When Bob Moore celebrated his 81st birthday at Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods in Milwaukee, Oregon, rather than receiving a gift, he gave one to all of his employees: his entire company.
About nine years ago, Moore began thinking about succession. When he heard about employee stock option programs, he got more serious about the idea, until finally, he decided to give his employees The Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
Moore’s love of healthy eating and old-world machinery spawned into an internationally distributed line of health food products. The company offers over 400 products, which are mostly whole grains that are ground with quartz millstones, as well as stone-ground flours, bread mixes, cereals, seeds, baking mixes, beans, nuts, dried fruits, spices, and herbs.
Lori Sobelson, who helps manage the company’s retail operation, said:
This is Bob taking care of us. He expects a lot out of us but really gives us the world in return.
In 2004, one business publication estimated that the company’s annual income was over $24 million. In 2010, a company news release stated that Bob’s Red Mill chalked up a yearly growth rate of between 20% to 30% every year since then. Today, the company’s revenue is estimated at over $100 million. Bob’s Red Mill products are distributed in grocery stores in more than 80 countries all around the world, which Bob says is “an absolute dream come true.”
In regards to what he could have done with the company, Bob explained:
In some ways, I had a choice. But in my heart, I didn’t. These people are far too good at their jobs for me to just sell it.
According to Nancy Garner, Moore’s executive assistant, there is not a day that goes by that the company doesn’t receive a letter or call from someone wanting to buy the business or take it public. “I had four messages waiting when I returned from a recent vacation. Three of them were buy-out offers,” she added.
Garner said:
It’s very humbling to be part of a company that cares this much about its employees.
ESOP is a retirement plan, in which the company gives its stock to the program to be retained in trust for the benefit of its employees. The stock is never held or bought directly.
Entrusted employees are sent yearly reports detailing their respective stakes in the company. When those employees retire or quit, they receive in cash whatever amount they (and the company), through increased new sales, revenues, and controlled costs, are due.
Meanwhile, for Moore, this new plan will change nothing for how the business is currently running. He plans to keep doing what he has done every day for decades, that is, being the boss. “I may have given them the company, but the boss part is still mine,” he said chuckling.
In 1978, Bob founded the company with his wife, Charlee Moore. Moore fell in love with the mechanics of stone grinding in the 1960s after reading about old stone-grinding flour mills. Ever since then, he has stuck with his passion and made a business out of it, all while treating his employees with ultimate care.
