News

Wheat Montana leader offers business insights

Monitoring trends, experimenting with new products and finding ways to work with big retailers can help Montana businesses grow and prosper, the leader of Wheat Montana Farms and Bakery http://www.wheatmontana.com said Wednesday.

By JAMES E. LARCOMBE

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040527/localnews/514125.html

Dean Folkvord offered a bevy of insights and bits of wisdom to about 120 local business folks at a quarterly Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Heritage Inn.

Wheat Montana has grown from a struggling family wheat farm to a diversified business that includes baking, flour, and retail deli operations across Montana and other states.

"We are really farmers at heart," Folkvord told the gathering. "That’s what we really like to do."

Expanding into baking in the early 1990s was a financial necessity, he added. Since then it’s been onto flour products, specialized products and deli operations across Montana.

Finding new products and adapting them to the marketplace has been key to the company’s growth in the past decade, Folkvord said. The company, based in Three Forks, a small community west of Bozeman, has four to six experimental products at any given time.

One such product, called the Healthy Loaf, is a super-premium bread that sells for more than $3 a loaf, is aimed at those willing to spend a little more on highly nutritious products. Another new product, spelt bread, is aimed at consumers allergic to traditional wheat, while breads with lower carbohydrate content are aimed at dieters.

"It’s a low-carb world out there," Folkvord said, noting that a good number of those in the audience probably passed on the bread in the French dip sandwiches served at the luncheon. Wheat Montana is selling about 40 loaves of low-carb bread each day at Wal-Mart in Great Falls.

"There is definitely a market out there for it now," he said noting that some believe the low-carb diet craze may be past its peak. "It will be interesting to see if this is something that will stick around forever."

Wheat Montana also is testing the idea of selling flour and other ingredients for its Healthy Loaf to bakeries in other states, allowing it to expand markets without heavy capital investment. A Minneapolis bakery is producing the bread and selling it in 25 markets outside Montana.

"That’s another experiment that’s working out well for us," Folkvord said.

The company CEO also told the business folks not to ignore big players when looking for expansion opportunities.

Wheat Montana is working on a deal that could bring Starbucks products to its retail deli operations. A trial run in a Kalispell operation boosted sales by 40 percent, Folkvord said.

The small Montana company also has found success in working with Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer. In fact, about 40 percent of the company’s bread sales take place in Wal-Mart.

"They actually found us," Folkvord said. "They are always interested in regional products."

The Three Forks man traveled to Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., to make a presentation to corporate officials. The meeting went well, with Wal-Mart simply asking Wheat Montana to price its products as low as possible.

"These guys welcomed us in, without any slotting fees or upfront money," Folkvord said, noting the Wheat Montana’s allotment of space on Wal-Mart shelves has grown. "They’ve been very easy for us to deal with."

Wheat Montana also learned the value of lean operations and reducing overhead from Wal-Mart. Controlling costs helped the company weather a significant sales slowdown in 2001, which came after a boom in flour sales apparently driven by Y2K millennium concerns.

"When Y2K (issues) didn’t happen, our sales dropped in half," he said, noting the company has found more sustainable growth in recent years.

Richard Owen, vice president of the Montana Grain Growers Association, noted that Folkvord and his family have fashioned a strong reputation in the wheat industry.

Owen said Folkvord’s name was a familiar one in Washington, D.C., where he worked for the National Association of Wheat Growers.

"People were always impressed with what he had done to add value to wheat products," Owen told the Chamber crowd.

Owen noted that Folkvord had been named the top farm operator in the country by Farm Journal magazine.

"That’s a real honor," Owen said.

Larcombe can be reached by e-mail at [email protected], or by phone at (406) 791-1463.

Posted in:

Sorry, we couldn't find any posts. Please try a different search.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.