[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 143 (Thursday, October 1, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7092-S7093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING KING ARTHUR FLOUR
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, each year, it is with great pride that I
participate in a reception here on Capitol Hill to showcase some of the
best products conceived, developed, and produced in Vermont. One such
company featured at the annual Taste of Vermont event is King Arthur
Flour, where, for 225 years, generation after generation has produced
quality cooking and baking ingredients.
A firm that was born in Boston more than two centuries ago, in 1984
then-owners Frank and Brinna Sands moved King Arthur Flour to Norwich,
[[Page S7093]]
Vermont, and the company has become a staple in Vermont's business
community. In the 1990s, the Sands made the decision to sell their
company to their employees. The returns have been considerable, and the
company has seen growth ever since.
In ways that are typical of Vermont businesses, King Arthur Flour has
evolved into a quality company offering quality products to its
customers. The company's business model reflects one that is committed
to its customers, its employees, the environment, and its community,
even offering employees 40 hours of paid volunteer time to give back.
Those commitments are backed up in its status as a certified B
Corporation, a designation that independently recognizes the company's
social sustainability and environmental performance standards.
From breads to cakes, cookies to pies, King Arthur Flour's products
have become staples in bakers' kitchens across the country, including
in the Leahy kitchen, where Marcelle regularly shares her recipes with
our grandchildren. In fact, many of our visits to the Upper Valley
include a detour to King Arthur's terrific cafe where all of their
superb products are available. It is yet another example of a tried and
true Vermont-based company, revolutionizing and enticing the market
with its quality products.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record an August 28,
2015, article from the Burlington Free Press recognizing King Arthur
Flour's ``225 years of baking history.''
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Burlington Free Press, Aug. 28, 2015]
King Arthur Flour: 225 Years of Baking History
(By Susan Reid)
Some 225 years ago George Washington delivered the first
State of the Union address in January. In February, the U.S.
Supreme Court met for the first time. Vermont itself wasn't
yet a state. According to King George, it belonged to New
York, despite also being known as the New Hampshire Grants.
In this world, miles away in Boston, a man named Henry Wood
started a company that imported flour from England. The brand
new United States of America numbered fewer than four million
souls. Wood correctly assumed this growing country was going
to need flour for baking, and his commitment to pure, high-
quality flour fueled a successful business.
Enter John Low Sands
One of the early employees was John Low Sands, who joined
the firm in 1820. It was the beginning of generations of
Sands family association with, and eventual ownership of the
company. Also a clue to how the company came to be based in
Vermont, as you'll soon see. By 1853, the company was doing
well enough to buy a large building on the Long Wharf in
Boston. There, in the middle of one of the world's busiest
ports, the business continued to grow, taking on partners as
it expanded. In less than 10 years the city of Boston had
filled in the harbor around the wharf, and the company became
landlocked without ever having moved. It stayed in the same
spot, with the revised address of 172 State St. until 1904,
when the company moved up the street to the Custom House.
By 1895, the company was named Sands, Taylor, & Wood. The
third generation of the Sands family to be part of the
company, Orrin Sands, was its president. During this decade,
roller milling was developed in Hungary. As a result, it was
now possible to grind large quantities of wheat into flour
very quickly. This led to a boom in flour production, as well
as wild fluctuations in the quality of flour being produced.
At the same time, George Wood and his business partners
attended a musical play based on the story of King Arthur and
his knights. They left the theater inspired by the
realization that the values portrayed in the play exemplified
what their company stood for: quality, integrity, purity,
loyalty, strength, and dedication to a higher purpose. They
resolved to rename their new flagship product, their all-
purpose flour, after King Arthur. It was introduced at the
Boston Food Fair in September 1896, and became an immediate
success. The distinctive image of the medieval knight on his
horse adorned the tops of 196 pound barrels of flour for the
next four decades, until he started being printed on
newfangled paper bags.
