Bob and Charlee met on a blind date in 1952. It was Charlee who first inspired the couple’s whole grain adventure when she decided to create a healthier life for her family by feeding them wholesome, natural foods and whole grains. Charlee was a fixture in the original Bob’s Red Mill store and took on many roles in the early days, including packaging products by hand.
In 1968, while Bob was managing a JC Penney Auto Center in Redding, California, providence struck when he happened to visit the public library. There, something drew him to John Goffe’s Mill, the story of a man who—with no prior experience—resurrected his family’s ancestral mill and ground wheat into flour. This chance encounter changed the course of the Moore family forever, and created a ripple effect that has enriched the lives of everyone who enjoys wholesome grains.
Bob immersed himself in the ancient art of stone milling, researching historic mills and contacting dozens of people and companies in his quest to locate millstones and other flour-making equipment. While he discovered there were still plenty of mills in existence, most of them were relegated to museums! Fortunately, his persistence and people skills eventually paid off, and he was able to source traditional quartz millstones and other essential equipment from a defunct mill in Fayetteville, North Carolina. After a lot of hard work and ingenuity, in 1974 Bob was able to open Moores’ Flour Mill in a Quonset hut in Redding, California with Charlee and two of their sons.
A few years later, Bob and Charlee left Moores’ Flour Mill to their sons and retired to Milwaukie, Oregon to attend seminary school. But while on a long walk one day, they happened upon an old feed mill—and realized it was for sale. After a lot of conversation and prayer, they decided to take a leap of faith and launch what would become Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods. After all, Bob had already built Moores’ Flour Mill from scratch—and this time he was starting with an actual mill! Bob quickly put a plan in action (first major purchase: a $22 coffee pot) and in 1978, he and Charlee opened the doors of Bob’s Red Mill to a flurry of public and media interest. While the business has faced its share of challenges, their dream has been growing and thriving ever since.
From the very beginning, Bob and Charlee focused on people over profit: their mission was to provide wholesome food to their customers, build close relationships with farmers and suppliers, and treat their employees with generosity and respect. Thanks to these values, Bob’s Red Mill has grown beyond their wildest dreams—like a single kernel multiplying until it reaches the four corners of the earth.
