HUBS peanuts carry a distinction that astonishes business people in
mail order sales. Most mail order houses expect a one half of one-percent
repeat business. But HUBS peanuts obtains 70 percent repeat business
from its mail order list. "Our list is very small but it is very
active," says Lynne Rabil, president of the company her mother
founded. Lynne also is a Longwood graduate, Class of Ś75.
L. Michael Gracik Jr. of Richmond, the only non-family
member of the Hubbard Peanut Co. board and a long-time advisor to
the company, says of the family members and the company, "They're
very protective of their customers.”
Gracik specializes in tax consulting to small businesses.
He describes the Hubbard family as unique. The company, he says, "is
a great success story – a classic American business success story.
But what makes it even more unique is its being founded by a woman
at a time when women were not starting businesses.”
Since the early days when the Hubbard children worked
together packaging peanuts in their kitchen so they could make deliveries
the next day, Hubbard Peanut Co. has been a family affair.
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