30 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JANUARY 2018 30 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2017 30 LONGISLANDPRESS.CO M • SEPTEMBER 201-----------TUTU111
PRESS BUSINESS
Marty Greenstein: Let stress
be springboard to success
Amazing Events & Celebrations CEO’s passion guides caterer’s evolution
By WARREN STRUGATCH
Marty Greenstein and his
wife Dianna opened their
first restaurant, the Hungry
Haven, inside long-gone Baron’s
Department Store in Smithtown,
but in 1980 the couple got out of the
restaurant business and continued
doing catering and special events
under the name Uncle Marty’s. As
their clientele grew more corporate,
the Greensteins renamed their
business Event Pros Group and
expanded to a larger building in
Ronkonkoma a decade later. Today,
Event Pros Group handles a select
list of event clients, while Mr.
Greenstein concentrates on public
speaking, sales training, and his
book published in 2015, How to Sell
the Brooklyn Bridge… And Other
Stuff. He continues to perform as
a strolling magician, using tricks
he learned watching the magicians
he hired work the crowds. We
caught up with “Uncle Marty” at
Watermill Caterers in Smithtown.
Long Island Press: Were
your parents role models as
entrepreneurs?
Marty Greenstein: My father
was named Aaron. Everybody
called him Archie. He was born
in a small village in Russia. Never
knew his father. Left school after
third grade. My dad was a tough
guy. He worked for years as a
salesman for the Restful Mattress
Company. He’d go to customers’
homes who called him to have
their old mattresses fixed. My dad
would take a knife and slice their
mattresses open. He’d show they
didn’t have the original horsehair
stuffing. Then they’d have to hire
him to repair it. They loved him
anyway. He was a bit of a bandit.
LIP: Did your mother work as a
homemaker or in business?
MG: My mother’s name was
Phyllis. She was a hard worker
too. She was always working at
her mother’s corset shop in East
Flatbush near where we lived.
In later years, she worked at the
restaurant my father eventually
opened in Borough Park.
L
IP: How did your career begin?
MG: I didn’t finish school. After
working at my dad’s restaurant, I
bought a taxi medallion and drove
a cab in the city. WPIX used to
call me when they did stories
about cab drivers.
Then a guy who cast
commercials hailed
my cab. After
that I got work
doing movies and
commercials.
I still get calls.
About four years
ago I was the Aleve
Santa Claus.
LIP: How did the catering and
eventing get started?
MG: Customers’ kids used to call
me Uncle Marty. One day a little
girl asked .me, “Uncle Marty, can
I have my birthday party in your
restaurant?” What do you think
I said, No? I said, “Of course,
sweetheart. What day is your
birthday?” I asked Dianna how
to create a kid’s birthday party.
Then an adult asked me if I’d
cater his company’s picnic. I said,
“Of course.” I had never been to
a corporate picnic myself. So I
learned.
LIP: How did your
business grow?
MG: In the early ’80s
I started creating
events around
team-building.
It offered a solid
business reason
to get out of
the office. We needed
tons of costumes for
the exercises. At
one point we
had over 800
costumes.
LIP: Are all your events successful?
MG: Yes, of course. Well, maybe
one in a million isn’t. Do you know
I keep a mouse in my pocket for
magic? We were working a wedding,
I took out the mouse and said very
quietly, “Eek.” Maybe not so quietly.
The mother of the bride sees it and
starts screaming at us to leave. So
we left. Another time we filled a
6,500 foot tunnel in Grand Central
Station with several thousand
balloons. Later everyone started
popping them - Pop! Pop-Pop! The
cops ran in thinking someone had a
machine gun. God forbid.
LIP: Do you have an eventing
philosophy?
MG: I do. I believe eventing is all
about passion. It can be stressful,
but I believe in letting the stress
become a springboard for success. I
grew up watching my parents work
hard but not letting themselves
grow. So I say: Never stagnate.
Let your imagination lift you to
where you can see far into the
distance. Rather than letting your
restrictions hold you
back, let what you
see guide you.
Amazing Events & Celebrations CEO
Marty Greenstein has a few tricks up
his sleeve. (Photo by Bob Giglione)
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