Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A consummate salesman
Al Hubbard of Healthy Stuff Cakery loves making tasty cakes, but he seems to enjoy human interaction even more.
STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times
Al Hubbard is also an accomplished artist. His work is currently on display at Center in the Square.
Photos by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times
Al Hubbard of Healthy Stuff Cakery offers Traci Rose a sample of his Butternut Choco cake with ganache frosting (also shown below left) on the Roanoke Farmers Market. Hubbard rarely lets a person walk past his booth without a shout-out.
Food writer Lindsey Nair
- lindsey.nair@roanoke.com | (540) 981-3343
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Anyone who has strolled through the Roanoke Farmers Market on a recent weekend has probably noticed the healthy cake guy.
They may not know his name is Alonzo Hubbard -- Al for short -- or that his business is officially called Healthy Stuff Cakery. They likely don't know he grew up in a family of 12 children, or that he is an accomplished artist whose work is currently on display at Center in the Square.
What they do know is that Hubbard is a consummate salesman who rarely lets a person walk past his booth without a shout-out. In fact, he will say rather amusing things if it will get someone to stop and sample his baked goods.
"You're a chocolate lover!" he called out to a woman last Friday. "I can look at you and tell. You have long hair."
"Oh, is that how you tell?" the woman said, laughing.
Even if he doesn't end up selling a slice of cake or a muffin, Hubbard can usually make people smile. He loves making tasty cakes with hidden ingredients such as flax seed or navy beans, but he seems to enjoy human interaction even more.
"Everybody has a button," he says. "You have to be real perceptive and figure out how to push it without offending them. And when you do, they just light up."
The art of cake
Hubbard, 63, grew up in Blakely, Ga. His mother loved to cook, but with so many children to feed, the older kids often had to chip in to help.
As a result, several of Hubbard's sisters became professional bakers and he developed his own passion for cooking. But art was another prevalent talent in the Hubbard clan, and Al has spent most of his life creating and selling his whimsical, three-dimensional, mixed-media pieces.
"I think a lot of artists don't have the sales ability," he said. "I think a lot get so immersed in their skill that they forget they have to sell their work."
He has lived all over the United States and has four daughters from his first marriage and two sons from his second marriage. After they divorced five years ago, Hubbard's ex-wife, Cara Hubbard, moved to Roanoke with their sons, Geoffrey, 17, and Justin, 15.
Hubbard remains close with his ex-wife, and he moved to Roanoke nine months ago to be more involved in their sons' lives.
About that time, he also started to bake cakes, omitting refined sugar and adding healthy ingredients such as zucchini, butternut squash, berries, nuts, flax seed and pureed navy beans. Instead of refined sugar, he sweetened them with raw sugar or honey.
Eating healthy is nothing new for Hubbard, who says he started watching his diet in his early 20s, about the same time he began to study religious values. He refers to himself as a "transcendentalist" and is trying to get a book of spiritual writings published.
Hubbard believes "what we put into our bodies will reflect out of them."
He has not eaten pork in about 40 years and rarely eats beef, choosing instead to center his meals around fish, seafood, fruits, vegetables and healthy grains.
When friends and family tasted his cakes, they suggested he try selling them. So he worked to perfect the recipes, sometimes making more than a dozen batches to get it right.
"I didn't want a crumby cake; I didn't want a gummy cake," he said.
His sons and his former wife were his best taste-testers, particularly Geoffrey Hubbard, who has a mild form of autism and is usually turned off by strange textures in food, Hubbard said. If Geoffrey gave it a thumbs up, his father knew he had a winner.
Taking it to the market
In August, Hubbard started renting a booth on the Roanoke Farmers Market. He plastered his gray GMC Yukon with business signs, including one that sports a picture of a zucchini wearing a chef's hat and a big, toothy grin. Geoffrey, who is also an artist, created the mascot.
Hubbard's products include small or large squash cakes (with or without cream cheese icing), "blubies" -- cookies with oats and blueberries -- and muffins. He sold squash pies during the holidays and recently added a new product: chocolate cake made with butternut squash and topped with chocolate ganache.
Even on some bitter cold days this winter, Hubbard could be found on the market on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and the occasional Sunday, hawking his treats.
"It is more or less a conviction," he said. "I think if people see you are committed to your product, they are more apt to put more stock in your product."
Market manager Tina Workman said Hubbard "has just got one of those personalities that draws you in. He is just a great, interesting person."
Regular customer Freda Smith Carper said it was Hubbard's attitude that initially drew her to his table.
"He is a great salesman. He was talking to someone and it got my attention," she said.
But the flavor of the cakes, cookies, pies and muffins, along with the notion that they are healthier than conventional baked goods, keeps customers coming back.
Hubbard said customers are constantly telling him about allergies and other dietary restrictions, which buoys his faith in his product. He has been told that people with borderline diabetes can eat his goodies in moderation and suffer no ill effects.
None of Hubbard's products are gluten-free because he has not yet perfected a gluten-free recipe, but they are yeast-free and he takes special orders for products without nuts or sugar.
Last week, Hubbard expanded his sales to Hollins University, where he was allowed to set up a booth and sell to students. On Wednesday, his first day there, he sold out.
His goods are also available at Deb's Lemonade, and he says he has been talking to other business owners about carrying his product, but he doesn't want to compromise the integrity of his treats by adding preservatives.
"You are in business to profit, but there is a thin line, as in what do you give up to get the profit?" he said.
For now, Hubbard is happy to interact with the folks who wander past his table in downtown Roanoke. And even if you're a regular at his booth, it doesn't mean the teasing will stop.
One couple bought a cake from him on Friday.
"Are you going to give her a piece of that cake?" Hubbard called out to the man as they walked away.
"Whoever you share that cake with will fall in love with you all over again."
See artwork by Al and Geoffrey Hubbard at www.alhubb.com; Al Hubbard's art is displayed on the second floor hallway of Center in the Square.
Contact Al Hubbard at alonzodba@bellsouth.net.
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