When entrepreneur Rowena Fullinwider, 65, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003, she never stopped working.
As she was lying in bed in her hospital room in Norfolk, Virginia, with a needle in her arm feeding her chemotherapy drugs that would make her sick and weak for days, she made phone calls to customers, suppliers, employees and anyone else she needed to keep in touch with so her gourmet food business wouldn't miss a beat.
You see, Rowena has been in business since 1983 and she now has a lot of people depending on her—20 year-round employees and about 125 during the holiday season. And they're like family to her. She was determined they wouldn't suffer as a result of her cancer. When she got sick, she was also spearheading and co-authoring a new historical cookbook, Celebrate Virginia!, which was published in April 2003. (She did, however, cut back on her political and charity work.)
So once a month for eight months, Rowena sat in her hospital bed for an entire day, watching the drip, drip, drip of the poison that would cure her, continuing to work and be cheerful. For days after each treatment, she was nauseous and exhausted. And for almost a year, she didn't have the same energy level and attention to detail as usual. Sales were down slightly although the company's general manager, Joan Place, Creative Director Cameron Foster, and other employees did their best to fill Rowena's shoes during this trying time.
It was a tough year for the mail-order food industry, and it's hard to say whether Rowena's illness was the cause of the company's somewhat lower sales. Rowena's produces delicious gourmet cakes and sauces, and sells other gourmet food products through its catalog, website and retail shop. It also has a lovely tearoom that serves lunch daily.
What did the business do to survive the slowdown and its leader's illness?
"We had implemented a new email program in 2002 and we were blessed with a strong increase in our website sales," Rowena says. The company sent emails about once a month to its customer base promoting various products and encouraging online sales. It is quite successful.
"We've seen our online sales grow by 50% over the last two years as a result of these efforts," says Joan Place. The company has now uploaded its entire catalog to the website. "We expect online sales to be our biggest growth area in the coming year."
Rowena has made it through one year in her path back to health, but 2004 has not been without its challenges. Early this year, Rowena's 77-year-old husband, Peter, was also diagnosed with cancer. As with her own illness, Rowena asked friends and family for prayers and kept her positive attitude. "We'll get through this as we always do," she says. So the roles have reversed. Now she's spending one day a month at Peter's side in the hospital. "As you progress through life, there are always challenges. We don't say, 'Why me?'" says Rowena, "We say, 'What are we going to do about this?' and then we do it."
That's the key. Rowena refuses to sit back and let life happen. "I fought the cancer just like I have dealt with other obstacles in my life—directly, positively and with the help of God, family and friends," she says. She also kept a very positive attitude. "I worked in health care for many years," she says, "and I know that recovery often depends on attitude."
MORE ABOUT ROWENA
Rowena Fullinwider is the epitome of success. She runs a profitable gourmet food business, employs 20 people year round and about 125 during the holiday season. Rowena also mentors women and girls, donates time and energy to the community and various charitable causes, spends time with family and friends, and is politically active. "She's like the Energizer Bunny and it's hard to keep up with her," says Cameron Foster, Rowena's first and longest employee.
Getting Started
"I didn't choose this business, it chose me," Rowena says.
Rowena was known as Norfolk's "Cake Lady" long before she decided to go into business. At first, she made her pound cakes to donate to various charities for their fundraisers. The cakes were so delicious, her friends and business associates encouraged her to start a business and sell them.
It was 1983 when her friends finally convinced her to use her outstanding recipes, creativity and enthusiasm to begin a for-profit business. "Never mind that I had a total lack of business or food-industry experience, no financial background, marketing or sales experience, limited finances and no business credit," she says. "I was one of those people who didn’t know you couldn’t do it, so I did it!"
Rowena began her business in an old warehouse with one employee while she continued to work as a medical technologist at a local hospital. This continued for six years until her business grew to the point that she felt she could quit her other job.
"Rowena's truly began with the three fruit trees in my backyard from which I made the original jams and my almond pound cakes that I baked in my kitchen. The Almond Pound Cake is to this day our biggest selling item," she says. But Rowena needs a "few" more pounds of fruit and other ingredients to make her cakes and curd sauces today. "We now buy our ingredients in large quantities," says Rowena. "Each year we buy 200 tons of sugar, a half million eggs, five tons of carrots, three-and-a-half tons of cranberries, and 20 tons of flour."
One reason she decided to start her business was because she wanted to teach her children a few of life's lessons. She was a single mother raising three children. Money was tight and sometimes she had to have a second job to support them. "I wanted my children to know that I not only stood for something, but that I also acted on it," she says. "You have to be a responsible business citizen and a responsible community citizen."
Giving Back
And the words "responsible citizen" certainly fit Rowena Fullinwider! She not only runs her successful business, but she also serves or has served on several boards (including president of the local National Association of Women Business Owners in 1996-97), mentors other women business owners, donates tons of time and product to charities, and gives tours of Rowena's to at-risk children.
She lobbied Congress to help small business receive an exemption from the National Labeling and Education Act of 1990, served as chairman of the Governor's Small Business Advisory Board for six years, and was a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995, serving as the co-chair for the Regulation and Paperwork Reduction committee.
In her "spare time" she has found time to write and publish two children's adventure cookbooks, The Adventures of Rowena and Carrot Jam The Rabbit and The Adventures of Rowena and the Jam and Jelly Factory, and, of course, her historical cookbook, Celebrate Virginia!
Creativity and a Heart Improve Business
During Rowena's busiest season, the company used to hire temporary workers to assist with all the extra packaging and delivery. And it still hires quite a few, but Rowena has enlisted the help of local business and charitable organizations by instituting a fundraising plan. These organizations can volunteer to work at Rowena's and make money not for themselves, but for their organizations. Their group gets a sizable donation for their efforts and Rowena's gets a very high-quality, dedicated staff that returns year after year.
The product line continues to evolve, as well. In 2003 Rowena's introduced Scoopable Cheesecake and in 2004 the company created a new line of sugar-free products so the low-carb enthusiasts can now have their cake and low carbs, too. "It's healthier, and even diabetics can eat these products," says Rowena.
Rowena is always busy and insightful, helping people as she goes. Her positive, enthusiastic attitude and sense of fairness keeps her employees loyal and productive. Consequently there are several families with multiple generations working for Rowena's. This keeps employee turnover to a bare minimum, and it's good for business.
Measuring Success
Rowena’s has been in this same building since it started 21 years ago, but the space has grown over the years and the company is now housed in a 15,000-square-foot facility located at 758 West 22nd Street in the Ghent area of Norfolk. The location includes Rowena's beautiful retail shop, elegant tearoom, offices, two warehouses, bakery and spacious kitchens. Its wholesale line of products can be found in over 2,000 gourmet and gift shops and catalogs across the United States, with its full-color retail mail order catalog distributed to an ever-growing customer list. Rowena and her company have won numerous awards over the years, including the coveted Blue Chip Enterprise Award in 1994 and the Women Business Advocate Award for Virginia and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Small Business Administration in 2004.
"But our real success is in our people," says Rowena. "Without them, Rowena's wouldn't exist."
