Brick

I’ve been eating the “Little Red Brick” since the age of five. However, I only recently heard it referred to by that whimsical name.

This story begins in 1946 when Catherine Clark of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, took out a $7,000 mortgage on her house and spent the cash to buy a mixer, an ancient delivery truck and a grocery store to use as a bakery. She was a believer in whole grains and had developed a unique wheat bread in her home kitchen. When she shared her bread with neighbors, they urged her to make more and more. Mrs. Clark named her fledgling business “Brownberry Ovens” because the loaves came out of the oven “brown as a berry”.

Her sales the first year were $23,000 with a net profit of $86. Within a few decades, sales were sixteen million and distribution reached 40 states. In a time when men dominated the business world, Catherine Clark believed that women had a “sixth sense” about her products and hired mostly women workers in her multiple factories.

In 1973, she sold her company for 146 million. Brownberry Ovens is now owned by Arnold Bakeries. They tried to change the recipe a few years after acquiring the rights to the product but were deluged with complaints from loyal customers. They quickly reverted to Mrs. Clark’s original recipe and have kept it to this day.

This wonderful bread is available in several stores near my house, but it is hard to get. Not many loaves are delivered, and it sells out rapidly. So I have been eager to catch a delivery driver in my grocery store and ask how I can get a more reliable supply.

The other day I got lucky and turned into the bread aisle as the driver was stocking all the Arnold Bakery products. When I asked him about my favorite bread, he cheerfully said, “Oh, you mean the little red brick.” I laughed but was happy to find out where he stocked the most loaves.

Few good products endure for a person’s lifetime, but Brownberry Ovens Natural Wheat Bread is one that has for me. And I must thank my parents who loved the little town of Oconomowoc and were some of Catherine Clark’s first customers.

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