The Ledger
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Quimby: I was more responsible than Burt Shavitz to manage wealth
“I feel that I was the more responsible party for managing wealth. I could do the right thing with it. And I don't know whether Bert would have really used it very productively. He came from a family that had some wealth, and he chose not to use it. He didn't d…”
Quimby Believes She Was More Responsible With Burt's Bees Wealth Than Shavitz
“I feel that I was the more responsible party for managing wealth. I could do the right thing with it. And I don't know whether Bert would have really used it very productively.”
A personal transgression by Burt Shavitz destroyed Quimby's inspiration
“Well, it was sort of a personal transgression that was very hurtful to me, and it kind of popped the bubble in a way. I took a lot of inspiration from Bert and his lifestyle and his authenticity and his independence, and I found him to be quite admirable. So a…”
Burt Shavitz was prickly and kept at a distance by colleagues
“He was a prickly kind of guy, you know, he wasn't all warm and fuzzy. So, people, including myself, gave him kind of a wide berth.”
Quimby used Burt Shavitz's face to reject cosmetics industry sexism
“That was a very conscious decision to use Bert's face because I was, I guess, a little resentful of the way women were used to market products. And I saw some of the big cosmetics lines really exploiting the image of women. So it was important for me not to fo…”
Quimby attributes Burt's Bees' pivotal milestones to luck and timing
“I mean, you certainly have to work hard, but when I look back at some of the critical events that were part of the destiny of this adventure, I certainly couldn't have pulled those off. That had to be luck or Divine intervention, and there's been so many of th…”
Burt's Bees Bypassed Traditional Beauty Ad Spend Via Grassroots Marketing
“I've heard even that 25 cents of every dollar goes into advertising, so we didn't have that expense, because, you know, guerrilla marketing and grassroots marketing is not very expensive.”
Quimby Put Shavitz on Packaging to Reject Beauty Industry Exploitation
“And that was a very conscious decision to use Bert's face because I was, I guess, a little resentful of the way women were used to market Products. And I saw some of the big cosmetics lines really exploiting the image of women and defining them through the adv…”
A Personal Transgression by Burt Shavitz Fractured His Partnership With Quimby
“Well, it was sort of a personal transgression that was very hurtful to me, and it kind of popped the bubble in a way. I took a lot of inspiration from Bert and his lifestyle and his authenticity and his independence, and I found him to be quite admirable. So a…”
Burt's Bees hired a high school math student as bookkeeper
“We called the school, and we told them we needed someone good in math. And so they said, oh, we have just the fellow, he's on the math team. So he came over. After school, you know, he would pay the bills, and he would do the payroll, and he would make the dep…”
Burt's Bees invested excess operational cash into buying land
“And we had put all the money we needed to into growing the business. It still had excess cash. And I felt like we needed to find a very solid investment. And so land seemed to be rock solid to me.”
Burt's Bees used a cafeteria mashed-potato mixer for early production
“We were making one of our products in a big mixer that Duke had in its cafeteria for mashed potatoes. And we had a bath salt that we were making in a cement mixer.”
Burt Shavitz managed maintenance and bills while Quimby handled production
“We divided up the work. He would collect all the overdue bills, you know, overdue accounts receivables, and he was a fixer. When things broke down or needed maintenance, he was always willing to do that. And I was very hands-on with the product development and…”
Burt's Bees dropped candles because skincare scaled far more efficiently
“I think because it wasn't scalable, and the skincare products, which were basically blending and filling, it was a very simple manufacturing process that could easily be scaled, and we were making handmade candles, so to go to an automated system just required…”
Consumer pull strategy drove massive retail growth at Burt's Bees
“So that kind of a pulling strategy from the consumer really helped a lot with growth.”
Burt's Bees scaled without spending money on conventional advertising
“I've heard even that 25 cents of every dollar goes into advertising, so we didn't have that expense because we weren't advertising.”
Quimby set $1M sales target after hitting initial $20K goal
“My original goal was 20,000 dollars in sales, and then when that goal was achieved, then I set another goal of a million dollars in sales by the time my kids graduated from high school.”
