Alumni Spotlight Paul, Peter, and Frank Viviano Owners of Viviano Flower Shop
Growing up, Paul, Peter, and Frank Viviano all worked in the family business, Viviano Flower Shop, founded in 1937 by their grandfather, Frank P. Viviano, Sr. And today, in the company’s 75th anniversary year, the three brothers have led the company’s expansion to four locations and employ over 130 people. Paul serves as the CEO of the business. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at Hillsdale and later an MA in Finance at Walsh. Although he began working in a lab, his father, Frank Jr., asked him to join the business not long after college. Paul hasn’t looked back. As CEO, he oversees all departments, and directly manages the design and delivery departments, as well as handling the finances. Peter is the President of Viviano’s. He earned a Bachelor’s in Horticulture from Michigan State University, and always knew he would be in the “flower business.” Peter handles product development and merchandising.
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Frank is Vice-President of the company. He earned an Accounting degree at Hillsdale, and later earned his J.D. at the University of Detroit. Frank said, “I had Mr. (John) Schmid for Accounting, and he said to us that one path to success was earning our CPA degree, and then a law degree.” Frank initially worked for a CPA firm for two years. When his brothers asked him to join them, “I realized I missed the family business.” Frank also works with Finance, but primarily handles wedding sales, and meeting with brides-to-be. Despite their varying corporate responsibilities, all three can and do step to the “design table,” a workbench 5 feet by 2.5 feet, and design a flower arrangement. They fondly remember their father standing at the design table, doing arrangements, placing orders, and meeting with vendors. Peter said, “We had to stand next to him. Our dad was the first one here and the last one to leave. He taught us all how to design.” Frank is often at the table, doing the first arrangement in an order, for the employees to then “follow along.” Peter says their father never strong-armed them to follow in his footsteps, and at a young age gave them each responsibilities. ”Our dad didn’t let age be a limitation. He gave us the confidence to do anything”.
Peter Viviano, ‘84 Paul Viviano, ‘79
Frank Viviano, ’89 Each brother was running the greenhouse at age 13 or 14, and ordering plants. The brothers note they have over 30 first cousins, and at one point, nearly every single one has worked at Viviano Flower Shop. Frank said, “We worked here at Christmas. We were all together, and we enjoyed it. It was our big family Christmas party.” Although there are now far more employees than family members at Viviano’s, Peter cites the family atmosphere for their low turnover. “This is one big extended family.” The Viviano Family also has had an extended history with the Christian Brothers. Their grandfather, Frank Sr., was a high-school student at St. Joe’s, who left school at 16 to help the family when his father suddenly died of a heart attack. Later their father, Frank Jr., planned to attend De La Salle, but ended up attending U. of D. High. His namesake, Frank, ’89, says his father “messed up on one of the answer sheet lines, and then had all wrong answers. He realized his error, but it was too late.” Their father’s brothers are graduates, however. Antonio “Tony” Viviano, ‘53, is the retired Chief Judge of the Macomb
