Keep Moving: Ben Veltidi Works His Bucket List

Every spring, when mulch yards operate at a frenetic pace from dawn until dusk, Ben Veltidi  gets in his truck and drives to work on the banks of the Hudson River in New Windsor, New York. 

With ease, he ascends the five stairs leading up the 35-ton loader. He takes his seat, adjusts the mirrors and locks in for the work. Veltidi is 82.

“Well, you can't sit around,” Veltidi said on his way to mix a pile of wood mulch. “That's one thing my cardiologist says — keep moving.”

IF YOU CAN MAKE IT HERE

BVI’s Got Mulch — an acronym for Ben Veltidi Inc. — serves the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts from a site fit for a painting. Tree-covered, rolling hills frame the business that started coloring wood mulch in 1995. 

In the early days, there were many unknowns about the market for colored mulch. Veltidi, the original owner, recalls a prospecting visit in the 1990s and thinking, “No one’s going to buy this.”

His own business selling colored mulch began by delivering a few loads to existing customers. “You don’t have to pay me for it,” Veltidi recalls telling them, reflecting his own uncertainty about its reception. “I want you to try it and tell me how it is.”

The next year, he got a call asking if he had any more of that product — red-colored, recycled wood at the time. The business of selling colored mulch was off and running.

FROM THE GROUND UP

The humble beginning eventually became a thriving business, utilizing a colorizer and making hardwood mulch on site. The products are uniform and precise across a range of color offerings. (Early on, the business created its own brown by pumping red and black colorant together.)

Veltidi estimates only three or four producers were making colored mulch in the tri-state area in the early days. Today, that number is around 30. Still, BVI — now owned by Eric Brewer and managed by Lance Melendez — retains a loyal customer base. 

“We still have most of the customers we started with back in ’95,” Veltidi said. “It’s about making a quality product with good service.”

Put another way, it’s a company built on trust and relationships. “Ben is really the epitome of this,” said Jeremy Heim, the Northeast Territory Manager for Colorbiotics. “He has helped pioneer this industry since day one, always by doing what's right by the customers. And that foundation is very much alive today with Eric's ownership, Lance's leadership.”

GOING STRONG

The year-round long days may be in the past for Veltidi, but during busy season, he’ll be back in the loader supporting the business he started more than three decades ago. He has to keep moving.