Family Letter 2001

Dear Friends,

And so, another year passes with phenomenal swiftness. It seems like yesterday that Grandson Jedidiah was in kindergarten. Now he towers over his mother in height. Granddaughter Madison is 10 years old and twice as "dramatic" as her mother. (Something I never thought was humanly possible.) The good news is both of our "cookie tasters" are wonderful grandchildren. Even at age 15, Jed continually hugs his mother and grandparents (if only to let us know, we are shorter than he is). And Ramona (our daughter) has kept her vow never to say to her daughter, (as I used to say to her), "Oh, stop being so dramatic!".

Our children grew up in this business. Now it is gratifying to see our grandchildren take an active interest. They answer phones, process mail orders and wait on customers. This past summer, Jed spent his days as a "bakery intern". Ramona delighted in having his contract read: "he must do whatever his mother tells him to do." His Uncle Mike quickly added a postcript that stated "except on beautiful days, when golf is a possibility." Madison continues to practice her math skills on patient looking customers. However her real talent is talking and she gives very "dramatic" bakery tours.

My children, Ramona and Mike now run things. Although they are both "savvy" business people, they refuse to compromise the integrity of their heritage and our product by succumbing to the "lets make it cheaper and faster by machine" philosophy. They continue to support and uphold the principals and ideals that founded our family business. Those principals are simple - if you have to compromise taste for profit in order to remain in business - then don't stay in business.

That's why we continue to make our cookies by hand. That's 100,000 pounds a year. There are over 100 cookies in a pound. So that means over ten million cookies, cut out one by one using only rolling pins and cookie cutters. Then each tin is hand packed and every shipment hand boxed.

Pride in our cookies is our bottom line not profit.

As for Travis and I, well, we are basically retired. These days we just look around and smile with satisfaction and joy at what you, our customers, have made blessedly possible. Your loyal patronage gives my family the opportunity to work together in a business we enjoy, with a family we love and make a product we are very proud of.

For this, I am truly grateful.

    Evva Hanes