BY SUSAN ROSE
Cover Art: Two generations of the Buffalo Limousine family business (L to R): General Manager Nick Boccio and Owners Carla and Frank Boccio at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Photography by Chris Weiss. As Buffalo Limousine (based in the same New York city that shares its name) marked its 65th anniversary in 2025, the company stood at a unique intersection of the city’s storied industrial past and its promising emerging future. For decades, Buffalo—the city—was as synonymous with heavy industry like steel mills, railroads, and the powerhouse factories that built much of America’s infrastructure as it was as the gateway to the iconic Niagara Falls. But in recent years, the city’s economy has undergone a remarkable transformation, shedding its rust-belt image for a new identity defined by development and innovation that complements its tourism economy. And right in the heart of this resurgence is Buffalo Limousine, the family-run business that’s been part of the community for nearly as long as the city’s industrial heyday. Buffalo Limousine was founded by John and Camille Patti in 1960, when the city was still firmly rooted in its industrial roots. For more than six decades, the company has served the transportation needs of both locals and visitors, playing a small but steady part in the daily flow of life in Upstate New York. But things changed when their daughter Carla Boccio and her husband Frank took over the business in 2000. With fresh eyes married with an enduring tradition of customer service, they steered the company toward new growth to meet the needs of the era, especially as the city of Buffalo itself began shifting its focus from manufacturing to innovation and hospitality.
A team that wears multiple hats (L to R): Nick Boccio, Carla Boccio, Frank Boccio, Accounting Manager Kellie Walsh, and Office Manager Julie Kremer (who is also daughter of the founders and has been with the company for decades) “The downtown areas are bustling with a lot of development, which is huge for us,” says Carla Boccio about the town that sits on the easternmost shores of Lake Erie. “Even people from this area don’t realize how many movers and shakers come in and out of Buffalo. There are three prominent billion-dollar family businesses headquartered here. We service all three globally, but they have a significant economic impact on Western New York. There’s a new sense of optimism in the city, and we’re in a great position to take advantage of it. 2025 will be a strong year for us.” Buffalo’s latest chapter is being written with major urban redevelopment projects, including the transformation of the waterfront, new corporate headquarters sprouting up or expanding downtown, and the celebrated Highmark Stadium, which cements the city’s reputation as a prime destination for all things entertainment, especially football. The stadium—home to the Buffalo Bills—is not just a local sports hub, it’s a key part of a broader effort to revitalize the city, attract visitors, and elevate its reputation on a national scale. For Buffalo Limousine, which has seen demand increase alongside the city’s momentum, this is a pivotal moment.
Nick and wife Camille, a well-respected mental health counselor in Western New York, with their sons Giovanni, 3, and newborn Santino “This is a football town. The new stadium is driving a lot of business for us because the Bills are promoting the heck out of it, obviously to sell tickets, which keeps us busy doing stadium tours and stuff like that,” says Carla. “On top of that, a lot of businesses are popping up, startups or spin-offs of other businesses. They’re growing globally, but a lot of that’s coming back economically into this area through investing in the community, new real estate projects or office space, and hiring employees.” That global presence is also beneficial to Buffalo Limousine as their outbound affiliate work, especially to Europe, is among their largest sectors of business. Carla says it has increased five- or six-fold in just the past few years alone. Today, Buffalo Limousine operates a fleet of 22 vehicles, which range from executive sedans and SUVs to larger vans, Sprinters, and minibuses. With Nick, Carla and Frank’s son, now stepping into a more prominent leadership role with an ownership share, the company has also expanded in new ways under its third generation.
Nick, who joined the business full-time in 2016 and is the company’s general manager, has played a pivotal role in modernizing the company’s fleet and operations. Over the years, he’s had an active role especially on the fleet side—including training, scheduling, and getting behind the wheel himself—but he’s matured into his position, focusing on keeping the business agile, implementing new technologies, and building relationships with clients.
The Boccios at the new Highmark Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills “Over the last few years, I’ve been trying to do everything I can to make it easier for a new team member to assimilate to the company,” says Nick, which includes updating policies and procedures that have become outdated or redundant. He’s also learned to prioritize his essential duties while delegating to trusted team members, such as shifting training responsibilities to an employee who was a safety director at a trucking company and is familiar with telematics—another area of focus for Nick. Like his parents before him, Nick is looking at the business with a keen eye and forward-thinking mindset to keep the company not only relevant but thriving and adaptable. After all, businesses that aren’t flexible and elastic rarely last six years let alone 60. Both generations agree: Younger passengers will come to chauffeured transportation.
