While watching a fireworks show, have you ever thought about the supply chain and procurement challenges fireworks distributors face?
For Nathan Carter, CFO of Fireworks Over America — a 60 year-old, medium-sized consumer and wholesale distributor of fireworks based in Springfield, Missouri — this is part of the job description.
After transitioning from public accounting and financial leadership roles in more traditional industries, Carter now works as a finance chief in an industry he finds interesting, is ripe for growth opportunities and has its fair share of unique challenges to overcome.
![Nathan Carter Fireworks Over America](/imgproxy/qMUGqps7EPo7cLGLzSMIXEyh-3psOC3fUEo81LtduJs/g:ce/rs:fit:695:695/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL3JldmlzZWQuanBn.webp)
Nathan Carter
CFO, Fireworks Over America
Notable previous positions:
- CFO, Tomo Drug Testing
- Supervisor, Brown Smith Wallace
- Controller, Auto by Rent
- Tax accountant, BKD CPAs & Advisors
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
ADAM ZAKI: When I think of Fireworks, I think of two holidays; the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve. How do you manage the peaks of your demand throughout the year?
NATHAN CARTER: There’s a perception in this industry that we spend six weeks working hard for the Fourth of July and then take the rest of the year off. And that couldn’t be farther from the truth because we are procuring throughout the entire season. So it’s a year-round process preparing for these holidays.
Due to the lead times needed to get our consumer product from China, we start planning our orders for the next season before this season’s numbers are known. We rely on our expert knowledge and experience in this market, where we’ve just celebrated our 60th anniversary, in making those purchasing decisions and forecasting the financials for the upcoming year.
How do you stay competitive with other suppliers in such a niche market?
CARTER: It’s a bit of pricing, but I would say in this industry, each supplier has their own little niche. We are nearly split between business-to-business and consumer sales, about 60/40, and I think what sets us apart is the product quality and our ability to deliver our products. Some other suppliers have more of a difficult time doing that.
![Fireworks Over America](/imgproxy/Bnz8-cR5Wo-B0yjp7CwQVpAtxAYjFO3SV39V2sFC3HU/g:ce/rs:fit:1600:0/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL0lNR183MTI5LkpQRw==.webp)
This type of product availability earns us business. We recently were contacted by a pyrotechnic display company that's a customer of ours that was working on Zach Bryan’s tour. They had an urgent need for the product and they knew that we were the ones that could get the product to them whenever and wherever they needed it.
It’s that, plus the quality of our product, that helps us have an edge. In this business, you have to have a product that does its job. One that not only looks good but does what you say it will. Because if it doesn’t, our customers are the ones who get the blame.
What types of risks are specific to your industry that as CFO you have to worry about?
CARTER: We have a few risks that I deal with, but the first one that comes to mind is accidents. What's interesting, and I learned this when I came into the business, is a vast majority of all accidents in consumer fireworks are consumer-caused. Most of the time it’s user error, people using these products under the influence. It’s one of the biggest problems our industry faces.
We have a legal climate in this country where there’s somebody to be sued if someone loses fingers or if there’s a death. And we, like our competitors, have to prepare for those types of situations. And, the media loves to promote those types of stories around Independence Day.
I will say we’ve got a ton of resources dedicated to product safety. Making sure the products we’re selling are properly tested, and our customers know how to use them properly, etc. But, in our industry, we lose total control of how a consumer is going to use our product whenever it leaves the building.
"There’s a perception in this industry that we spend six weeks working hard for the Fourth of July and then take the rest of the year off. And that couldn’t be farther from the truth because we are procuring throughout the entire season. "
![](https://d12v9rtnomnebu.cloudfront.net/diveimages/corporate_site/teampage/square_profiles/placeholder-200.png)
Nathan Carter
CFO, Fireworks Over America
Our other major risk is getting the product here. As I mentioned, nearly all of our products come from China, and we have very little control over the factories there and their ability to produce and fill our orders. Something that’s been a big change for us in the last few years is that some of these Chinese factories are now able to sell the products we would buy to consumers there.
