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2015 SESSION

15103079D
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 207
Offered January 19, 2015
Commending Hubbard Peanut Company, Inc.
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Patrons-- Morris and Tyler
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WHEREAS, in 2014, Hubbard Peanut Company, Inc., in Sedley celebrated its 60th anniversary of producing a Virginia delicacy—delicious locally grown peanuts—that today is famous the world over; and

WHEREAS, Hubbard Peanut Company is the Commonwealth’s oldest continuously family-owned-and-operated peanut processor; it began in 1954 when Dot Hubbard, a young mother who wanted to earn some extra money, developed a tasty method for cooking peanuts; and

WHEREAS, the snack soon was in great demand by her friends and neighbors, and Dot Hubbard’s husband, HJ, was delivering one-ounce bags of Hubs Peanuts to customers around town and in surrounding Southampton County; and

WHEREAS, Hubs Peanuts were produced in the Hubbards’ home, but the demand for the nutty snacks outgrew a typical kitchen; HJ Hubbard and some colleagues devised a peanut-processing system to accommodate the increased demand while ensuring strict quality control; and

WHEREAS, Dot Hubbard eventually needed assistance; she hired friends and neighbors to help skin the peanuts, and she would drive around Sedley with her children in the car, picking up tubs of prepared peanuts to cook once she returned home; and

WHEREAS, a mail-order business for Hubs Peanuts evolved through word of mouth as more people became enamored of the specialty food; in the 1950s the mail-order industry was in its infancy, but the Hubbards began shipping packages of peanuts, processing all orders by hand; and

WHEREAS, the Hubbards moved to a new home a mile away from where Hubs Peanuts were first made; the Hubbard Peanut Company plant has taken over the grounds of the family home, with offices, warehouses, and industrial kitchens now on the land where the family lived and played; and

WHEREAS, much of the equipment at the Hubbard Peanut Company plant was designed by HJ Hubbard; his manufacturing design acumen has stood the test of time as the company has grown and prospered; and

WHEREAS, Hubbard Peanut Company is still a family-owned entity; Dot and HJ Hubbard’s four children now run the company, which processes and ships tins of Hubs Peanuts around the nation and around the world; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That Hubbard Peanut Company, Inc., hereby be commended on the occasion of its 60th anniversary in business and for establishing Hubs Peanuts, a standard-bearer for delicious foods made in Virginia—and a snack known around the world; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Lynne Hubbard Rabil, president of Hubbard Peanut Company, Inc., as an expression of the House of Delegates’ congratulations and admiration for developing a worldwide market for the Virginia peanut, one of the Commonwealth’s tastiest and most historic foods.