And of course, there are plenty of small press publications that have never and will never absorb the stench of private equity—like Nostalgia Digest, which celebrates the 100th birthday of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with a cover story... and Clark Gable in his first dancing role! https://www.nostalgiadigest.com
Speaking of King Arthur Flour, this is also a great place to let everyone know that the King Arthur website has hands down the best, tested-and-retested, foolproof, delicious and consistent recipes you will find anywhere online. From dinner rolls to chocolate cake and beyond, not a single miss
And - I learned yesterday - they have a cafe, bakery, and retail store in Norwich, Vermont! I will be making an excursion at some point in the not-too-distant future.
My family made a long Chicago-to-Boston pilgrimage to look at colleges my senior year, and we went about a day out of our way to pass through the King Arthur factory at my mom's request. Totally worth it. Get the cinnamon roll.
@kendrawrites.bsky.social Seconded, and they don't succumb to pasting the recipes at the end of a long personal essay/diatribe or cooking deconstruction explainer. It's become my go-to site for dough and batter recipes. (Their recipe for flour tortillas is perfect.)
For the record: the reason many websites have long explainers is because the way SEO operated for a long time. They literally could not just post a recipe or it wouldn't be found. King Arthur doesn't have to do that because their primary product isn't recipes.
Yep! Although what I had in mind was more like tangential personal essays preceding the recipe than explainers of the steps — explainers are all well and good, as I wouldn't want dry steps without context all the time.
That's what I'm talking about - they get into it in the second half of the piece. I'm not a food blogger so IDK if this is still true but its where the practice came from in part
Ah okay, I misunderstood you then, we were talking about the same thing after all. I knew the pre-recipe text was because of SEO but I never read up about the context or history much, so I'll give that a read. Thanks!
Its the website I steer people who are baking something towards, and I was a chef for 20 years. Also they dont put long winded stories and how to shop for the ingredients beforehand.
If you're in the Upper Midwest, you can also buy Dakota Maid flour, which is from the state-owned mill of North Dakota (only such one in the country!). It was established in the 1920s to stick it to the big-wig monopolists in Minneapolis
There are some companies that are shitty employers but call themselves employee owned because managers and directors hold the lions share of the stock. HyVee, the grocery chain, comes to mind
I know the story of Bob's better. Bob was a real dude who owned Bob's Red Mill and when he finally reached an age to retire he settled on an employee ownership structure where it would take awhile for the company to pay him back but still offer him a plenty comfortable retirement
You can search for the story yourself but it was a big deal back on the day in part because it stood in contrast to Ben and Jerry's decision to sell to Unilever iirc
The more I read about these homegrown local brands the more you realize how many sell out, so it's great when one of them holds out. I'm hoping Cabot also keeps being a co-op.
I only learned when he passed that Bob was a real guy, but then I felt even better about buying the high end products they make. (King Arthur is also my one of my recipe site go-tos and I use their flour, but I've known for much longer that they were good.)
There must be something about flour mills. During the Depression, word reached them that mothers were making clothes for their kids out of flour sacks. The mills started shipping flour in variously patterned cloth, so the kids could have pretty and individual clothes.
My husband is truly pleased to get the King Arthur's catalog in the mail. I know this because I once I threw it in the recycling, as might a common fool.
Something like that would give me hives. Who makes the lists? What's a "good company"? Who is updating to make sure good stays good? Why instead of learning about the world around you turn to some app that gives you a green light? It's important to know things, not just follow a pre-made guide.
Your questions & concerns are exactly what any app developer or user would need to answer. I never knew about Bobs Red Mill, and am now more likely to purchase it just because of a thread on bluesky. I think an app could help people learn these things.
I might also mention - although it's not exactly the same thing as flour co workers - the Green Bay Packers, the NFL's only fan-owned team - https://www.packers.com/community/shareholders. My point being that it works EVERYWHERE, we just need people brave enough to stand up and do it!
Yes, the community ownership of the Packers is grandfathered in. There are also some Canadian Football League teams (Saskatchewan and Winnipeg for certain and maybe also Calgary) which are fan owned.
me reading this three times before realizing you are not randomly throwing out the word lame 😂 need coffee (and yes I realize you mean the dough scoring tool... NOW)
The worst part about private equity is: If you don't take it and you get too big, the private equity mob will try to take your company down. Get down or stay down.
This is a remarkably practical skeet for me as I need to buy more oatmeal today. I already like Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats but now I have a reason to buy it exclusively.
Comments
https://mashable.com/article/why-are-there-long-stories-on-food-blogs
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/bakers-hotline
Employee owned businesses are possible
Just something to be aware of
and there's a North Dakota state owned flour mill as well.
(it’s partially employee-owned and partly owned by a trust devoted to supporting climate change initiatives)
https://www.patagonia.com/ownership/