Because there's little red tape there, they can make a product and sell it directly out of the factory to a consumer in China. They don’t have to put up with the regulatory environment they do when sending products here.
I’m not saying that to complain about this country’s desire to import a safe product. That desire is there, especially with us. However, it does provide an incentive for a factory in China to sell to the Chinese consumer versus a U.S. consumer. This is a battle we are finding ourselves fighting more frequently, just trying to get enough products into the country in a timely manner.
Have any other companies from other parts of the world seen this need and begun to produce fireworks at scale?
CARTER: It’s the “at scale” part that’s the biggest problem. Yes, there are other markets out there, Brazil is one that we’ve seen, and we also started importing some products from Cambodia this year.
![Fireworks](/imgproxy/1LS-8b38nY6mCUDRUjWcoiVILoxzYZhJ-YR7Flwca68/g:ce/rs:fit:1600:0/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL0dldHR5SW1hZ2VzLTEyNDE3MDg3NzQuanBn.webp)
But, just to give you a rough idea, Brazil produces about 200,000 lbs. of product per season. The United States market alone imported between nearly 250 million lbs. of products in 2023. And Brazil is one of the largest single-market producers outside of China. This is a new push to expand outside of China, largely since the COVID-19 pandemic, because shipping issues from China were rampant.
There’s a saying that fireworks products are like Grandma’s gravy recipe. You can get the factory open, and you can get going, but making a great product at scale isn’t easy. Companies that make the best products do so for a reason. Some things aren’t made to replicate in super large numbers.
There’s a reason why the ones who have been producing products for 100 years have been able to do it for so long. Many times, it is due to the inherent knowledge of one or a few key people within a factory. This isn’t a turnkey business, you just can't get a factory up and running to produce these products. These products don’t have recipes you can start mass producing. There are no recipe cards for a lot of the best stuff. The people behind those products are the key.
Although you’re a fairly large organization, this is still a family-owned business. You’ve worked for large corporations in the past. What’s the biggest difference between being the CFO of a family business versus working at a larger corporation?
CARTER: When I was working for a public accounting firm and larger companies afterward, I felt like I was trying to please multiple bosses at the same time. In public accounting, what works for your partner doesn’t work for your other bosses, and, sometimes, that is frustrating.
Back then, I felt like I was not only trying to meet the demands of my partners and bosses but also the clients’ demands and all of the dynamics within them. When you’re working with lots of different clients at once, plus all of those people managing you and that decision-making process, it can be hard.
"There’s a saying that fireworks products are like Grandma’s gravy recipe. You can get the factory open, and you can get going, but making a great product at scale isn’t easy."
![](https://d12v9rtnomnebu.cloudfront.net/diveimages/corporate_site/teampage/square_profiles/placeholder-200.png)
Nathan Carter
CFO, Fireworks Over America
Now, I only have one primary stakeholder, who has a super genuine interest in the business doing well. But it’s not just the business they care about, it’s our people too. It’s my job now to make sure that all the moving parts of our business are sustaining and growing our business for the sake of both the owners and our employees. It’s a bit more streamlined, and it’s noticeable when it comes to things like company culture and communication as well.
How are you around fireworks? Are you comfortable with lighting some of these things off at your personal parties?
CARTER: Oh yeah. I grew up in the country. We would buy fireworks every year. I will say, I certainly have bought a lot more since being here, only because I am so much more familiar with the different types of products and what they do.
To give you an example, my friends and I are getting together for the Fourth of July down at Table Rock Lake here in the Ozarks of southwestern Missouri. And they came to me and asked if I could help them purchase some fireworks and put on a show. And I said yes, and so it’s things like that and the opportunities I’ve had and will have to travel around and witness cool fireworks displays that make this job cool.
Before this, I was a CFO at a drug and alcohol testing company, and my kids tell me they think this job is a lot cooler than people peeing in a cup.