MOUNTAIN BROOK — During Yellowhammer Multimedia’s packed second annual Women of Impact recognition ceremony on Monday, Patricia “Sister Schubert” Barnes was honored with the 2019 Yellowhammer Lifetime Service Award.
Yellowhammer Multimedia Co-Owner and Yellowhammer News Editor-in-chief Tim Howe introduced Sister Schubert on stage, sharing her remarkable story with the hundreds of Alabamians assembled.
“Many here tonight know her remarkable story of business success,” Howe began. “She began baking her rolls, commercially, on her sun porch at home in Troy, Alabama.”
Since the company’s beginning in 1989, Sister Schubert has built a worldwide business empire atop a humble yeast roll, using the family recipe developed by her grandmother, “Gommey.”
As the 100-year-old family recipe gained popularity, Sister Schubert moved her operation to her father’s furniture warehouse.
All the while, she marketed her unique product the old-fashioned way – Sister Schubert loaded up her wood-paneled station wagon with frozen bread products and delivered them personally to grocery stores.
This helped lead to her big break. As she established a growing clientele and her rolls began being stocked by mom-and-pop grocery stores around the Yellowhammer State, Sister Schubert caught the attention of “Southern Living” magazine, who offered this then-unknown author and chef a feature in their magazine, followed by a book deal with a national tour.
The young man who saw the possibility in Sister Schubert’s brand 28 years ago continues to represent her business today, as Alabama native Gary Wright was in attendance at the ceremony with Sister Schubert on Monday night.
The “Southern Living” boost helped allow Sister Schubert to open a baking facility in Luverne that quickly grew into an 80,000 square-foot facility between 1994-1998, when it was churning out over one-million rolls per day.
After the city lost its century-old textile industry, Sister Schubert’s bakery became the lifeblood of the community’s economy, and she became the largest employer in her area.
Business was truly booming for this “Made in Alabama” company.
That remarkable growth, guided by Sister Schubert’s leadership, made the company an attractive buy to every major food conglomerate in the nation. However, she refused to sell without guarantees to protect her grandmother’s recipe and her employees.
In 2000, Sister Schubert found her match and sold her share of stock to Lancaster Colony Corporation. She partnered with the company as they strategically managed Sister Schubert’s to become a worldwide brand, now producing over 9 million rolls per day, with additional production facilities in Saraland, AL, and Horse Cave, KY.
Today, Sister Schubert continues to serve as founder and national spokesperson for her brand and is heavily involved in all product development that bears her name.
Sister Schubert is the official culinary ambassador for the state of Alabama. She also is on the board of the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame and a member of the Alabama Business Hall of Fame.
She is a true homegrown success story.
Yet, the business prowess is only part of her tale.
Many people do not know that Sister Schubert started making her rolls as a way to serve others.
In the very beginning, while baking on her sun porch, Sister Schubert made two promises to herself and to God: that she would always give what she could to care for children and feed the hungry.
She made and delivered her rolls when people were sick, in the hospital or when there was a death in someone’s family.
Even when her business reached great heights, she continued to serve others. In fact, it was at that point where her commitment to service strengthened even more.
She now directs bread deliveries to shelters and food banks all across the country, making it a part of her regular routine to find people that she can help using her God-given gifts.
When Tuscaloosa was devastated by that tornado eight years ago this past Saturday, Sister Schubert’s trucks were the first on the scene, offering more than $500,000 of food to so many in dire need.
And just six weeks ago, when yet another tornado outbreak ravaged Lee County, Sister Schubert was on the scene again, personally delivering cases of her rolls to those impacted by the damage and to those volunteers from all of over the country.
Then there is the incredible example of this past Christmas season when one of the baking facilities in Luverne had to shut down for necessary repairs.
Rather than laying off the affected employees, Sister Schubert convinced current management to allow the employees to make blankets and assemble bikes for families in need. So, she bought up every bolt of fabric she could find and every child’s bicycle in every store in south Alabama. And Sister Schubert worked in line with all the other employees to make blankets and build bikes for Christmas gifts.
Sister Schubert perfectly exemplifies that service is transformational for not only the recipient but also for the person performing the act of service.
Several years ago, she began sending rolls to an orphanage in Ukraine.
Feeling called to visit, she then traveled halfway around the world to that orphanage. While there, a woman brought to her a child in such critical need of medical care that she feared the child would eventually be left out in the street to fend for himself.
Knowing what she had to do, Sister Schubert figured out a way to establish the necessary residency in Ukraine in order to be able to bring that child back to the United States for what would end up being a long line of surgeries and rehabilitation.
Today, Sister Schubert calls that child her son, Alexander. He is her fifth and youngest child, currently a junior in high school.
Sister Schubert and her husband, George, live in Andalusia. They also have seven grandchildren.
Patricia “Sister Schubert” Barnes truly exemplifies a lifetime commitment to service.
Accepting the award in-person on Monday night, Sister Schubert, ever humble, expressed how in awe she was of the 20 Women of Impact who had been recognized leading up to this final presentation.
“Thank you all so very much. I had a wonderful prepared speech tonight, but after listening to all the stories of all the wonderful women here tonight, I feel like if my dad were here, he would say to me, ‘Sister, you’re in high cotton tonight,'” she said.
“I do feel very, very honored, and all I have to say is that for each and every time that you picked up a pan of Sister Schubert rolls from the grocery store and honored me with that selection, you made a difference in someone’s life. Because we are trying to do that — we give back in so many ways, not just here in the state of Alabama but everywhere. We try to share the warmth everywhere we go, in every way that we can,” she continued.
Sister Schubert concluded, “And tonight I feel very blessed to be in the presence of so many wonderful ladies that have done so many great things that I feel are so much greater than what I’ve ever been able to do. So, again I say: I am very, very grateful. Forever grateful to this wonderful state and the people here in the state of Alabama. And let’s continue to give back and share of those great and wonderful gifts that God has given us.”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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