obyn and I both grew up in large families that stressed hard work. My father had a veterinary practice in our basement in Utah. That's how I learned about the implications of a family business. Our kids are part of our business and have learned, as we did, the value of work.

When we moved our family to the Richmond area 16 years ago, one of the things we missed was the kind of bread we had known and enjoyed in Utah.

Robyn and I started a bakery ten years ago that focuses on the use of natural ingredients. The Prairie Grain Bread Co., located in Midlothian at the Village Market Place, is our success story - based on a little luck and a lot of hard work. The result is bread we think tastes like home.

Our Story

It took career changes for us to turn our love of healthy bread into a business.

After a twenty year career as a court reporter, some women might have been ready to take it easy. Robyn, though, seems to have the energy of someone half her age and was enthused and ready to start our new adventure.

We knew we wanted to own a bakery but were not sure how to go about it. We explored the idea of a franchise. As we got further into the process, we found that the franchise would have limited us in the ingredients we could use or the products we would be allowed to sell.

So we hired a consultant familiar with the baking industry who advised us on everything from equipment, location and ingredients. We believe our ingredients set our bread apart and give us a niche in the natural-foods market.

By the time I was able to qualify for my company's early retirement package, Robyn had been running the business for seven years. She still loves to work in the business, but does think it's a little easier now with dependable employees to help share the workload.

A focus on healthy eating brings in many of our customers. And that's also why they continue to order from us.

Our Product

Trucks arrive each month with bags of red wheat from Montana. The wheat goes to the mill room where, behind closed doors, huge stones grind the flour each day. Two large commercial ovens run and bake about 1,000 loaves a day. We consider ourselves a micro-bakery.

We mill our own flour. We don't need to add vitamins and nutrients because the bread contains the whole wheat. Nothing is taken out. This is healthy bread - a complete food.

Our best seller is the nine-grain bread that includes flaxseed. Another great seller recently is the low carb bread, "spelt".

Our products are sold not only in our bakery storefront, but also in many stores in the area. Wholesale arrangements can be made with interested distributors. Since our bakery moved to its current location two years ago, it has doubled in size. This allows space for our deli area that offers sandwiches, drinks and cookies.

Some breads are offered only at the bakery storefront. These include Cinnamon Swirl, Sourdough, and Pumpkin Raisin. Robyn often experiments with recipes and then conducts her own market survey by offering customers samples of her latest creation. The deli also offers soup and coffee.

David Lajoie, an electrician from Moseley in Powhatan County, has been a customer since the bakery opened. He said he eats at the deli at least twice a week when he is working in the area. "When it's cold like this, there's nothing like having one of their sandwiches and a bowl of hot soup," he said one recent chilly day.

Robyn and I are always looking to the future. We have a space reserved for a third oven - a steamer oven that bakes that crusty bread that is so popular now.

Book clubs and knitting groups meet in the bakery. These homespun events seem a natural activity to occur while the aroma of baked bread is in the air.