clearly from the heart...

Dear Dave:

I came across your wonderful bread at the Vancouver Farmers Market last year. I have loved it from the first bite!
I have to say my favorite is the Blues bread. I even have my partner eating your Blues bread and she is not hip on most healthier breads out there.

Your bread has become an even more important part of my life. I have recently been diagnosed with diabetes. I have changed my eating habits completely. Your breads are a staple in my eating lifestyle. I have learned how important "good carbs" and fiber is to me. So when it comes down to it;
Dave, You are an important part of my life now!
Living with diabetes is challenging, and you make it a lot easier to follow a healthy diet with all the breads I can choose from.
Thank you for making such a quality product and God bless you on your journey!
Most Sincerely,
Bobbie Bacoccini

must've been a slow movie...

I just bought my first loaf of your bread from Whole Foods yesterday.
It is soooooo delicious!! I found out about it at the movies of all places. I was sitting chatting with some people next me to that recommended it.
Just wanted you to know I love the 21 Grain and can't wait to try your other ones.
Keep up the great baking and creating.
A almost 41 year old in LO
Have a great week.

a McMinnville fan

Hey Dave,
Not so much a question as a quick little note :-) I discovered your bread almost by accident two summers ago at the Farmer's Market. It kind of dropped off my radar for a bit as I moved up and down the I-5 corridor between colleges and home, but I couldn't bring myself to buy another loaf of bread at a store. I went low carb for awhile because I just couldn't bring myself back to substandard bread! When I moved into my first apartment in August (with my very own student sized kitchen!), I started baking my own bread in pursuit of that Farmer's Market taste I had tried two years ago, but haven't quite been able to find it.
Today, while at my friendly local organic grocery store in McMinnville, I found it! Dave's Killer Bread! That was what I had tasted so long ago! I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to renew my friendship with your bread. I'm a bit of a baking snob now, and I refuse to buy anything ready made from a store. Cookies, cakes, scones, rolls, crackers - I make them all from scratch, or not at all. But for your bread, I'll happily ignore my inner June Cleaver and make an exception.
My loaf pan is going to miss me.
Kudos,
Carrera

another blast from the past

While touring the expo yesterday, Glenn and I (the two bookends in the picture) ran into lots of people we hadn't seen in years (particularly me, since these people don't go to prison). In yesterday's post, I ran down my family's history with The Moores from Bob's Red Mill. Today, Ill introduce you to Paul Wenner, the founder of Gardenburger.

A couple of years before I got out of the joint, I had got into the habit of reading the Oregonian daily pretty religiously (although it was always a day late at Snake River in those days). And I almost fell off the punk bunk when I read "Gardenburger acquired for half a billion" or something of that nature. It was hard to fathom. Back in the 70's, NatureBake supplied his restaurant, where it all started, with hamburger buns. I was totally not even paying attention. All I wanted to do was find a drug that would save me.

Now Paul lives in Maui, of course. And he even visits P-town now and then, where he still has a house from those days. He didn't get to where he is the easy way. He worked 70-80 hours a week back in the day.

I know all about that, although I've slowed down and started balancing a little. I have a feeling it's the "calm before the storm". There's no shortage of people all over the country who've tried DKB and want it in their local stores. The best we can currently do is UPS. This week, we sent our first order to Rainbow Grocery in San Fran. QFC and Metropolitan Market in Seattle have both expressed their desire to get the bread.

It's only the beginning for us. Remember: baby steps!

maybe you can go back...

Anyone who is into healthy food knows about Bob's Red Mill. Today I had the real pleasure of spending a while talking with these great people: Bob and Charlee Moore. Bob reminisced about his first wholesale customer, my father, back in 1978. Bob liked my dad's whole grain breads, and began selling them in his store. My dad talked him into selling him wholesale lots, and Bob delivered the flour in his station wagon.
(I wouldn't remember much of this if Bob hadn't told me himself. At 15, I was already fully occupied in setting up the nightmare that would ensue for the next 25 years.)
Bob didn't seem too impressed with the name "killer" bread. But I guess he doesn't mind if I keep using some of his killer ingredients to make it.
Glenn (my brother) and I are about to wrap up this trip to Natural Foods Expo here in Anaheim, Ca. It's bedtime now, so I'll introduce more of the stars tomorrow.

cute couple, eh?

My brother, Glenn, and I are currently in Anaheim at the Natural Foods Expo. But today we just screwed around. I can't remember who it was who bum steered us to this place, but I used to put the smack down on people like that back in the day.

These days, I just make the best of it, and in its own way, it was a day to remember. There's a pretty good chance me and the babe in the picture are gonna hook up--she's obviously diggin' me. So the day certainly wasn't wasted.

I think Glenn had more fun than I. This was a kid's paradise, and as the empty gaze clearly shows, Glenn's second childhood has arrived.

It's back to work tomorrow (hip hip--hooray!) checking out the "cutting edge" organic action at the Expo. I'll give you a report on that real soon.

more attention from points north...

Found your bread in the Orchards Fred Meyer - - lived in that area for six weeks just recently. Was walking the bread-aisle and your picture on the wrapper caught my attention. It is the best! I live right near a Fred Meyer store in Lacey,WA, (near Olympia) and looked for your bread without luck. Any chance of expanding to Fred Meyer up here? J. Wood

Hi Dave,
Do you have any stores in the Seattle area of Washington that sell your bread?
Thanks, Judith

Hi...My whole family loves your bread. It is the way bread should be. Is there any chance it could be sold in Seattle? We have Whole Foods and PCC here that are conscientious grocers, What can I do? Thank You, Wayne W.

I'm really digging all of the emails I am getting from up there. The best news I have is that we plan to be in a few stores soon, just to get our feet wet. We do not currently have the production and distribution capability to handle every store that wants us in the shelves. We have to take baby steps, but keep checking this blog for updates.
Also, please sign up for our email newsletter, the first of which will probably go out next week.

Dave