Quimby handed Burt's Bees to executives to avoid big box retail
“Going to big box and drugstore chains didn't seem very exciting or creative to me, but it was clearly the next step. So I felt like it was time to turn it over to the professionals.”
Quimby Says Co-Founder Burt Shavitz Was Prickly and Not Warm
“He was a prickly kind of guy, you know, he wasn't all warm and fuzzy.”
Quimby Stepped Down When Big-Box Expansion Felt Uncreative
“Going to big box and drugstore chains didn't seem very exciting or creative to me, but it was clearly the next step. So, I felt like it was time to turn it over to the professionals.”
Burt's Bees Hired a High School Math Student as Early Bookkeeper
“We called the school, and we told them we needed someone good in math, and so they said, oh, we have just the fellow, he's on the math team. So he came over after school, you know, he would pay the bills, and he would do the payroll, and he would make the depo…”
A Consumer Pull Strategy Drove Burt's Bees to Its Tipping Point
“So that kind of a pulling strategy from the consumer really helped a lot with growth, and there was a tipping point where it seemed that everybody knew about it.”
Burt's Bees Hit $20,000 Sales Goal Before Targeting $1 Million
“Well, I don't remember exactly how our sales went in the eighties, but we were growing every year. My original goal was 20,000 dollars in sales, and then when that goal was achieved, then I set another goal of a million dollars in sales by the time my kids gra…”
Burt's Bees Lip Balm Shared a Formula With Furniture Polish
“We were making other products that were basically the same formula. We were making a furniture polish, which was wax and oil, and the boot food basically was wax and oil, and lip balm is basically wax and oil, and we put a couple of amenities in it, like vitam…”
Burt's Bees Dropped Candles Because Skincare Manufacturing Was More Scalable
“The skin care products, which were basically blending and filling, it was a very simple manufacturing process that could easily be scaled. And we were making handmade candles, so to go to an automated system just required a lot more time, machinery, and space,…”
Moving Burt's Bees to North Carolina Drastically Cut Manufacturing Costs
“Revlon was about 15 miles away. The Body Shop was about 30 or 40 miles away, and there were a lot of pharmaceutical companies that used a lot of the same glass jars and caps and that sort of thing. So our expenses went way down. We were able to hire people who…”
Early Burt's Bees Used a Mashed Potato Mixer and Cement Mixer
“We were making one of our products in a big mixer that Duke had in its cafeteria for mashed potatoes. And, ah, we had a bath salt that we were making in a cement mixer.”
Burt's Bees cut costs by relocating near Revlon and Body Shop
“Revlon was about 15 miles away. The body shop was about 30 or 40 miles away, and there were a lot of pharmaceutical companies that use a lot of the same glass jars and caps and that sort of thing. So our expenses went way down. We were able to hire people who …”
Clorox acquired Burt's Bees for nearly $1 billion in 2007
“When you see Burt's Bees today, it's owned by Clorox, eventually purchased by Clorox for almost a billion dollars in 2007, which is unbelievable.”
Burt Shavitz originally sold honey in used restaurant pickle jars
“Well, he was selling them in used gallon jars. You know, like, that pickles and relish come in in the restaurant business.”
Burt's Bees outgrew 50 hives and bought beeswax externally
“We had 50 hives, which was fine for a few years, and then we didn't produce enough ourselves, so we ended up buying other people's beeswax.”
Roxanne Quimby Apprenticed for Burt Shavitz Hauling Honey for a Summer
“So, I followed him around for a summer as an apprentice, and did a lot of the heavy work, hauling supers of honey around, extracting. I learned all about the bees, and I got to work with Bert.”
Clorox Acquired Burt's Bees for Nearly $1 Billion in 2007
“When you see Burt's Bees today, it's owned by Clorox, eventually purchased by Clorox for almost a billion dollars in 2007, which is unbelievable.”
Burt's Bees Co-Founders Paid Themselves $36,000 a Year in Maine
“Well, at one point, before we left Maine, we decided to pay ourselves 36,000 dollars a year.”