M: Business 3rd Edition by O. C. Ferrell, Geoffrey Hirt, Linda Ferrell

Exercise 4

You might think flour is boring, but at King Arthur Flour employees love the stuff! The company was founded in 1790—the year after George Washington was elected president. It has grown slowly from five employees in 1990 to over 160 today. What makes these employees so passionate about flour? They own the business. Although King Arthur Flour operated as a family-owned business for five decades, it is now 100 percent employee owned. Therefore, employees control their fate and have a true stake in their flour.

In 1990 King Arthur was essentially a mail-order business. Today it sells to bakeries and grocery stores, runs a retail store in Vermont, and excels in public relations and marketing. Employees throughout the business are honored as valuable members of a team. All employees are offered training and development opportunities such as baking/cooking workshops, along with free products and store discounts. The company has won awards based on its structure: number six on Best Places to Work in Vermont and part of The Wall Street Journal’s Top Small Workplaces.

Employees at King Arthur are also dedicated to sustainability and the environment. The company advocates sustainable living by recycling, composting, decreasing energy consumption, and reducing its use of toxic products. King Arthur does not use chemical additives in its flour, nor does it use genetically modified wheat. The company is a member of the Vermont Business Environmental Partnership (promoting improved environmental and economic performance) and Green Up Day, and it is a certified Founding B Corporation (meaning it has met rigorous social and environmental performance standards).

Overall, King Arthur appears to be a fun place to work—where those who love cooking, baking, and sustainability can come together in partnership to run their own company.

What are some of the perks of working at King Arthur Flour?

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Employees owning an entire organization are not a common thing. But the perks of working at KAF are that the employees own the entire organization. Transforming workers into owners is a great strategy with a potential to allow the employees a stake in a growing economy.