Have you tried Dave’s Killer Bread? 

We found the bread as our family has been trying to eat more organic and non-GMO foods. To say Jill oversees our shopping overstates the very small role I play in stocking the Fowler family shelves. 

But we were shopping together recently and taking the time to read labels as part of our efforts to eat more healthy foods. Of course, we were on vacation. Otherwise, we’d have kids with us and that is never a good time to try to read labels.

Anyway, the logo of a muscular dude with long hair strumming a guitar on a loaf of bread caught my attention. The fact that the “killer” part of the name was in all red drew me in. When I read something about convicts on the label, I thought for sure that Dave was a reformed ax murderer who had gotten into bread making.

I was wrong on that front. It turns out that Dave is Dave Dahl, son of Jim Dahl. In 1955, Jim Dahl, a Navy veteran, opened Midway Bakery in Portland, Ore. Jim only sold donuts when he started.

In the ’60s Jim began to focus on organic breads. Jim had four kids and he had all of them working in the bakery by age 9. By the time he was a teenager, Dave hated the work and hated not getting to hang out with his friends. Dave started smoking and eventually doing drugs. In 1980, Dave dropped out of high school.

Dave’s first arrest came in 1987 for robbing a house. By 1990, Dave was convicted of eight felonies and began serving a 15-year prison term.

Meanwhile, Dave’s brother, Glenn, continued to work with his dad in the family bakery. Glenn renamed the bakery “NatureBake” in 1984 and bought the business from his father in 1989.

In 2005, Dave was released from prison and Glenn gave him a job at the bakery. At the time, NatureBake had 35 employees and Glenn was looking for opportunities to expand. Glenn encouraged Dave to think of ways to engage with a younger audience.

Dave threw himself into the work. He worked around the clock and created an organic, vegan, non-GMO loaf loaded with sunflower, flax, pumpkin and sesame seeds. Dave loved his creation so much he called the bread “killer” and the name stuck.

Glenn and Dave launched four varieties of Dave’s Killer Bread at the Portland farmer’s market in August 2005. Each variety had a logo of Dave strumming a guitar on it. The bread was a hit and Dave’s Killer Bread was born.

The brothers worked through many difficulties in production and personally but kept pushing. By 2013, the company had sales of $50 million, 280 employees and was distributed in 14 states.

Today, Dave’s Killer Bread is the No. 1 organic bread in America. One in three of the more than 300 employee-partners at the company’s Milwaukie, Ore., bakery has a criminal background.

The company created the Dave’s Killer Bread Foundation to power what they call Second Chance Employment. It is extremely difficult for people with a criminal record to find work when they are released from prison. 

Without a job to support themselves they often turn back to their old ways to make a living. They end up back in prison, living off the American taxpayer rather than working a job and contributing to our economy.

The lack of good jobs for people with criminal backgrounds is one of the biggest causes of recidivism in America. The DKBF foundation’s goal is to create jobs for those with criminal records by educating and empowering American employers to give these people a chance. You can learn more at www.dkbfoundation.org.

So, go buy a loaf or two of Dave’s Killer Bread. They make a great product and are making a difference, too!

If you’d like some great resources to help you on your entrepreneurial journey, you can find them on our resources page at www.valuesdrivenresults.com or call me at (229) 244-1559.

Curt Fowler is president of Fowler & Company and director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey. He is dedicated to helping leaders create and achieve a compelling vision for their organizations.

Curt is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker and business advisor. He has an MBA in strategy and entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School, is a CPA, and a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and four children.