Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Aromandi.
Hi Tony, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Buttery was born out of a group of friends coming together to start a local team, the Buttery Biscuits, in 2011. The team has gone on to become a regular tournament team, traveling to other cities and states to play roller hockey together, and even winning nationals back to back years in 2017 and 2018. Now 14 years since our inception, much of the same core still plays together.
At the end of 2023, motivated by the desire to play more competitive hockey more often, without having to travel hours away, we held our first Iron Man Tournament in Stuart, FL. After having an incredible time and receiving a ton of positive feedback from the local hockey community, the Buttery Roller Co brand was born. We began with creating a unique Ironman with a draft style format. The purpose being to create parity and comradery amongst participants and teams. Then, by designing merchandise that players and attendees could purchase or even win at our events, the Buttery Roller Co brand really started to grow.
After doing a few of these Ironman tournaments, we then started doing full team tournaments dubbed “The Buttery Cup” in May of 2024 – our first tournament drew 20 teams from across the state, after hearing about the culture we had begun to create.
In October of the same year, we started our first season of The Buttery Beer League; A Dynasty Keepers League featuring two Divisions (B on Monday nights & A on Tuesdays), where captain duo’s get to evaluate skaters and draft their teams season over season. At the end of each season, winners get their names on the Cup and captains evaluate new players joining (40% growth from season 1 to 2) and decide which 2 players they will keep for the next season.
Fast forward to January of 2025 and we decided it was time to take the community, culture, and comradery that we had curated locally and start a non-profit organization, The Buttery Roller Foundation. Our vision is to give back to the world, effect change in people’s lives, and support causes that speak to our values in addition to just coming together to play the sport we love and doing group outings.
In May, we held our first charity tournament, Wheeling For Wellness, supporting one local charity, Finding A Lost Voice, and one national organization, Same Here Global. The tournament honored our fallen teammate, Abdulla Dajani, who we had lost 7 years prior to suicide. Its purpose was to shine light on the fact that Mental Health affects everyone, and that it is not something we should talk about or recognize only once a year, but every day. Incredibly, 23 teams signed up to sell out the tournament in less than 24 hours. We also miraculously had 23 local businesses sponsor the tournament. What’s so special about the number 23? Well, Abdulla wore it and we have worn the suicide awareness ribbon with his number on it ever since his passing – too cool. The tournament was more of a hockey festival than a traditional tournament – featuring rotating Food Trucks, a mobile bar, DJ’s, Silent Auction items from the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and mental health activist/former NHL player, Daniel Carcillo. Many local businesses donated other items to a raffle, and we even had Abdulla’s parents there to award the trophy and speak about their experience.
When all was said and done, and after some very powerful and emotional moments and conversations, we gifted custom Wheeling For Wellness jerseys that had been signed by all 23 captains and close friends of Abdulla to his parents, Luz and Izzat, the two charity founders, Jordan Meyers & Eric Kussin, and the tournaments presenting sponsor, Ice Lab Pro Shop. Two weeks after the tournaments end, The Buttery Roller Foundation donated $7500 to split between the two charities, which will go directly to Finding A Lost Voice, paying for several therapy sessions for people in need and to further the educational impact and message that Same Here Global has tirelessly curated for many years.
At the same time of our donation, we took 5 teams, comprised of 56 players, to Nashville to support another charity tournament, The Wish Cup. They have certainly inspired us on our journey, and make a considerable donation every year to the Make A Wish Foundation of Middle Tennessee annually. Though none of our teams we able to win our divisions, the impact on all of our members and for our brand was considerable.
Whats next? We’ve just launched an online store for merchandise and are planning events for the rest of this year and through 2026. The goal is to take our tournaments, brand culture, and nonprofit organization nationally to be able to effect positive change and offer an incredible weekend experience to countless other men, women, and youth hockey players -far beyond our local community and rink in Stuart, Florida.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Our growth and evolution over the past couple of years has truly just been organic and step by step. I never thought 14 years ago I would actually start a Buttery brand or run our own tournaments/leagues, but after a lifetime of building relationships and being around the game, and doing just the one tourney at the end of 2023 for fun – it just kind of clicked – like wow, I can really do something special and fun here with my best friends at my side, that also resonates with others and isn’t like every other league or tournament guys have played in since they put skates on.
From there, it’s just been listening, learning, and letting our creativity and personality shine through our tournaments, leagues, events, social media and especially in how we treat everyone that we meet. Everything has just been incremental. With that approach, I think the growth and potential for so much more becomes an organic byproduct of just being genuine and following your intuition. It ain’t easy, and it ain’t for everyone, and nothing is ever perfect or without some frustration or obstacles, but I couldn’t be more sure that we’re doing the right thing, in the right place, at the right time.
Expansion IS truly a bit scary with the unknown and the financial risk – I’m by no means a rich man – but, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, right?
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
For the last 5 years I’ve worked for a friends boutique Florida based Web & App Design/Development company, Graphic Web Design Inc, as a Sales & Project manager. That’s still my day job, though much less of my focus, as things evolve here, and not to mention the changing landscape of that industry with the massive uptick in AI usage, outsourced labor, and conglomerate web-builders. Before that, I was a minority owner of a startup tech company which focused on providing websites and digital release form apps for tattoo artists and their studios and worked a variety of jobs, from Blue Collar work to Hospitality.
I never went to college after graduating high school, it’s been a life of pursuing passions, meeting people, and trial by fire. When I was a teenager through my early twenties, I was the vocalist of a band who was sure that we’d “make it”. After signing a deal, recording a couple records, and touring nationally, and a wide variety of unfortunate events – I had to move on from that dream. Looking back, though incredibly grateful for the experience, that’s always been a difficult pill to swallow. But now with the emergence of all things Buttery in my life ever since then…it feels poetic. To this point what I’m most proud of would also be what I feel separates me from the pack, and that would be having the courage to pursue what I’m passionate about versus taking a more traditional route, and to be the type of person that relishes in building relationships, creating memories, and connecting people in all aspects of life.
How do you define success?
I’m not sure there’s a one size fits all answer and I believe there are different levels to success or to feeling successful. I feel incredibly grateful and feel like it’s a huge success having gotten to this point and being able to create a place for people to come together, do their favorite thing, and be a part of an awesome community. Though i’m not sure I’ll feel like the brand is a total success until it gets to a place where it’s a full on career and I can leave other endeavors behind. To be able to do this full time alongside my closest friends while making lifelong memories is the absolute dream and at that point…the bar of success will surely be raised yet again.
Pricing:
- Buttery Tshirts – $25
- Buttery Hats – $35
- The Buttery Beer League – $175pp
- Buttery Ironman Tournaments – $50pp
- Buttery Team Tournaments – $750/team
Contact Info:
- Website: https://butteryroller.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/butteryrollerco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559063057853
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@butteryrollerco
- Other: https://ButteryRoller.shop
Image Credits
@kmosnapssports, @mindsetmaximus, @fluxcapmedia, @mamamaysa, @lsquaredpics,
