 The Early Years....
The Peanut
Van originally began its life under the name "Murrumba Star". It was a simple
van outlet for Kingaroy Toasted Peanuts and operated on the weekends
at a Kingaroy service station.
A few months
after it started operating, the van was shifted next to the lush park at
the main entrance to Kingaroy (the site it's occupied ever since).
And when a
decision was taken to extend it to a 5-day-a-week operation soon after that,
our founder Ruth Davis was hired on a 20% sales commission to staff
it. She began working in the van on the 28th of December 1969.
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Photo:
an early shot of The Peanut Van taken around
1977. This was shortly after Ruth had acquired the "Murrumba Star" and added
a few signs. |
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How The Peanut
Van Was Sold For $100
In the first
year of operation, takings were so low that Ruth often only made a few dollars
a week (eg: in February 1969 her take-home pay for the entire month was $7.41).
And for the whole of the next 8 years that Ruth worked the van, she
never even made a basic wage.
So when Kingaroy
Toasted Peanuts was acquired by Arnotts Snack Foods in 1977 it wasn't
surprising that they thought the "Murrumba Star" operation was completely
unviable.
But as an
alternative to closing it down, they offered it to Ruth for $100. This price
included two hot peanut machines, a drink machine and the Murrumba Star caravan
(which by then was looking very much the worse for wear).
By this time,
though, Ruth felt she'd gained a good enough insight into customers' needs
to take up the challenge. So she borrowed $1,000 from the local bank ("with
a lot of fear and trembling", she later recounted), renamed the business
The Peanut Van and began to treat it as she'd always longed to.
The Peanut
Van Comes To Life!
Ruth used her
seed capital to get the van painted, quickly introduced several new peanut
lines and began stocking souvenirs. She also introduced the following policies
(which we've stuck to ever since):
The Peanut Van's
Credo
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To stock only
the highest quality peanuts and souvenirs
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To treat our
customers as the valued people they are
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To provide
our service from 8am to 5:30pm 7 days a week
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To
never settle for second best
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Ruth's friends
and family pitched in to help her and by the end of the first year Ruth found
she was (finally!) making a very basic wage out of her venture.
The new lines
she introduced also proved popular. So three years later - in 1980 - she
was able to retire the venerable "Murrumba Star" and replace it with the
present van, which was custom-built to her own specifications. She also
introduced The Peanut Van's first logo (see picture below) and began
marketing the business in earnest around this time.
Floods, Droughts,
"Moving Orders"...
By 1983 The
Peanut Van had grown enough to be turned into a company. But in 1984 the
van was flooded out twice and broken into several times. Worse, failed crops
that year meant that Ruth had great difficulty obtaining enough peanuts to
meet her demanding quality standards.
So in 1985,
The Peanut Van began buying and preparing its own nuts (rather than
simply retailing other people's peanuts). This gave us complete quality
control over all our peanut products for the very first time.
The next year,
though, Ruth had an accident which left her with a permanently injured foot.
So rather than do everything herself (as she'd mostly been doing up to that
time) she took on extra staff to handle the serving and packing.
Fortunately,
by this time word had spread about The Peanut Van's extraordinary peanut
lines and turnover rose right along with the new staffing levels to cover
everything. This created several new jobs in a town that desperately needed
them.
In 1987 the
road in front of the Van was widened and
Kingaroy Shire
Council suggested it should relocate. However, Ruth was able to persuade
them that the Peanut Van should simply shift onto the footpath instead (which
is where it is today).
The reason
Council agreed was that by this time The Peanut Van had become one of the
best-known sights in Kingaroy. And because of Ruth's vision, it was
also one of the area's major sources of tourist information.
The next year,
though, the Minister for Police gave Ruth 24 hours notice to shift the van
after an anonymous complaint about its location was made to the Department
of Main Roads. Again, Ruth fought the decision and won.
Mail Order
and A Whole New Look!
In 1989 Ruth
began The Peanut Van's now-famous mail-order business after repeated
requests from customers.
And in 1991
she began a three-year makeover of The Peanut Van's image and marketing which
led to our now-famous logo and a complete refurbishment of the Van, our road
signs, our packaging and all our marketing materials (see photo below
for a view of The Peanut Van as it is today).
1999: Ruth
Retires.....
And We Become The Next Generation
Ruth finally
retired in August 1999 after 30 years growing the Van. But she was
particularly choosy about who she'd allow to take over "the baby" she'd nurtured
through three decades of hard work.
She actually
rejected quite a few offers before finally agreeing to sell to new owners
Rob and Chris Patch - a Kingaroy peanut farming family she'd
known for a very long time (Robbie's mum actually worked with Ruth in the
Van for more than 10 years!)
Rob and
Chris Patch
Even then,
before she'd let us take over The Peanut Van she made us swear to maintain
the same quality and environmental standards she'd set and
look after her customers and the many, many tourists who visit us each year
the same way she always had - or else!
Well, we promised
we would (why break a winning formula?). And our web site - launched on the
Internet in May 2000 - is simply the next step in the Peanut Van's
ever-evolving history of bringing Australians and our friends all around
the planet the best - and freshest - peanuts you've ever
tasted.
Next:
Our
Commitment To Quality and the Environment
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