Pushing The Envelope

According to the experts we consulted, the Buffintons are on the right track-and they have 18,000 customers on their house list to prove it. Cautious growth seems to be the best course of action. For the foreseeable future, Brown Wrapper's fulfillment will be handled in-house, and database management will remain an outside job. Meanwhile, Len recently streamlined the business's operations by setting up a live 24-hour ordering service.

Other than that, the Buffintons seem to have found a formula that works for them. They're already heeding the advice of veteran Sroge: "Stay with your game plan-and even when you get bored with it, keep doing the same thing. You may be bored, but your customers certainly aren't."

This article was originally published in the February 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Pushing The Envelope.