Gaubert Oil Pushing Forward Toward a Full Century in Business

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LOCAL COMPANY PROVIDES QUALITY FUEL AND LUBRICANTS TO GULF SOUTH

The Small Business Administration has statistics which say that just 1/3 of family businesses last a decade. Even fewer — a number closer to just 1/10—see 20 years.


Gaubert Oil has exceeded those numbers now many times over and they have their long-standing principles for business to thank for that longevity and success.

Open since 1926, the Thibodaux based business has surpassed its 90th birthday and is heading toward a century of providing quality fuel and lubricants to an area that’s now expanded to multiple states in the Gulf South.

The reason for the success is multi-faceted, but at its foundation, it’s because of the long-standing principles of business the company has practiced — dating back to its original days under its founder Nolan J. Gaubert and still now by company president and Nolan’s grandson, Grady Gaubert.


“These values are founded in the principles of honesty, integrity and treating people fairly,” the Gaubert Oil website’s description reads. “Gaubert Oil strives to treat its customers, vendors and employees with the utmost respect. … Gaubert Oil started with an idea, but it’s turned into a dream come true.”

That, it has.

Nolan Gaubert was the son of a dredging engineer in Lafourche Parish. He was born in 1902. He attended Thibodaux College and graduated from Walden’s Business College before beginning his career. He married Henrietta Bergeron and the proud couple gave birth to two children, Joyce and Kevin.


Nolan was a diligent man. He started his work as a clerk in a store as a part-time employee when he was just 15. A few years later, he got into the oil business.

After generating countless experience in the oil and gas industry, which included work as a distributor for numerous oil companies, Nolan decided to launch his own venture, Gaubert Oil, in 1926.

The timing was challenging. The Great Depression had stricken the United States and the economy was at a downswing. But the automobile industry at that time was growing, even as the national economy struggled.


Nolan diligently grew his business, got past the Depression and experienced steady growth and sustainability in its first two decades in operation.

As the business approached the 1950s, son Kevin had graduated from LSU with a degree in business administration. He joined the company with his father and worked up the ranks, eventually joining his father in Gaubert leadership. Kevin became the Vice President and General Manager of the company and later, in 1952, he became the President — a second-generation.

The third generation came when Grady joined the business. Like those before him, Grady worked his way up within the company and took over as President when Kevin passed away — a title Grady still holds today.


At present, Gaubert Oil is continually growing and evolving with the quickly-changing oil and gas industry — a family-owned business that’s grown and evolved to service a lot of the Gulf South.

The business is headquartered in Thibodaux, but it now also has two satellite offices — one in Donaldsonville and the other in Violet. Gaubert Oil also has bulk plants in Houma and Morgan City.

The company offers Louisiana’s most extensive and dependable petroleum products and fuel distribution services. They provide wholesale fuel, diesel, DEF, gasoline, oil and lubricants to businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.


“Gaubert Oil continues to expand its market reach,” the business’s website reads. “A prominent member of the Lafourche Parish business community, Gaubert Oil supplies products and equipment across the Gulf South.”

But no matter where the company goes from here, it will never lose that family-like feel established by Nolan Gaubert in the company’s early days.

The business started with the idea of one, but has expanded and grown exponentially — all while keeping roots here in Lafourche Parish.


That, the business said, is something they’re forever grateful for.

“And the best is yet to come,” the business says.

By CASEY GISCLAIR