Forty years in, family keeps things moving at Allen Lund Co.

Allen Lund’s passion for trucking and transportation goes way back — to a time when, as a boy of 6 or 7, he grew accustomed to watching the world unfold before him from across the dashboard of his father’s 18-wheeler.

He accompanied his dad on occasional trips and soon found himself traveling on long, cross-country stretches that gave him an up-close look at the industry and the different people and relationships that made it tick.

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“I loved it,” he recently recalled in an interview. “I wanted to be the best at the earth-moving business and trucking. I wanted to be the best machine operator.”

In the decades that followed, Lund would accomplish those things and more.

Last Friday, the Allen Lund Co. marked its 40th year as a transportation broker based in La Cañada Flintridge. What began with a handful of employees and a head full of ideas about integrity, fairness and customer service has since grown into a national company with 30 locations and more than 400 employees working with thousands of shippers and carriers to arrange for the transport of dry, refrigerated and flatbed freight.

Additionally, the company offers Transportation Management System software to help businesses coordinate their own ordering information systems with warehouses or distribution centers.

During a tour of the Angeles Crest Highway headquarters sons and employees David and Kenny Lund, who grew up in Glendale, shared their memories of the early days of the family business and aspects of their father’s formula for success.

David Lund, ALC VP Sales & Operations, left, and his brother Kenny Lund, Allen Lund Company VP Support Operations, right, in the sales office of their building on Angeles Crest Highway in La Cañada Flintridge on Friday, Jan. 29, 2016.

(Raul Roa / La Canada Valley Sun)

“I remember answering the phone, ‘Hello, this is the Lund residence,” recalled David Lund, who works alongside younger brother Eddie as a vice president of sales. “You had to be very polite, because there were guys calling us at all hours of the night.”

“The drivers would call at 1 in the morning; they’d call collect,” added Kenny Lund, vice president of support operations. “It was a 24/7 business — it still is.”

Decorating several long interior hallways are framed images of each city in which Allen Lund Co. has opened an office, with tiny brass plaques displaying the year of establishment. Los Angeles, 1976. Atlanta, 1978. San Francisco, 1985. San Antonio, 1987. Denver, 1990. Minneapolis, 1994. Detroit, 2001.

On Tuesday, the company officially announced it had just opened its newest office in Greenville, S.C.

“We don’t necessarily pick a town and open up there,” Kenny Lund explained. “It’s more like we decide on the right people, rather than the right place.”

A clear focus on people, and building relationships and reputations one person at a time, predominates at the Allen Lund Co., and several long-tenured employees will attest to that.

Among them is Tracey Lewin, who came to the company in 1989 looking for temporary office work and never left. Lewin started in the accounting department and now manages the sales office at the company’s headquarters. She recalled her first meeting with Allen Lund 27 years ago.

“I walked in with my resume. He took it, looked at it and threw it over his shoulder. He said, “I don’t care about this, let’s talk.’ And he hired me,” Lewin said. “(Now), this is what I lovingly refer to as my accidental career.”

Lewin said she appreciates how her job brings something different each day and enjoys the mutual respect among employees, great benefits and going the extra mile (no pun intended, she laughs) for customers.

“It’s very family oriented,” she added. “I’ve always felt like an extension of the Lund family. We take care of each other.”

The family feel present throughout the company headquarters may stem, in part, from the fact that every single employee undergoes training in La Cañada and is invited to a family dinner at one of the Lund households.

It may also may be due to the fact that three generations of the Lund family work there. In addition to Allen and his three sons, son-in-law Steve Doerfler is the chief financial officer. Another son-in-law, Kirk Peterson, pilots the company plane, while grandson Kevin Peterson works in logistics.

Everyone is put to work, real work, assures David Lund, who’s changed light bulbs and painted offices in the past. Just as Allen Lund was attracted to his own father’s line of work, so too have his sons developed a sincere interest in the Allen Lund Co.’s operations.

“For me, it was a natural progression,” said David Lund, who went from part-time to full-time status right out of college. “I have pretty much worked for my dad my entire life. It’s a true family business — why would you want to do anything else?”

Kenny Lund, who taught business classes at St. Francis High School for three years after graduating from college, credited his father and mom Kathie for instilling in him a fascination for business.

“Our parents showed us the value of hard work, but also the importance of providing value and doing a job with integrity,” he said. “So going into business was always seen as a fun thing. It was not looked on as drudgery.”

Although most employees would agree the company’s namesake — his ethics, personality and beliefs — is deeply ingrained in the business and, therefore, crucial to its success, Allen Lund himself has a slightly divergent belief.

“It’s not me, it’s all these great people,” he said. “We do not have a product, so our people are the product. It’s only these good people and the service we provide.”

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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine