When the world went still in 2020, Grigor “Greg” Puleri moved.
He had just been laid off during the pandemic when he heard about the Amazon delivery service provider pilot out of Staten Island. The program was designed for entrepreneurs who wanted to start their own delivery companies—independent businesses that would contract with Amazon to handle “last mile” deliveries. It was meant to be temporary: send trucks into Manhattan, where teams with handcarts would deliver packages the final stretch to customers’ doors.
It was a stopgap solution for an uncertain time. But Greg saw something in it. It wasn’t a guarantee, but a chance to build.
He’d learned long ago that beginnings rarely arrive looking certain. Years earlier, he had opened a modest hardware store in Long Island City, a hopeful venture that lasted less than a year. When Amazon asked about his business experience, he didn’t try to spin the story. He told them the truth.
“I told them the store failed. And I said that that was what set me apart. I knew how to lose and still run with it,” he said.
They gave him the opportunity. What was supposed to be a temporary pilot has now stretched into five years. His company, Puleri Logistics Solutions LLC, began with a handful of trucks and now manages daily delivery routes through Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen.
In 2023, Amazon invited Greg’s business to compete for a place in its Pinnacle Program, a next-level opportunity offered to just 45 companies worldwide out of 3,700 delivery service providers. By then, his operation was recognized as one of Amazon’s top performers. The program allowed his team to expand beyond the “last mile” and take on middle-mile routes, transporting goods between fulfillment centers and delivery stations.
Greg approaches growth the way he approaches everything: with calm focus, steady effort, and the quiet conviction that success is best shared. He’s known for rallying good people around a common goal and creating a workplace that offers opportunity, not just a paycheck. He believes that success means building something that supports everyone involved.
The Thread of Opportunity
Today, Greg’s ventures stretch across industries: a high-performing logistics company, a revitalized seafood restaurant, and a soon-to-launch commercial driving school. On paper, they couldn’t be more different. But they all share his signature approach—see an opening, move toward it, and bring people with you.
That instinct didn’t come from business school or a mentor’s advice. It came from a life of learning how to push forward.
He was born in Albania in 1988, in a country still emerging from political turmoil. His father worked as an electrician, his mother as a banker, modest but steady roles that gave the family stability in unstable times.
“I’ve been blessed with amazing parents, and I’m not just saying that because they are mine,” he said. “I look at what they did, from watching my father having to basically be armed to go to work just to be able to provide food on the table, and watching him restore his home with whatever money he would put away just to provide a better environment for us in the middle of, like, this hell that was happening. … keeping a smile on their faces and looking at us, and always saying, ‘you know, we don't have enough, but we'll never run out.’ That was their thing.”
When he was about 13 years old, his mother applied and was selected as a winner for what was known as the American Lottery, and the family left for the U.S., eventually settling in Worcester, Massachusetts. Life there wasn’t easy. It was a big adjustment, and, for a time, a feeling of not quite belonging. But adaptability became his default mode.
When his sister moved to New York to study at NYU, Greg followed, taking whatever work he could find: as a Starbucks barista, a real estate assistant, a construction worker. He and his father also painted apartments in Brooklyn together, one wall at a time.
He attended Borough of Manhattan Community College and was interested in theatre, but never had a plan. He just always kept moving.
“I’ve never been afraid to try something new,” he said. “Even if I didn’t know how it would end, I figured I’d learn something from it.”
That impulse led him to open the paint and hardware store in Long Island City in 2015 with a friend—a dream that lasted less than a year. When it closed, he pivoted again, taking a management job at New York Sports Clubs to stay afloat.
“It taught me how to manage fear,” he said. “I took everything I had saved painting houses with my father and lost it all. At the time, it felt like the end of the world. But you learn to manage it. At the time, it meant I had to go and find another job.”
That willingness to take a risk and figure it out has defined his career ever since. It’s what led him to the Amazon DSP Program and what keeps propelling him into new ventures.
Building Beyond One Business
In 2023, friends with a seafood restaurant—Off the Hook, a raw food bar and grill— were on the verge of shutting their doors, struggling to expand in Freeport, Long Island while waiting on a liquor license. Greg stepped in to help stabilize operations and guide the expansion. Today, the restaurant is thriving again and is poised to begin exploring franchise opportunities.
Despite the range of his ventures, Greg keeps his approach simple.
“Every day is different. There’s nothing fancy that goes on behind the scenes. It’s as simple as Google Calendar, coming up with a list for the following day and prioritizing what’s more important,” he said. “Time management is not one of my strong suits. I’m always learning from everyone else.”
What Connects It All
Running two very different businesses—a logistics company and a seafood restaurant—has shown him how people, not products, hold everything together.
“The common denominator is communication,” he said. “The answers are not always going to be in front of you. You may not have any answers at all. But you can communicate that to the people around you, and learn together.”
At his logistics company, he now leads roughly 300 employees and keeps his structure intentionally simple: clear priorities, open communication, and a shared understanding of why the work matters.
“Most entrepreneurs can tell you what they do and how they do it,” he said. “But the why is what drives it home.”
When one of his first employees, Jorge Palapa, showed promise, Greg nominated him to Amazon’s Road to Ownershipprogram. Jorge now runs his own DSP—launching this fall—across the street from where Greg’s journey began.
“I never thought I’d be able to provide that kind of opportunity for someone else,” he said. “That’s the best part.”
The Next Chapter
Now he’s building again—this time, a commercial driving school.
“We were approached by a company called Driving Academy,” he explains. “They’re franchising to people who want to open a school and teach others how to get their CDL Class A or B.”
The idea resonated immediately.
“I see it as a way for people with upbringings like mine to change their future, to get real training and provide for their families,” he said.
He’s secured space on City Island for road training and an office in Baychester for walk-ins. The plan is to open by December 2025. Making it even sweeter, his sister is flying in from Bolivia to help run operations, a full-circle return of sorts.
A Life Already Full
At home in Pelham, Greg lives with his girlfriend Victoria and his parents upstairs. He bought the house in 2022. Together, they renovated the lower floor into a modern apartment, one his parents will one day rent out to cover the mortgage.
“We’re still all kind of together,” he said. “It’s a good feeling.”
Ask him what success means, and he doesn’t hesitate.
“I think success is already here,” he said. “Money is really only a consequence of the value you bring to the table. I owe my success to God, Amazon and our beloved family members and pets who are no longer with us. I believe they are always negotiating on our behalf to pave the path forward.”
He pauses, then adds something that could double as his credo:
“If an opportunity is presented, I’m not going to leave it on the table without exploring it.”
You can learn more about Greg's restaurant Off the Hook, by visiting their website HERE.