“I think people who are my age, in their early 30s, and travel for their jobs are going to use Uber and whatever because they aren’t allowed to use car service. But once they get promoted again and have a larger business travel budget, they’ll understand that car service is for not only airport work but for meetings and taking clients to dinner—and it will be a lot better experience,” says Nick, adding that companies like Uber have upped the technology expectations for the transportation industry.
Nick and Carla Boccio Despite the increasing importance of Nick in day-to-day operations, Carla and Frank are still deeply involved in running the business, and most importantly, truly do enjoy it. Frank’s decades of experience continue to guide the company, even as he steps back from some of the daily decision-making. Carla, too, remains hands-on, focusing on customer relations and ensuring that the personal touch that’s defined the business for years remains intact. “Frank and I plan on starting to wind down in the next year and feel confident with Nick at the helm,” says Carla. “We just keep plugging away based on our founder’s—my dad’s—core principle of ‘it’s all about service, service, and service,’ and service obviously means that you are interacting with clients. While technology advances are important, I do believe a good number of our clients and affiliates appreciate the personalized service we still give them that complements it. I also strongly believe one of the founding pillars of our industry is relationships. At some point you have to keep that personal touch, so to speak, for every trip, for every client, for everything. Otherwise, we’re just a glorified Uber.”
(L to R): General Manager Nick Boccio and Owners Carla and Frank Boccio However, the company’s success hasn’t been without its challenges. Travelers from Canada, once a healthy part of Buffalo Limousine’s client base, have dropped due to changing political climates and the impact of tariffs on cross-border travel. Carla, however, remains optimistic, focusing on adapting to the shifting landscape. The insurance situation—a sticky topic for Carla and likely every owner in the industry—is also weighing heavily on the Buffalo Limousine team, so much so that they hope their newly implemented telematics will be part of an overall plan to control ever-escalating rates. “We had no losses in five years, and I was frustrated by the amount of the premium increases,” says Carla. “So then we were invited into a captive group, where you will realize savings eventually, but you have to stay on top of that. Like the telematics thing, where you change behavior as it happens, you really have to stay on top of that, and Nick has put together a good safety program for us.”
The company’s sedans and SUVs continue to be the most requested vehicles for corporate travel, while larger vehicles, like executive-style Sprinters and buses, cater to special events and group outings. While suitable sedans are quickly becoming an endangered species for our industry, they are seeing some benefits to using “dual purpose” midsize SUVs.
“I do know a few people that don’t run sedans anymore and use SUVs for their base tier, if you want to call it that. And I’ve thought about it, but we’re in a market where we need to have a few sedans,” says Nick, adding that using midsize SUVs gets tricky for pricing. “Having midsize SUVs is a double-edged sword for us because, for example, we do a lot of trips up to the Toronto airport and Niagara Falls and you can’t fit two 50-pound suitcases in a Volvo S90 trunk. It just won’t happen. So, half the time that we book a sedan for two people, we have to send the Volvo SUV while charging a sedan rate even though the car is about 10% or 15% more expensive to buy. It is nice to have one or two sedans because when you drive one individual a long distance it’s more comfortable for them. But, like Carla said, you can always use an SUV for a sedan job.”
Chauffeur Patrick Talty at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum With the city’s transformation and the increasing demand for corporate and tourism-related transportation, the next 65 years for Buffalo Limousine looks promising. The city’s renewed energy, bolstered by the Highmark Stadium and other downtown developments, presents ample opportunities for the company to grow. And as Buffalo Limousine continues to be nimble against changing markets and expanding clientele, the company remains committed to maintaining the values that have defined it for more than six decades. “We’ve been around for 65 years and we’re one of like the 10 or 15 oldest companies. You can’t just start a car service company now without access to probably a million dollars in credit because of the price of vehicles and insurance. So, to last this long is really cool. We pretty much bend over backwards for our clients, and that’s why I think we’re successful. That’s why we’ve been around this long,” says Nick.
“For us—three generations—this business is truly a labor of love, it’s in our blood and we feel a real sense of pride and accomplishment being able to say we have been providing exceptional service to our clients heading into our 66th year, even through the many ups and downs this industry has seen,” adds Carla. [CD1225]
