Catch the vision: Fruit of the Earth takes good old fashioned family values and applies them to its day-to-day operations and product development

Fruit of the Earth, one of the newest skin and sun care brands to be launched in Canada, produces the best-selling aloe vera gel in the United States. The company, located in Irving, Texas, a community between Dallas and Forth Worth, was formed in 1980 by owner Tom McCurry, Sr., president and chief executive officer. The brand is aloe vera based and the products are formulated with a stable, emulsion system. The product line now includes skin care with aloe vera, vitamin E, cocoa butter and, most recently, alpha hydroxy fruit acids; plus there's a Fruit of the Earth line of tanning and sun protection lotions, and an Aloe Vera fruit drink. The Fruit of the Earth brand is marketed in Canada by Andrea Sharp, president, Concepts Plus Sales & Marketing Ltd., Mississauga, Ontario. After many years in the cosmetics industry, including several where he built a company with products based on cocoa butter and then sold it to the Mennen Company, McCurry took six months off to relax and regroup. It was during this time that he learned about aloe vera, its properties and qualities. Excited about its potential, he and a former partner founded Fruit of the Earth in 1981, with offices in Texas and manufacturing/shipping operations in Chicago, Illinois; by the late '80s these operations were consolidated in Irving, Texas. Products prove popular Their aloe vera products were a big hit and Fruit of the Earth was soon shipping to almost every drag chain, a first for an aloe vera product, as well as many independents, mass merchandisers and grocery stores. We originally came out with three products," says McCurry. "We had Aloe Vera Gel and Lotion, and a Vitamin E Lotion. We are the only company in the world, that I know of, that uses a 100 percent clear aloe vera gel as the main ingredient in its products," McCurry comments All in the family Today, Fruit of the Earth is a family business. The executive staff includes McCurry's wife Faye, secretary-treasurer, and who McCurry says has been most instrumental in the business. "She's on the financial side and knows this business backward and forward," he adds. Their children now hold major executive positions. Elder son Thomas, known as Tom, Jr., took over the company operations several years ago as executive vice president; youngest son Brad is vice president, sales; oldest daughter Kathy is director of marketing; and youngest daughter Elizabeth has just completed college and is undecided whether she is going to join the company. McCurry is proud of all of his staff. "We've got some very fine employees; I consider them part of the Fruit of the Earth family, and we treat them that way," he says. McCurry now leaves the company's day-to-day operations up to Tom, Jr., who joined the company in 1981 after graduating from Baylor University. He has learned the business from the ground up. I started out driving fork lifts at the Chicago plant and moved on from there," recalls Tom, Jr. "I had the opportunity to work in every part of the business -- warehouse, ordering, shipping, purchasing, inventory control, sales, marketing, planning, dealing with the banks, the ad agencies, the whole gamut. And I'm still learning." Canadian connection He feels that expanding into Canada is an excellent move for his business. "My goal is to give Canadians more than they expect. I want consumers to be glad they bought our products; I want the buyers to be glad they are dealing with our company." Tom, Jr. met Andrea Sharp at one of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) shows at a time when Fruit of the Earth was deciding how to market its lines in Canada. "We liked her personality and her vivacious attitude; it seemed as if Fruit of the Earth would be a very important line to her; and that's how it has worked out," he says. We've never been hung up on 'bigger is better.' We wanted someone who could effectively make the presentation and follow up with personal service. Andrea has a great network set up across Canada." He comments that several years ago Fruit of the Earth was sold in Canada through a distributor. "They were great people, but we were losing our ability to be competitive. Everybody was putting on their markups before the product even got to the stores, and we were priced out of the market. So we wanted something semi-direct," he explains. In-house expertise Fruit of the Earth includes the parent company, plus the manufacturing arm, Fruit of the Earth Research Laboratories, which is located with the manufacturing plant and warehouse facilities. "There are about 25 employees in the head office, and about 75 in the lab, plant and warehouse," says Tom, Jr. We have a head chemist, Tim Meadows, and a microbiologist, Christy Cole. Meadow's expertise has been in the reverse engineering and formulating areas and he's a great cosmetic chemist. He works with Kathy, who has a flair for product creation, to develop new product ideas. He also oversees the testing of all the new introductions, as well as the SPF testing that's necessary for the sun care lines." In the past, Fruit of the Earth wasn't in a position to control testing. "Whenever we wanted to come out with a sunblock, say SPF 15, we would have to make samples and send them for outside tests to verify our claims," Tom Jr. explains. This was very costly at several thousand dollars per test. Now we do our own tests in house. We also offer these services for contract packaging or private label manufacturing. We have the capability to do a total 'turn key' project with our very experienced people." The research laboratories do all the compounding, filling the bottles, putting on caps and labels to create the finished product. Grow the business The health care segment is a growth area for us, since more consumers are getting into the holistic approach to medicine and health;' says Tom, Jr. "We make the absolute finest and purest Aloe Vera Juice on the market, which is why our product looks, tastes and smells different than any other drink in this category. There are no FDA regulations as to what constitutes 100 percent aloe, and that's why some aloe vera juice products have almost no aloe in them. Some brands advertise that theirs 'tastes as good as natural spring water'; and you know what? We couldn't find a trace of aloe in them." Fruit of the Earth's product looks like tea, and that is aloe, according to Tom, Jr. "We've had to educate the consumer with hang tags that say it's pure." He believes there's a tremendous market for this brand. "The juice was one of our first products, and sales have really exploded in the last year or so. It only has three ingredients -- aloe vera gel, citric acid and sodium benzoate, a preservative, and we don't add water to it. What you see is what you get." No doubt, standards will be set soon for aloe vera juice products, as they were for orange juice. "Then we'll be the good guys. Everyone else will be forced to bring their juice products up to a standard, but we're already there," he