Clipper Petroleum celebrated on Wednesday 50 years of business.
Haley Bower-Frank is the Chief Marketing Officer at Clipper and she explained some of the history behind the company.
“Clipper was founded in 1933, but the Bower family, my grandfather, Tom Bower SR., and Mr. Bob Braff, they bought Clipper in 1974,” Bower-Frank said. “Today, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of our family owning and operating Clipper Petroleum. It was just a huge milestone. Just seeing how far it's come from when my grandfather and Mr. Braff, were operating Clipper. Today we own and operate 23 convenience stores, we have six restaurants, and we supply over 300 dealer partner accounts in the southeast.”
Bower-Frank credited Clipper's deep roots in the community for the strong support they receive.
“I just think it's being part of the community, we have been blessed to be able to give back to the Gainesville community, but also, the community has given back to us by, shopping local, and supporting our convenience stores,” Bower-Frank said. “It means a lot, just how much our community supports us, we love this community and all the communities that, we serve, and I hope that we can continue doing that for another 50 years.”
Bower-Frank discussed working for a family business and watching Clipper grow throughout her life.
“I think family businesses are the backbone of communities and the economy, and it's really beautiful just seeing our team members. I mean, we have two team members in particular, I can think of, Gwenn and Rhonda they have been with us 37 years, and I have genuinely known them my entire life which is crazy. But I think at the end of the day, family businesses, we care about our people. And I think that's just going to keep us going long-term. And if we care about our people, our people are going to care about us,” Bower-Frank said.
Clipper will continue to celebrate their 50-year anniversary over the summer.
“Over the rest of this year, we are going to have some different things throughout the summer to celebrate 50 years of Clipper,” Bower-Frank said. “Be on the lookout, we have some stuff coming down the pipeline, and you will hopefully be seeing it on social media soon.”
Bower-Frank discussed Clipper's core values and how to apply them to one's daily life.
“My dad, Tom, he got to give, a little speech today at our store. I think this can hopefully flow over into everyone's lives, whether it's in your work or personal life. One of the things that's really big at Clipper is, ‘laugh every day,’ the ‘L’ in Clipper, that's what it stands for ‘laugh every day.’ And so if you're not having fun at work, then you definitely need to find something that you enjoy and that you love, and that you are laughing every day. Life is too short.”
Lastly, Bower-Frank talked about a core value her grandfather lived by.
“My grandfather said that mistakes of the head are forgivable, but mistakes of the heart are not. That has to do with your character. And if something's wrong with your heart, and you're making some heart mistakes, you definitely need to do some self-check on that. I hope that anyone who's listening or hears that, inspires them to be their best self every day. And that's what we strive to do every single day at Clipper as a business, for our community, for our team members, and just on a personal level.”
