Curt Cameron’s adult career life has been divided between programming software and peddling booze. But growing up, he had a jack-of-all-trades role model that helped set the stage for Cameron’s working life.
Cameron is now the president of Thomas Hooker Brewing Co. in Bloomfield, but started out in his hometown of Granby. Teenage Cameron worked for a local man, Harry Greci, who did a bit of farming and ran a gas station and small oil company, as well as operated a AAA service. As Greci plied his hand to a number of occupations, so did Cameron.
Under Greci’s numerous business interests, Cameron drove a AAA tow truck to rescue stranded motorists. He drove the oil truck to people’s homes to fill heating oil tanks. He was also a “petroleum transfer engineer” – meaning he pumped gas at the station.
But it was Greci’s work ethic that made the biggest impression on Cameron.
“It was almost that he taught you to be proud of working hard,” Cameron said. Greci didn’t hesitate to jump in and take on the work, and he gave the impression that it was honorable to do so. To this day, Cameron dislikes it when people have an attitude of entitlement, acting as though they’re too good to roll up their sleeves and get dirty.
“I hate hearing people say, ‘oh, man, I’ve got it easy’ … I don’t know why anybody would brag about that.”
But Cameron was no layabout before coming to work for Greci. At around age 10, he spent part of his snow days hauling around his family’s snow blower, clearing neighbors’ sidewalks for about $3 a pop.
Post-college, he worked in software — programming and working in technical sales, mostly – first in Philadelphia and then for Silicon Valley-based companies while he lived on the East Coast.
But a job like that requires plenty of air travel, and the time away from home proved irksome to a father who wanted to spend more time with his kids. He quit to become a stay-at-home dad, but less than a year later he embarked upon the next big category of his career: alcohol.
He lived in Litchfield County at the time, and was now home long enough to notice a potential opening in the local market. The area had liquor stores, but Cameron thought the place lacked a higher-end wine store, so he began plans to open up the New England Beverage Co. in Torrington. Local liquor retailers were not pleased when they got word.
“When I proposed going in there, all the stores got together and formed a lawsuit against us,” alleging zoning violations, he said. But Cameron’s side won the ruling, and he eventually opened up two liquor stores in the area.
Cameron and the other liquor store owners eventually buried the hatchet. And good thing: a professional relationship would come in handy. After selling off New England Beverage, Cameron and a partner sensed a business opportunity in the Thomas Hooker brewery, and bought it a little more than a year ago – bringing him into business with those same merchants.
“Given my vocation here, I’m actually selling to those guys,” he said.
