A taste
of Italy
book author. “That applies
to not only a sense of the
actual work by hand you do,
but also the principles and val-
ues you apply to making deli-
cious food.”
Fra’ Mani started out in 2006
as a small maker of fine Italian
pork products. It gained a dedi-
cated following of local fans who
recognized the quality of Fra’
Mani’s products and appreciated
the company’s commitment to
using chemical-free, sustainable
ingredients from select family-
run farms. The company
expanded this philosophy to
other foods, including a variety
of prepared, oven-ready meals,
made exclusively for Costco, that
cover the traditional Italian meal
from soup to entrée.
Bertolli says the challenge
was to create these items on a
large scale without losing the
sense of homemade. “The way I
think of it is that these are just
bigger pots,” he says. “It’s still very
much a matter of using all the
but also the principles and val-i
BAYAREA
REGION
Fra’ Mani Handcrafted Foods
Berkeley, CA
www.framani.com
Products: A variety of prepared, oven-ready meals, exclusive to Costco
Available: Select West Coast and
Midwest warehouses
FOR COSTCO SUPPLIER Fra’
Mani Handcrafted Foods, the
company name says it all. Fra’
Mani is Italian for “between or
among hands.” It sums up the
company’s mission to create traditional Italian foods that are as
authentic as possible, explains
Paul Bertolli, the company’s
founder and CEO.
“The best kind of work we
do in the kitchen is done by
hand,” says Bertolli, a nationally renowned chef and cook-
Dave Dahl’s freshly baked “Killer Bread” is one of Costco’s best-selling bread brands.
NORTHWEST
REGION
Making
legally
dough,
IN AND OUT of jail and prison
for 15 of his 49 years, Dave
Dahl, a former armed robber
and recovering drug addict, is a
self-professed “slow learner.”
The creator of Dave’s Killer
Bread, 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
slid into a life of alcohol, drugs,
stealing and dealing. As it turned
out, he wasn’t a very gifted crim-
Dave’s Killer Bread • Portland, OR
www.daveskillerbread.com
Products: Good Seed, 21 Grain
Available: Alaska, Idaho, Montana,
Oregon, Utah, Washington
Paul Bertolli (with daughter Luisa) retains a hands-on approach to Fra’ Mani’s operation.
senses to make these products.
Those are our values. We still are
grounded in the Italian tradition.”
Bertolli’s maternal grandfather was an immigrant from the
Veneto region in Italy. A salumi-ere (pork butcher/sausage maker),
he set up shop on the south side of
Chicago in the 1930s. “He used to
send my family his soppressata
ED ANDERSON
vicentina, a large, fragrant and
amazingly delicious salame
scented with clove,” recalls
Bertolli. “I modeled the one I
make here at Fra’ Mani after it.
This was one of my earliest memories of delicious food, and one I
obviously haven’t forgotten. Now
thousands of other people get to
enjoy it, too.”—Tim Talevich
DECEMBER 2012 ;e Costco Connection 25
out and studying health and
nutrition with a renewed fervor.
DAVE’S KILLER BREAD
After his 2004 release, clean
and sober, Dahl rejoined his
family’s baking business. His
brother, Glenn, owner of
NatureBake (
www.naturebake.
com), the healthful-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.
inal, beginning a series of in-and-out incarcerations.
It was during his last sen-
tence 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
At the helm of Dave’s Killer
Bread, Dahl now produces
approximately 400,000 loaves of
bread a week ( 16 varieties) with
names such as “Good Seed” and
“Rockin’ Rye.” It’s sold at Costco
(for specific locations, or to order
by mail, visit www.daveskiller
bread.com). Dahl—who now
spends a good deal of his time
sharing his story of redemption
with at-risk youths, business lead-
ers, law enforcement and politi-
cians—says he’s in no hurry to
grow. “We’re going slow; we don’t
want to grow too fast,” he says.
Dahl, who discovered at that
time that he suffered from clinical depression. He also discovered that he was smarter than he
realized and a lot more interested
in what life had to offer than in
his next fix. He began working CONTINUED ON PAGE 26
This time, being a slow
learner has its benefits.
