NPR Marketplace Radio Interview [28:53].posted by ericb at 3:06 PM on March 2, 2010
Fox and Friends Interview Video [02:51].
“Moore was introduced to milling in the late 1960s when he read John Goffe’s Mill, a 1948 book about a young man who restores his family’s old grist mill. ‘It was a milestone,’ he says. ‘It gave me a definite connection and a focus that this is what I need to be doing.’posted by ericb at 3:26 PM on March 2, 2010
At the time, Moore managed an auto service center in Redding, Calif., and his only link to whole grain foods came from his wife, Charlee, who loved to cook with them. He soon set out to learn more about the centuries-old milling process, in which a 2-ton circular stone crushes grain by turning slowly against a stationary bottom stone. Unlike modern methods, the process allows all of the nutrients to remain in the resulting flour.
In 1973, Moore, with his wife’s support, committed himself to his dream. He purchased a set of 19th-century millstones from a defunct North Carolina mill, and within a year he and Charlee opened Moore’s Flour Mill in Redding. The business prospered, and four years later the couple decided to retire. They subsequently sold the mill to one of their three sons and moved to Portland, Ore.
But Bob Moore wasn’t quite ready to retire. Shortly after moving, he came upon an old vacant flour mill near Oregon City (pop. 25,754), and his passion was rekindled. ‘I guess we had worked so hard to build that first mill that I wasn’t ready to be done with it yet,’ he says. The Moores bought the mill and started a new whole grain business, naming it Bob’s Red Mill.
After 10 years of growing the small company, tragedy struck when an arson fire destroyed the mill. But Moore was determined to keep the business alive and rebuilt in nearby Milwaukie. ‘That was a hard time for us,’ he says. ‘But we pulled together. We worked around the clock, and we never completely shut down. We were fully operating within six months.’
Today, business is booming at Bob’s Red Mill, where products are milled with a combination of century-old stones as well as new stones imported from Denmark.”
"Ryssdal: I'll tell you, Mr. Moore, you don't sound like a guy who's just going to sort of hang it up one day and walk away.posted by ericb at 3:39 PM on March 2, 2010
MOORE: I don't want to hang it up, no, Kai. I don't want to. I come to work everyday. I just love this place. I've got a corner office with windows all around. And I'm just surrounded with memorabilia, pictures, and all kinds of things of my long life, and I just don't see any reason to give it up.
Ryssdal: So you're still in charge, then, right? You're still the boss?
MOORE: Yeah, I still am. Well, I have the fiduciary responsibility of this whole thing. And until such time it's paid off, I have that responsibility, and I've chosen to be president. Anyhow, yes, I am still in charge."*
gagglezoomer: What happens if you only have 2 1/2 years of tenure?I actually had the same thought, as it wasn't addressed in the article. However, in the Seattle Times version it sort of implied that once a person had been there three years, they'd be vested, and then would get a pay out of some sort when they finally retire. I assume the same would be true of employees who weren't at 3 years yet, as well as new employees that are hired after today, like most any other ESOP:
Vested employees are sent annual reports detailing their respective stakes in the company. When those employees quit or retire, they receive in cash whatever amount they — and the company, through increased revenues, new sales and controlled costs — are due.posted by hincandenza at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2010
this dramatic and stirring account examines each of the definitive American cooperative movements for social change—farmer, union, consumer, and communalist—that have been all but erased from collective memory. Focusing far beyond one particular era, organization, leader, or form of cooperation, the expansive analysis documents the multigenerational struggle of the American working people for social justice. With an expansive sweep and breathtaking detail, the chronicle considers Native American times and follows the American worker from the colonial workshop to the modern mass-assembly line, ultimately painting a vivid panorama of those who built the United States and those who will shape its future.posted by stbalbach at 4:47 PM on March 2, 2010
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