Always in Season: Steve Litton

Name: Steve Litton

Busy season: From Shabbos Nachamu until Succos

Location: Lawrence, New York

Business name: Litton Sukkah

Years in business: Since 1999. We started manufacturing our own line of succahs about 12 years ago

Position: Owner

How did you get started?

From the age of 12, I was putting up and taking down succahs together with my brother, first for our family and then for neighbors. Eventually, it grew into a business. As we got older, we realized the succahs on the market weren’t sturdy enough. Customers would get upset that their succahs were flying away in the wind, but we hadn’t designed them, we’d only put them up! But our clients’ frustration inspired us to design our own structurally sound, high-end, quality, lifetime product that would also be easy to store.

When do you start preparing?

We never stop. Our succahs are handmade, and we’re manufacturing succahs all year long.

What’s it like at peak season?

For about three weeks, we’re all working 18 to 20-hour days nonstop. Even during Chol Hamoed, we’re busy putting up succahs for simchahs like bar mitzvahs and upsherens. And it doesn’t just end when Succos is over — we get busy then taking down succahs and processing orders for the next year.

When is downtime?

About a month after Succos until January.

What do you do with the leftover stock?

We don’t have leftover stock. Everything is made-to-order, and we have an inventory of rentals.