says. People are key He doesn't see the Fruit of the Earth operations as just another office and plant; he takes the people into account. I like to invest in people. If you create an environment where people want to come to work, and they like their work, that's going to translate into quality effort for a quality product. I want them to feel pride of ownership when they see Fruit of the Earth products on store shelves," he says. We're a very family oriented company and we really subscribe to family values. We believe in doing the right thing, and I think that that has a way of coming back to you. We have a heart and soul and it's really the old fashioned going back to basics -- putting service above everything else." Basic philosophy The best fertilizer for a man's yard is his own shadow," says Tom, Jr. "We want everyone to feel that this is their company. We want them to catch the vision." He plans to use his good fortune in the future to help others. "Someday we'd like to be able to help communities build parks or sponsor something like shelters to help the homeless. We want to figure out a way to start something, to be involved." Tom, Jr. runs a very lean ship, without unnecessary staff. "We would rather have our people work a little bit harder so that when business does slow down we don't have to go through a layoff period," he explains. We're trying as best we can to manage investment in our growth. But you know what? When you have a truly excited, motivated sales force, this issue of controlled growth becomes almost impossible." He is very excited about Canada and says he found the Canadian government very helpful to deal with regarding importing the Fruit of the Earth brand lines. "They helped me understand what we needed to do, and I've already learned some lessons. I've told Andrea that I'm not even going to show her any new products until we get government approval and have the proper labelling!" he says. Global expansion Fruit of the Earth's current goal is to start developing its market on a global scale. Already it's selling to countries in the southern hemisphere like New Zealand and Australia, so when its production peaks slow down for the northern hemisphere market, they are just starting for the southern hemisphere. Our markets are also opening up in South America, the Mid East and the Far East, and we're developing a network in Europe," says Tom, Jr. "That's where our real growth is going to come from." Tom, Jr. admits that what he has learned about what works in the U.S. is not necessarily going to work in other countries. "You have to address each market as its own entity. For instance, will a specific package size work in other markets? What's so exciting about Canada is that, from what I've been able to observe, its market mirrors the U.S. so closely, and the stores are great" He says that buyers like the line because they get to make a margin on Fruit of the Earth. "With some heavily advertised brands, the deep discounters make only 5, 6 or 7 percent, but they can make 30 percent or more on our lines, and that's U.S. dollars. In Canada I think it's even more. And that's a very good feeling, because our products can compete against these other brands." New products Fruit of the Earth is just on the verge of launching a Daily UV Protector in the skin care category, a very light sunblock that delivers an SPF 15 value. "It's not a hard-core sunblock product because we took out some of the ingredients like the one that provides waterproofing," explains Tom, Jr. "This was formulated to be a hypoallergenic, nonirritating lotion that feels light when applied to the arms and face. We saw a niche in the market for this. Take Oil of Olay for instance. It's primarily formulated for the face and retails for $9 to $10 in the U.S., and it's about 3.5 ounces. We formulated our new product for the whole body and call it an all body moisturizing lotion. It's non-oily, very light and fragrance free. It's very similar to the Oil of Olay products, and it has SPF 15, and retails for about $6 to $7, for 12 ounces. Women can use it under makeup and men can use it too because it's so light. It's a good value for consumers and I like good values. I think that when consumers try this, they're going to say: 'Wow, this stuff really works, and I don't have to buy a department store brand at $60'," he says. Fruit of the Earth is taking it to market in a large size bottle and a 437 ml white tube that both look very clinical, and it will be marketed in the hand and body section. I'm really excited about this, but I don't know if the consumers are ready for it yet. I think it's a real opportunity for us," Tom, Jr. says. Vanilla products are also new for this year with creams and lotions being marketed. Holding to principles Tom, Jr. comments that Fruit of the Earth has had every opportunity to cheapen its products by using different types and forms of aloe that may be less expensive, but the McCurrys don't believe in that. "We're sticking to our philosophy that the less you do to the pure aloe vera the better it is. What's on the Fruit of the Earth label is what you get; we're not deceiving anybody," he says. "If someone doesn't get a benefit from an aloe product, then in my opinion there's no aloe in it." There are some new formulations in the sun care category including Spray Sun Blocks, which isn't unusual, but Fruit of the Earth's Spray Sun Block with SPF 30 is alcohol-free, and that is unusual according to Tom, Jr. "The product doesn't clump up the nozzle when it's sprayed, it gives a nice spray pattern and it's highly water resistant." Ideas often begin at home He comments that the company often comes out with new products through the McCurry family's own experience. Tom, Jr. explains: "My wife took our children to a water park and they were too excited to stay still long enough for her to apply a sunblock. She came back and said: 'Can't you put this into a spray bottle?' Well, we worked on that and came up with Kids SPF 30 in a spray format. It's so much easier and faster to apply, making it more convenient for parents." Also ready to roll out are two new everyday face products, one with SPF 15 and the other, a self tanner, also with SPF 15, just for the face. "We also put a self tanner in a spray bottle so it doesn't streak," says Tom, Jr. Into the future And what about the future? Tom, Jr. says that the Fruit of the Earth family is growing the business and enjoying it. "A lot of people say it can't be done, but we've done it. It's a real joy sharing our family values and trying to incorporate that into running a business. My Mom's a very sharp woman, Kathy is very bright, and Brad is a very aggressive and energized salesman. And my Dad, well he's always around to keep us all on track. It's just a great mesh," comments Tom, Jr. In this day and age when everybody is buying up everybody, we're kind of like the dinosaur. As we grow there are different structures and elements that have to come into the company to get to the next level, but we still plan to maintain that family atmosphere. What it all boils down to is putting people first."