The specialty legend

Legend has it that Specialty Box & Packaging has its roots in a poker game.

My great grandfather Sam Fialkoff was owed a debt that could not be paid. Finally, Grandpa Sam agreed to settle the debt by accepting a piece of die-cutting machinery. The machinery made shirt boxes for laundry companies and thus a packaging business was born.

The shirt box business was short lived but the idea of building a specialty packaging business lived on with Sam’s son and my grandfather Leonard. Leonard phoned David (my Father) who’d just graduated from Ithaca College and said, “Son, I want you to start a packaging business with me.” David, who’d had great dreams of becoming a ballet dancer (OK, I made that one up) agreed to join up with his dad. David did manage to fulfill his dancing dreams many years later performing on the stage of Proctor’s Theater (NO, I’m not making that one up). David, when asked why he started a packaging business rather than chase his own dreams, stated simply, “My dad needed me so I said yes.”

Specialty Box & Packaging took on many faces throughout the years. What started as a shirt box company became a full-service packaging provider to department stores. As department stores became a thing of the past, Specialty Box & Packaging assisted mom-and-pop retailers with their packaging needs.

A new type of growth came when, in 1993, the third generation hopped on board. My brother Jason moved Specialty Box & Packaging into both the catalog business and the candy business. Ever the entrepreneur, Jason also pursued growing Specialty Box through starting new businesses. We opened up Specialty Box & Packaging South in Florida, CustomTakeOutBags became our restaurant and resort division, Chef Rags was a business that offered custom clothing for restaurants, The Packaging Café and Dream Pak were companies geared toward serving other packaging distributors.

I climbed on board in 2002. My time as a lowly paid youth pastor uniquely prepared me to navigate Specialty Box to just make it through financially tumultuous times that reared their ugly head beginning in 2008. And after almost selling the majority share of our family’s 40 year old business, it was time, like never before, to passionately and playfully sell smiles. We believe that branded packaging is a company’s smile.

Soon, with that focus, we were blessed to enjoy tremendous growth in restaurant packaging. Jason, who works a room like none I know, inspired many new food service friends to partner with Specialty Box. It was with much surprise that we saw spots opening up for us at the tables of industry giants like Staples, Edward Don, Sysco Food Service and many others.

In 2018, the last of the Fialkoff brothers jumped on board. Josh was feeling ready for a shift out of software development, and I needed someone to scale the company. Together, with our incredible team, Josh and I work on preparing Specialty Box for the future. We hope to promote growth, nurture our family, and find ways to be a kind and responsible member of our global community.

The Specialty Box “About Us” story would be incomplete without highlighting some of our longest tenured team members from the past and the future. The names listed here all have more service time with Specialty Box than any of the three Fialkoff brothers. Daphne and Ray, both with over 20 years each on the job, still faithfully serve all who decide to play with Specialty Box. And the mere mention of Jimmy and Leo, close comrades and legendary Specialty Box family members, still fills me with awe as I remember watching them laugh, bicker and work in the warehouse while my brother and I climbed on mountains of smile filled corrugated boxes.

If you were a fly on the Specialty Box wall, you might occasionally hear the motto "We're number 2! We're number 2!" Spot 1 is always given to the person in front of us, whether a customer, vendor, partner, or stranger. When it comes down to it, it's not the packaging that's important, it's the people. And we are deeply grateful for all the folks we've gotten to know over the years under the pretense of "doing business." If you're already part of the family, we thank you. If you're not part of the family...well...everyone's family.

Eric Fialkoff
Smile Distribution Manager