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Nancy Young[_3_] Nancy Young[_3_] is offline
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Default King Arthur Flour

Landon wrote:
> In a previous thread, I was asked about the sale of "King Arthur
> Flour" company.
>
> I asked my niece who worked there before, during and after the sale of
> the company to the employees, about what had happened and when.
>
> Here is her reply, verbatim:
>
> "It's a sad story, and very close to my heart. I worked there through
> the sale, and for a year afterward, hoping things would turn around,
> and it was awful watching the company deteriorate.
>
> Things began changing in 1996, when Frank Sands was ready to retire,
> and by 2002, it was literally a different company. The company had
> been in his family for 200 years, but his kids didn't want to take
> over. So, a certain individual in his upper management convinced him
> to "sell it to the employees" by creating an Employee Stock Ownership
> Plan, (ESOP). He told Frank that he would be able to stay on the
> board and watch over things. Well. that's not what happened.
>
> The purchase process took a while, but once it was complete, the
> controlling stocks were held by a handful of upper management - all of
> whom were relative "newbies" in the company. The employees didn't hold
> enough shares to do anything, even as a group. Frank himself was
> voted off the board at the first meeting after the purchase was
> complete. The entire culture changed, from "every shipment of
> products, and every batch of ingredients, is tested, and must meet our
> standards" to "cheaper is better - and if there are issues, we can
> refund those few who complain and still make a profit." This was a
> wonderful company, and I hate that the current management is still
> successfully trading on those years of goodwill without living up to
> the standards set by the Sands."


Thank you for posting the story.

nancy