RETAIL/LEISURE

Family Business: When the president of an Irvine gift basket company went looking for a vice president to spearhead her sales and marketing efforts, she didn’t have to look far for a seasoned pro.

Lisa Hughes Anderson, who started the Gift Basket Headquarters in 1987, persuaded her father, Edwin B. Hughes, to join her. Hughes had recently retired after 36 years at Lever Brothers, where he traveled throughout the world as vice president of trade development.

Hughes said he was eager to join his daughter--even if he will have to do without some of the executive perks to which he had grown accustomed--because of “the opportunity to work with one of my kids in a growing business in a completely different field.”

The company sells gift baskets mostly to corporate clients, such as developers, movie studio executives, hotel and property managers, lawyers and other professionals.

Anderson said she needed the extra help because her business “has doubled every year since its beginning and it has become very hectic wearing all the hats. It’s nice to have another person to discuss ideas with, and it makes it that much better that it’s my dad.”

She projected sales at about $150,000 this year, up from last year’s $75,000.