Vincent Gruppuso (October 25, 1940 – December 29, 2007) was an American businessman and former deliveryman, who created and founded Kozy Shack, a multimillion-dollar company known for its pudding.

Early life

Gruppuso was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, on October 25, 1940, to parents Joseph and Mazie Ditta Gruppuso. His dad was a construction worker and his mother was a

seamstress A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Not ...

. He worked as an aerial photographer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during the late 1950s, before returning to Brooklyn. He worked at several jobs before being hired by the Arnold Bread company as a deliveryman. Gruppuso's marriage to Virginia Pantaleo ended in divorce.

Kozy Shack Enterprises

Gruppuso continued to work as a bread deliveryman in Brooklyn during the 1960s. He discovered the Cozy Shack

delicatessen Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...

on Seneca Avenue in Brooklyn, which happened to be one of his delivery stops. He soon began selling trays of the puddings from the Cozy Shack to his other customers on his delivery route, in addition to the bread. He bought the recipe for the puddings outright from the Cozy Shack delicatessen in 1967 and opened a small factory in

Ridgewood, Queens Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick and East Williamsburg. Historically, the neighborhood st ...

. The small company quickly expanded into a major business. As of January 2008, Gruppuso's company has more than 400 employees working in three plants, which are located in

Turlock, California Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. Its estimated 2019 population of 73,631 made it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County after Modesto. History Founded on December 22, 1871, by prominent grain farmer Jo ...

Hicksville, New York Hicksville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York. The population of the CDP was 41,547 at the 2010 census. History Valentine Hicks, son-in-law of abolitionist an ...

and Lough Egish, Ireland. The company estimated its total revenue at around $140 million in 2007, much of it from the sale of 115 million containers of pudding and pastries during that year. Kozy Shack puddings are sold throughout Europe, the United States,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and Canada. In 2006, the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

named Kozy Shack's rice pudding as one of its "Grocery Gems." In 2012, Kozy Shack Enterprises was sold to

Land O'Lakes Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an American member-owned agricultural cooperative based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb of Arden Hills, Minnesota, United States, focusing on the dairy industry. The cooperative has 1,959 direct producer-members, 751 ...

."Land O'Lakes Closes Kozy Shack Acquisition"
August 1, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2013.

Death

Gruppuso died at his home in

East Hampton, New York The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a tot ...

, on December 29, 2007, of complications from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

at the age of 67. He is survived by three daughters, his former wife, a brother and sister, and five grandchildren.

References

External links

Kozy Shack Enterprises
1940 births 2007 deaths People from Brooklyn American food company founders Puddings Snack food manufacturers of the United States United States Navy sailors Deaths from diabetes People from East Hampton (town), New York Businesspeople from New York City {{US-business-bio-1940s-stub 20th-century American businesspeople