michael was no ordinary storm. It blasted parts of the Florida Panhandle with sustained winds of 155 mph – a shade below Category 5, the strongest hurricane classification. By some estimates, the hurricane’s brutal winds and deluging storm surge caused $8 billion in damage – a number based on insured losses. Estimates say that about half that damage tally could be in two Florida counties: Gulf County and Bay County. Gelardos lives, and operates his business in, the latter.

“The past two weeks have been a constant scramble of storm-proofing, evacuating, returning through damaged and impassable roads, cleaning, and helping friends and family who were more severely impacted,” said Gelardos.

From a business perspective, the immediate post-storm priorities centered on cleaning up water damage and establishing lines of communication and shipping. “We waited in line for over four hours to purchase an AT&T phone -- the only provider with service -- to use as a hotspot to run our office Internet and to accept calls,” Gelardos explained. “Then, we set up a UPS box in the next county to be able to ship and receive, as our local UPS distribution center was down for a while and is now quite a bit behind. Once cell and internet were up, we made sure to reach out to each of our customers and let them know that we were back in business -- and able to receive next-day blanks and process orders with our normal 5-10 day turnarounds.”

A firm that focuses keenly on contract apparel decorating, Brilliant Tees has business relationships with other area decorators that send Gelardos and co. overflow work during the busy tourist season. After Michael, Gelardos reached out to that network to help shop owners who weren’t yet able to get back up and running. “In the short term, we are able to help them out with production until their facilities are repaired,” he said. In fact, the extra work could help considerably with Brilliant Tees’ fourth quarter, though the longer-term prognosis isn’t great, especially for the firm’s other business segments.

“Due to the ability to contract print for other more severely damaged local shops, we may see a year-over-year increase in the fourth quarter, but we expect local retail and wholesale sales to drop significantly in 2019 as the long term economic ramifications of the storm's destruction become manifest,” Gelardos told Counselor.

Currently, he noted, many local customers are at least temporarily out-of-business or operating at limited capacity, while county schools “will be out for at least a month in total.”

Even with business coming in, Brilliant Tees remains shorthanded on staff. Sadly, that’s because some employees were hit hard by the storm. Certain workers lost their apartments and left the area to stay with family. While some have returned and are ready to work, others have indicated they will be moving permanently from the Panhandle. “We would love to have them all back,” Gelardos told Counselor. “We've made efforts to get payroll done in cash, as most local banks are down and many businesses are only accepting cash for the time being. We have offered free temporary housing to some employees, and directed several employees to government agencies and nonprofits that are offering comprehensive assistance.”

Gelardos has extended that altruistic outreach to the community at large. “We spent every day before we got power and water back delivering food and water to those in need, helping several people tarp missing and damaged roofs ahead of inclement weather, and helping remove trees from roofs, driveways, and public streets. We have become rather handy with a chainsaw,” Gelardos told Counselor. “Since regaining power and water to our home and shop, we have boarded friends with unlivable homes, and offered up showers and home-cooked meals to everyone we know. A great many in the community are doing the same and more. Everyone is really coming together.”

Despite the challenges ahead, Gelardos remains optimistic. “I expect our personal and business relationships to come out stronger on the other side of this,” he told Counselor. “The local economy may be damaged, but our family and the Brilliant Tees family will be stronger in the end.”