America's Oldest Flour Company

America's Oldest Flour Company

Listening to Frank Sands II discuss the history of his company—King Arthur Flour—is like taking a step back in time.

“We began in 1790 as a flour distributor,” says Sands, who serves as chairman of the board and is the fifth generation of his family to head the company. “We brought in flour from England on sailing ships and sold it to colonists who had just become Americans. That was one year after George Washington became president.”

At 214 years old, King Arthur is America’s oldest flour company, and New England’s oldest food company. The Sands family’s involvement began in the early 19th century, when the company was headquartered in Boston. “My great-great grandfather, John Sands, came down from Maine in 1820 and joined the company as a salesman,” says Sands, who has worked in the business since he was a kid delivering bags of flour to customers.

It wasn’t until 1896, however, that the company, then known as The Sands, Taylor & Wood Company, took on its famous brand name, King Arthur Flour. “That name came from the honesty, the goodness, the chivalry—all the attributes associated with King Arthur,” Sands says.

In 1984, he moved the company to its current location along the Connecticut River in Norwich, Vt. (pop. 3,544), where he’s continued on with the King Arthur attributes.

According to the 67-year-old Sands, the company’s longevity has been tied closely to the quality of its flour, which contains no chemical additives. “Quality is what has sustained us,” he says. “About 10 years ago, I sent back 11 freight cars from a mill because it didn’t meet our quality standards.”

“The quality is the best you can get,” says P.J. Hamel, who has worked for the company since 1990. “The flour you get today is the same as what your grandmother got, and her recipes will still work with your recipes.”

Hamel edits the company’s popular Baker’s Catalogue, which offers customers baking supplies and free recipes. She also has authored The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion All-Purpose Cookbook and works closely with customers. “When I turned 50 last July, I must have gotten 300 birthday cards from our customers,” she says. “That’s the kind of relationship we have. Customers feel like they’re part of the company.”

Feeling part of the company is something that the 160 employees at King Arthur Flour know well. In 1996, with Sands’ children not looking to take over the company, he decided to make employees owners, and initiated an employee stock ownership plan. “We didn’t want to just sell the company and have somebody move it away,” Sands says. “These people here are great employees. They’re creative and excited about the business.”

“We all feel like we’re working for one another,” Hamel says. “It’s nice because we all put our shoulders to the wheel and push together, and we’re not doing it for some stockholder in Los Angeles. We’re doing it for us and for our customers.”

Today, King Arthur Flour is found on store shelves in all 50 states and ranks as America’s third best-selling flour.

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