MEMBER CONNECTION: STARTING OVER
WHETHER IT IS THE LOSS of a job and the 401(k) evaporating or a wake-up call to
get one’s life on a different track, there are many catalysts that encourage somebody to
actively pursue a Plan B. Often that means taking the great entrepreneurial leap and
starting a business. Instead of sitting around waiting for the next opportunity to come
to them, these Costco members took a risk.
DAVE’S KILLER BREAD
Making good
dough—legally
IN AND OUT of jail and prison for 15 of
his 48 years, Dave Dahl, a former armed
robber and recovering drug addict, is a
self-professed “slow learner.” The creator
of Dave’s Killer Bread, based in Portland,
Oregon, he is also living proof that even a
slow learner who seems destined for a life
of crime can turn his life around.
After a solid start growing up in a
family of bakers, Dahl quickly slid into a
life of alcohol, drugs, stealing and dealing. As it turned out, he wasn’t a very
gifted criminal, beginning a series of in-and-out incarcerations.
It was during his last sentence that he
began to see the light. “I was fortunate to
suffer in prison, because I got clean, and
for the first time in my life I was confident
without drugs,” says Dahl, who discovered
at that time that he suffered from clinical
depression. He also discovered that he
was smarter than he had realized and a lot
more interested in what life had to offer
than in his next fix. He began working out
and studying topics such as health and
nutrition with a renewed fervor.
After his 2004 release, clean and sober,
Dahl rejoined his family’s baking business.
His brother, Glenn, owner of NatureBake
Dave Dahl (above, and left inset) has
gone from dealing drugs to baking
super-nutritious bread.
(
www.naturebake.com), the healthy bread
business started by their father in the
1950s, welcomed him back and encouraged his ideas. Within six months, Dave
had designed six varieties of whole-grain,
organic bread, four of which were introduced in August 2005 at the Portland
Farmers Market’s “Summer Loaf” artisan
bread festival to rave reviews.
At the helm of Dave’s Killer Bread,
Dahl now produces approximately 250,000
loaves of bread a week ( 15 varieties) with
names such as “Good Seed” and “Rockin’
Rye.” It’s sold at Costco—where it is the
best-selling bread—in Alaska, Idaho,
Montana, Oregon, Utah and Washington,
and in those states as well as California
in grocery chains such as Safeway (for
specific locations, or to order by mail, visit
www.daveskillerbread.com). Demand is
increasing, but Dahl says he’s in no hurry
to rush. “We’re going slow; we don’t want
to grow too fast,” he says.
This time, being a slow learner has its
benefits.—T. Foster Jones
Bagging the prize
AFTER LOSING HER fashion development
position in December 2008, Los Angeles–
based Kristina Moreno, 31, was crushed. She
felt hopeless and “sat around for three months
watching TV and reading fashion magazines.”
Then, one day, while searching the Web
for a small dog carrier sometimes found in
handbag sections of department stores, the
fashion connoisseur was struck by a thought:
In a time of online saturation, how could it
be possible that there was not a single catalog
based site where all the handbags in the
world from both emerging and well-estab-
lished designers existed?
Seeing that opportunity, Moreno and her
husband, Brian Meert, an online entrepreneur,
The downside is that the site currently
generates revenue only through advertise-
ments and the couple have yet to pay them-
selves. However, they launched a redesigned
site in December 2010 that includes a handbag
marketplace, which allows handbag designers
to sell their collections through the site.
“It’s been a hard year because there is no
income coming in,” Moreno says. “Every
week, we say we have to go get jobs.” But
every time that feeling comes around, she
adds, “little miracles happen,” such as signing
new advertisers just when things looked
absolutely dismal.—Fred Minnick
MAR TIN OCEGUEDA AT A2KS TUDIOS
ROB DELAHANTY
Kristina Moreno and her husband, Brian
Meert, have success within their grasp
with Handbago.com.
We want to
hear from you!
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about Costco or Costco members, e-mail it to
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Connection” in the subject line or send it to “The
Member Connection,” The Costco Connection,
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