Ten Years Later, Granite Gold® Brand Granite Cleaners and Other Stone-Care Products Available Throughout the U.S. and Internationally
Chicago (March 2, 2013) — International Home and Housewares Show; Booth N6450 — It all started with questions Lenny Sciarrino and Lenny Pellegrino could not answer comfortably.
“What granite cleaner should I use?” the two Lennys were often asked by customers when Sciarrino was leading operations at the family business, European Wholesale Countertops, and Pellegrino was running his stone restoration business – Pellegrino Stonecare.
“There really wasn’t anything in the market we could recommend with confidence. Common household cleaners will damage natural stone, and anything marketed specifically for use on stone either left streaks and fingerprints or wasn’t readily available for our customers to easily purchase,” said Sciarrino, co-founder and president/CEO of Granite Gold Inc. “Mild dish soap and water was all we’d recommend, and it still wasn’t the best answer.”
With the answer in hand for granite and all other natural stone, the cousins were filling bottles and handwriting “Cleaner” or “Polish” on them, giving them away after finishing restoration and installation projects. That soon led customers returning, asking for more of the magic formula. Granite Gold Inc. was formed in 2003, and in 2004 the Lennys set out to bring Granite Gold brand granite cleaners and stone-care products to a mass consumer audience.
“We had an answer to their questions, one we were totally confident would protect the stone surfaces our customers pay a hefty price to install and restore,” said Pellegrino, Granite Gold Inc. co-founder, who still runs the restoration company and is on job sites daily.”
With a small start and local distribution in the San Diego area and conducting numerous how-to demonstrations at regional home and garden shows and in Costco club stores, Granite Gold Inc. led a national consumer awareness campaign on the dangers common household cleaners pose to natural stone surfaces. That catapulted word of mouth and burgeoning online sales in Granite Gold’s early days, and today Granite Gold brand granite cleaners and other stone-care products are available in grocery, hardware, mass merchant and specialty store channels throughout the U.S. and internationally.
“It really started out as just an idea to create a product to help customers of our installation and restoration businesses. Little did we know back then we were building a widely recognized brand known for great stone-care products and educating customers on proper stone care,” said Sciarrino. “Ten years later, we’ve more than doubled our product line-up, expanded distribution along multiple channels in every U.S. state and have grown to include international distribution.
“Customers recognize Granite Gold as the experts in stone care, from the performance of our products to our Ask the Experts customer service program, where we provide professional advice and answer questions on all-things stone.”
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Key Dates in Granite Gold History
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013