In the 1920s King Arthur on his steed appeared on the back
of a flatbed calliope truck that roamed the streets of Boston
and New York. In later decades the company gave scholarships
to promising young professional bakers, inserted collectible
picture cards of American military ships, airplanes, and
weapons in its flour bags during World War II, and after the
war sponsored radio shows where ``New England's Food Expert''
Marjorie Mills endorsed King Arthur Flour on the air.
The move to Vermont
The Sands family became the sole owners of the company in
1932, and in 1984, Frank (a Dartmouth alum) and his wife
Brinna Sands moved the company to Vermont. Tired of lugging
bags of flour to the post office to mail to retirees in
Florida who couldn't buy King Arthur outside of New England,
Brinna started The Baker's Catalogue in 1990.
She also published the ``200th Anniversary Cookbook,''
which has sold well over 100,000 copies to date.
In a pivotal move, Frank and Brinna decided to sell the
company to their employees, launching King Arthurs Employee
Stock Ownership plan. The company has seen steady growth
since then.
By 1999, the company officially changed its name to King
Arthur Flour, and the Baker's Catalogue was mailing six
million catalogues per year. Distribution of the flour to
grocery stores up and down the East Coast was well
established, and expanding steadily westward. In 2000,
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was on hand to break an oversized
baguette in two to celebrate the opening of the bakery and
school in Norwich. In 2004 the company became 100 percent
employee-owned.
With all of these changes, the principles that the company
began with survived and thrived. In 2007, King Arthur Flour
was a founding and certified B Corp. Its bylaws reflect a
commitment to all stakeholders, including the community and
the environment, as well as shareholders and business
partners.
Now a national brand known for its quality, customer
service, and expertise in all things baking, King Arthur has
grown both the brand and its service programs. Bake for Good:
Kids teaches 8- to 12-year olds how to bake bread in a
curriculum-based program that provides a community service
component of giving a loaf back to someone in need. King
Arthur has long had a policy of giving 40 paid hours of
volunteer time to all employees, full- and part-time.
King Arthur's mission and personality is to be a resource
for all bakers. It maintains a robust social media presence
on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and on its blog, Flourish.
The website has thousands of tested recipes, and there's a
crew of baking experts on the Baker's Hotline ready to answer
any baking question, either by phone or via online chat.
King Arthur is poised to further the quest for honest,
homemade, local food, by providing everything one needs to
bake. Lucky for the company, and Vermont, that appetite is
timeless, and a good apple pie is never going to go out of
style.
What's baking in Norwich
Baking classes: You can always come and take a class at the
Baking Education Center in Norwich (no dishwashing
required!). The calendar of classes for home bakers, kids,
and professionals can be found at kingarthurflour.com/school.
Cafe and bakery: The cafe and bakery are open daily 7:30
a.m. to 6 p.m. In September, the store's demonstration
kitchen will be showing all comers how to make their best pie
crust and baking with apples and cinnamon, chocolate and
pumpkin.
Baker's Conference. From Sept. 9 to Sept. 12, King Arthur
will sponsor its Third Annual Baker's Conference, Tasting
Supper, and Harvest Festival at the King Arthur Baker's Store
and School in Norwich.
The two-day conference features demonstrations, hands-on
classes, and breakout sessions with a roster of well-known
bakers, authors, recipe developers, photographers and
editors.
The conference wraps up Friday evening, Sept. 11, with a
Tasting Supper to benefit Hunger Free Vermont, from 5:30 p.m.
to 7:30 p.m. Local food and beverage establishments will
offer samples, featuring fresh local foods and drink.
The festival happens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday,
Sept. 12, with hands-on activities for kids, live baking
competitions, entertainment, and great food.
For more festival information, go to kingarthurflour.com/
bakers-harvest.
About King Arthur Flour
Celebrating its 225th Anniversary, King Arthur Flour is
America's oldest flour company and premier baking resource,
offering ingredients, mixes, tools, recipes, educational
opportunities and inspiration to bakers everywhere since
1790. The company's flour is available in supermarkets
nationwide. Additionally, more than 1,000 tested and trusted
baking tools and ingredients are available through King
Arthur Flour's Baker's Catalogue, online at
kingarthurflour.com and at The Baker's Store in Norwich.
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