Rose found some tickets for breakfast and I felt like skylarking (West Indian for playing hookie from work) so we made the Thursday morning out of it.
The breakfast was good, and the store was really amazing. I had know idea they made so many products. When we lived on the east coast, you would see maybe 10 of their products, but there are so many. The pictures below cover just a small part of the store.
After breakfast we headed to the mill for a 1.5 hour tour. It was a bit different that other factory tours I have been on. We first saw a short film mainly about Bob and his wife Charlie's life and how they got into the milling business, and how they lost everything they owned at age 60 and rebuilt their lives. I thought their business philosophy was great.
The short story is Bob is an engineer, loves tinkering with things, loved the old stone mill stones and it when on from there. All of the grain is ground on old stone mill stones. This is not a high production plant. The grain is ground slow and "cold" as we found out if very important in keeping the nutrition in the food.
We had a great tour guide that talked us around part of the plant and was full of information. I really learned a lot about the different ways they grind, cut, roll, etc.. grain. I also learned more about gluten free that I ever needed to know, but fascinating stuff. Also, what types of flower to use for bread, pastry, muffins, I have been doing this all wrong - now I know why.
Bob and his wife are great people. He is more concerned about making a good product than making a fortune. In fact, when he was ready to retire, he turned down the offers from the mega food companies and - "Gave the company to his employees". Cool Dude!
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| Restaurant and Store |
Some of the old Mill Stones, but this is what they still use today. They are produced from quartz from a quarry outside of Paris, France.
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