In a hurricane of business start-ups, buyouts and exit strategies, National Frozen Foods Corp. stands as a powerful, purposeful and refreshing reminder that, if you want to infuse your business with staying power, then start with your reputation, not your bottom line.

You may not have heard of the Seattlebased, family-run, privately held company, but you've probably eaten more than a few spoonfuls of its products over the years. National processes 340 million pounds of vegetables annually in its Chehalis, Moses Lake and Albany, Ore., facilities, offering 30 different finished products, including beans, carrots, peas and corn. After the vegetables are cleaned, blanched and frozen, they're offered under a variety of categories, including organic, blends and purees. The veggies are shipped to food-service providers, including hotels, restaurants and hospitals, and to retailers' private labels, such as Safeway and Western Family. National also packs for industrial customers, such as General Mills, Campbell's Soup and Amy's Kitchen, and maintains a strong export business, primarily to Japan, China and Australia.

National appeals broadly to consumers, says Dick Grader, president and CEO of the company, because of the nature of its product. "It's healthy food," he says. "It's inexpensive food that just about anybody from any walk of life can buy." The company's broad appeal and success also flow from its longevity: Founded in 1912, the family-owned company is 95 years old. It generates $136 million in revenue annually, ranks among the top five of the nation's private-label frozen vegetable processors, and employs 600 full-time workers and 1,400 seasonal workers. National's competitors are Twin City Foods Inc. in Stanwood; Norpac Foods Inc. in Stayton, Ore.; J.R. Simplot Co. in Boise, Idaho; and Lakeside Foods Inc. in Manitowoc, Wis.

National has lasted as long as it has chiefly because it never forgets the quality that built its reputation in the early 1900s: integrity, which, for starters, is evident in the vegetables, says Stephen J. McCaffray, a grandson of the co-founder, William Peck McCaffray Sr. "I was always proud of the fact that we produced a high-quality item that was healthy," he says. "None of our products have additives." Moreover, the company continuously invests in its future while making timely, tough business decisions.

A HISTORY OF INTEGRITY

Certainly, it helps to be in National's industry. At more than $40 billion in annual sales, frozen foods represent about one-third of total food-service sales, according to the American Frozen Food Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based national trade association. And sales to food-service operations, including restaurants, cafeterias, hospitals and schools, make up nearly two-thirds of the $67 billion U.S. frozen food industry.

However, the principles behind National's longevity and success - integrity, prudent decision-making and long-term investment - offer lessons to companies in other lines of business. Those values were part of the company from its very beginning, which dates to Nov. 16, 1911. According to a company history, William Sr. wrote a letter to a friend detailing his thoughts about starting a new company and hinting at the careful decision- making that would become a hallmark of the company. "I do not see any chance of its losing," McCaffray wrote. "Unless, of course, there would be a tornado or fire or flood. Complete failure of crops would put a crimp in us. If we can get the capital, our plan is to go to Olympia, Washington, or some such town that is the best located for the business. I mention Olympia because it is well located; the water, which is an important factor, of the best; no cannery in the vicinity, access to transportation by both water and rail."