Quest To Recreate Mom's Cornbread Turns Into Nationwide Business For Louisiana Brothers

"Corn goes way back in our family," explained Patrick Calhoun, the president and chief executive officer of Calhoun Bend Mill, Inc. "It's been a part of the family for generations. I'm pleased we're continuing the tradition with our products."

While his forebears were farmers in the area, Patrick and his brother, Jesse, are taking the family heritage in a new direction. With an eye for the future and a remembrance of the past, they've formulated a variety of consumer and food service baking mixes for desserts, cornbread and frying that have gone nationwide.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Patrick's great, great grandfather moved from North Carolina to Monterey, La., in the 1800s to farm corn. Nathan Calhoun was as much of an entrepreneur and visionary, as he was a farmer. By 1847, he had built the area's first grist mill to process corn, eliminating dependence on out-of-town mills.

Through the generations, Calhouns farmed the land, most recently, Patrick's father who farms 2,800 acres of "row crops" - corn, cotton and soy beans.

Wanting more for Patrick, his father encouraged him to go into medicine. However, family heritage made an impression on Patrick. But it wasn't the farming that appealed to him, it was the eating!

When he was a boy working the family farm, his mother cooked "southern-style" meals. Lunch that was brought to the farmhands in the field and dinner around the table always included cornbread.

As a student at Louisiana State University, Patrick's memories of his mother's cornbread started him on a search to make the same kind of cornbread away from home. It turned out to be a lot harder than he first thought.

Searching store shelves and trying different types of corn meal, he could not find the taste and texture he remembered from home. After conversations with his mother, Patrick discovered she made her cornbread with corn ground on a home grinder.

"When I found that out, the wheels began to turn," Patrick said. "The entrepreneur in me began to see opportunity.

"It wasn't much more than three months from the time I had the idea to when we were milling our own corn meal," he explained.

BUILDING A BUSINESS

First he bought a grist mill assembly, then he cleaned up a 400-square-foot utility shed on the family farm. After getting FDA approval, he was in business milling stone-ground corn meal.

According to Patrick, people who have never tasted cornbread made with stone-ground corn don't know what they are missing - literally. Stone-ground milling uses the entire kernel. All the natural elements are in the mix for a much-improved taste. Many other mixes use only the outside part of the kernel, which has the least food value. They use the other parts to make different food products, such as corn oil and corn starch.

"Because our mixes use the entire kernel, including the oil, they have a greatly improved taste that also means a more limited shelf life. Freshness of the product keeps the foods made with our mixes tasting great."

"The first couple of years was interesting. The operation was more of a hobby that paid for itself, rather than a real business," the food producer explained. "Since I was away at college, I asked my brother, Jesse, who was working on the farm, to operate the mill during the week.

"Jesse, who is now vice president, would be grinding the corn while I would be calling food stores from my fraternity house telephone at L.S.U. This was a real 'grassroots' business."

After graduation, Patrick took a job as a commissioned agent with a life insurance company. This gave him time to keep the milling business going and still have a steady income. Even though he was making reasonably good money as an insurance agent for the company and himself, his boss wanted him to focus on the insurance business.

"Essentially, he gave me a ultimatum, pick one or the other, and he made it clear insurance sales was the one he thought I would be successful at.

"Whenever someone tells me I can't do something, that's exactly when I start trying to do that something."

Patrick picked the milling business. The rest, as they say, is history.

PICKING THE RIGHT PRODUCTS

When Calhoun Bend corn meal first became a full-time business venture, the product line was limited to cornmeal. The brothers, however, began analyzing the ingredients Southerners used in cooking. A breading mix was soon the first addition in a growing list of products.

Today, the line includes a wide selection of desert mixes, cornbread mixes and an onion coating mix for preparing restaurant-style onion appetizers at home.

"We developed and marketed various types of cornbread mixes, then introduced fish breading," explained Patrick. "However what really launched the company onto the national scene was our Peach Cobbler Mix."

The brothers and their company found that there was a ready market for their cobbler mixes.

"It's what I call 'a bag and a can' approach. A bag of our cobbler mix and a can of fruit." They continued to develop the cobbler product line, the first not to include any corn meal. A cherry cobbler mix and an apple cobbler mix followed.

"We felt we had the 'cake mix' aisle covered as much as possible with our products, yet we knew there were more sales opportunities in food stores."

EXPANDING ON A GOOD IDEA

Looking to sell more product without hurting existing products sales, Patrick and Jesse decided to introduce a new line of products under a new brand name to be sold in the produce sections of food stores with the fresh fruit.

Orchard Mills brand was developed in 1998 to create a line of home style mixes to complement the seasonal offerings of fresh fruit and vegetables. The product line includes individual mixes and complete recipe kits with all that's needed to create delicious old-fashioned desserts or onion appetizers.

"The idea is to offer people a way to prepare, in only minutes, delicious old-fashioned Apple Cobbler in the fall from farm-fresh apples, enjoy a delicious home-made Cherry Cobbler in early summer, and Peach Cobbler in late summer.

In addition to the Orchard Mills Cobbler Mill Mixes, the brand offers Oatmeal Crunch Fruit Topper Mix, Streusel Crumb Fruit Topper Mix and Awesome Onion Coating Mix for use with onions, vegetables or meat.

Calhoun Bend Mill also has branched out to provide products to restaurateurs and food service professionals.

"We use the same concept with the food service products as with our consumer products - one bag, one can and one pan creates a outstanding dessert."

This concept turns out to have benefits in a variety of food service situations.

Using these mixes is easier than scratch baking, and is lower in cost than frozen desserts. A variety of desserts can be created easily and economically. In addition, the mixes and simple ingredients provide consistent results and reduce labor, allowing cook "A" to prepare food exactly like cook "B."

"In all honesty, I have to say we started out lucky," stated Patrick. "We began with just an idea of what we thought people would like. I couldn't find it for myself, so I figured others couldn't find it either. We simply went from there."

HELP FROM THE GEORGE S. MAY INTERNATIONAL COMPANY

While the brothers were fortunate with their good luck early on, they also saw that as Calhoun Bend Mill products became popular there were parts of the business that needed the assistance of outside experts.

"We're very pleased with the help that the George S. May International Company provided, said Patrick. "We knew we were on the verge of tremendous growth and felt the need to addresses several issues. These included warehouse and plant maximization, pricing and accounting procedures. Having effective procedures and methods in place would allow us to accurately track inventory and enable us to budget for seasonal slowdowns.

"When the May International team began working with us, we realized we had several additional issues that needed to be addressed: inefficient packaging, inability to tracking inventory costs, lack of a solid sales and marketing strategy and poor pricing structure. We are very excited at the benefits of the work done by May International. We estimate the annual cost savings at more than a quarter of a million dollars, and that doesn't count the new business we'll acquire because of their work with us."

For more information about Calhoun Bend Mill products or Orchard Mills products see Web sites www.calhounbendmill.com or www.orchardmills.com. To contact the company use e-mail addresses info@calhounbendmill.com or info@orchardmills.com.

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