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Show Sunday. February 15. 1981. THE HERALD, Provo, Amtec in Spanish Fork father has always been an amateur inventor, but was never able to develop any of the inventions Atter discussing the situation at the reunion, the family decided to organize a corporation tion Hughes Development Corp to patent For 1! years before thev started their and manufacture one of Father herb company in 1972. Mr. Hughes was Hughes' latest inventions Seven family members pooled $1050 to begin the an elementary school teacher endeavor Mrs. Hughes enumerates the advanIn order to do a complete and tages of teaching school over their new job of patenting, the family thorough enterprise 'You get summers off and needed someway to raise more money you're poor Period ." Mrs Hughes voiced the winning sugThe Hughes became interested in sell capsulated herbs gestion herbs in 1965 when a friend told Mr For three successive nights, the Hughes cayenne pepper might help his hand stufted bleeding uicer. It did. And soon he con- family got together and vinced his wife that she should try the multi-millio- herb. "I thought it tasted terrible and tried to find somewhere in the valley where I could get it in capsules so I wouldn't have to suffer the awful taste." recalls Mrs. Hughes. They couldn't find a capsulated herb anywhere so they capsulated the cayenne themselves. A business proposition was discussed the Hughes' home during a family farewell party for a relative leaving on an LDS mission. at - n Mr. Hughe's brother Richard, their sisters and father. Robert Hughes, with their spouses were all present. Their capsules At the end of their labor, the family had 30 labeled bottles of capsulated cavenne 3.000 ne pepper could be used for anything Today, Jay is the personnel director other than cooking, so we had to of the corporation educate him Finally the store In November of 1972 the small com 144 bottles manager said. I ll take don't want to give you a large order pany leased an automatic capsulating machine. Because of Gene's todav " 1 Their first sale was to a Emma Chit-tocof Cottage Health Food Store. Provo suggested to Gene and Kristine what herbs to start out with They brought their first products to me and I bought six bottles.'' she recalls They went to a grocery store next, according to Gene s "nephew and the Teal business brains behind the venKen Brailsford of Spanish Fork ture "We knew little about marketing when we approached the grocery store The store manager did not know cayen k The elated entrepreneurs left their proficiency, operator remaining bottles and headed home to i he was the first Except for one minor setback in stuff more capsules January of 1973, the business has conThe Hughes hired their children at 50 tinued to grow At that time they were cents an hour to help them stuff Mr selling their capsulated herbs in Utah. Hughes said when brother Jay came in Idaho. Arizona. Colorado and Wvomine from California and saw the cumber- and they almost went bankrupt. some method of capsulating he colToday, Nature's Sunshine Herbs is a lapsed on the couch laughing subsidiary of Amtec Industries Ken Gene said simply. "Shut up. sit down, Brailsford, the company's first and start stuffing " chairman of the board has sold his interest to devote all his energy to a new herb magazine called The Herbalist Another nephew of Gene's. Kerry Asay is the company's chairman, president and chief executive officer. The founding family members. Gene and Kristine Hughes are on the Board of Directors and Gene is also a vice president. Three Utah County Businessmen On Herb Trade Association Board Three Utah County businessmen are Provo are serving as directors. The Utah Countians were elected at serving on the national board of directors of the Herb Trade Association for the associations general business 1981. meeting in San Francisco in December The Herb Trade Association consists Steve Smith, an executive with of various herb companies across the Amtec Industries of Spanish Fork, is nation, and is fast becoming a powerPresident of the board for 1981. Clyde ful voice in the herb industry, acSt. Clair of Nature's Herbs in Provo cording to association spokesman. and Ken Murdock of Nature's Way in Mark Blumenthal qualify yu can af a price can afford yu Blur.enthal said the association's goals include improvement of the image of herb usage, promotion of manufacturing and quality control standards and the development of the overall herb market Smith said the Wasatch Front contains the largest concentration of herb manufacturing companies in the United States. UPDATE: far in 1980 the corporation has averaged $1 million a month. Their sales force numbers more than 75.000 and they have expanded their operations to Canada and Australia. Despite the phenomenal success. Gene and Kristine still live in the same Provo house where the family gathered to stuff cayenne pepper into capsules So Permits issued in ly79 totaled 250 with a valuation of $7 485.571. while in 1980 there were 168 with a valuation ol $3,987,902 July saw more permits issued than any other month, with 23 tor a total valuation of $651,605 Fourteen of these were for residential construction, the report states May and October were the low months with May having eight permits valued at $163,372 of which three, with a value of $94,252. were for residential construction October's valuation was $163,364 with two permits issued for residential construction. A total of sued in the month 15 progress '81 I ol a people can save you money, it's as simple as Natural Wood that. A lot of what you see on display is manufactured locally, right here in Utah. We reduce the costs of freight and wholesaling by dealing directly with these local manufacturers. We also sell for less, because we sell so much, allowing you to buy at volume prices. brass finish it, you can choose your own stain color and finish to best suit your decor and lifestyle. An extra feature of Natural Wood Furniture is their handsome stock of brass items. It is worth a trip to Natural quality The best thing about the furniture at Natural Wood Furniture is the quality. It's SOLID WOOD. Solid Wood cannot be matched either for its beauty or its durability. And of the fine pieces of furniture you'll find are built to last through generations of use and admiration. You can buy with confidence from Natural Wood Furniture knowing that the best "economy" is "quality." Wood Furniture just to wander through the store and dream about all the ways you would like to decorate your home with the lasting beauty of brass.' But don't just dream, at the prices Natural Wood is selling them for, you can afford to indulge Jl sv ) if yourself. natural wood furniture . parkway center (west of grand central) Orem 225-WOO- D permits were is- The largest single new business construction permit was in February for a total valuation of $235,000. it was noted economy Furniture Furniture that you buy at Natural Wood Furniture is the most versatile furniture you'll ever buy because whether you finish it yourself, or have the experts at Natural Wood Furniture 25 WORK PLEASANT GROVE - Building per mits in Pleasant Grove wore down considerably in 1980 from 1979 the city building department has reported foroifore versatility age Building Down in PI. Grove Herb Industry Now International in Scope Gene and Kristine Hughes never dreamed stuffing herbs into capsules with family members around their kitchen table wouH !cad to a dollar international corpora- Utah-P- (9663) ' |