Kneading dough is a great stress reliever.

The History of Berlin Natural Bakery.
When Only The Best…Is Good Enough!

We thank Howard and Irene Graves for having a dream. They were true pioneers in the natural and organic industry. Due to their beliefs and vision, in 1986 Berlin Natural Bakery was born.

Suffering through her many health issues, Irene a nurse in the medical profession, found herself physically incapable of continuing in this line of work. Leading to her need to build a home based business. Howard and Irene had always been true advocates of the natural health industry. Their discovery of a need for a natural whole wheat bread at a local health food store located in Berlin, Ohio, is when Berlin Natural Bakery found its beginning. Irene began baking these breads in the basement of their home, exclusively for one health food store. Eventually Howard joined in his wife’s efforts, and started taking the breads to every health food store he could find in the state of Ohio.

Approximately 4 years into their venture, they were told about an ancient grain, that appeared to be making a bit of a come back. This led to the beginning of a new line of breads made from spelt grain. After many years of struggling, they eventually were able to provide Berlin Natural Bakery with a home of its own. As the years passed Irene took care of all the book keeping and administrative duties, while Howard with his background in engineering, continued in his ongoing efforts to bake the perfect loaf of bread. As the years passed by, their combined efforts proved indeed to be successful. Upon reaching the level of success, that he envisioned himself capable of, and Irene’s declining health, his desires turned to spending additional time with his wife. So Howard embarked on a mission, to find buyers for the bakery that he had so grown to love. Having had quite a diverse business background, and at the constant urging from a business associate, we finally agreed to meet with Howard and take a closer look at the bakery. There was no doubt from the beginning, that this bakery was in fact developed by a person, with the total need for perfection. Howard’s love of what he did, and pride in what he created could be seen in absolutely every aspect of the business. There were two things that I instantly knew that were important to Howard. First, that we respect his efforts and knowledge of the natural health industry by continuing to produce products of only the highest nutritional and quality standards. Second, that we would put forth our best efforts to make these products available to consumers nationwide. In 1997 we acquired Berlin Natural Bakery. Still today we honor and respect Howard’s incredible accomplishments and vision, and have made huge progress in turning his dream into a reality.

Pouring Ingredients

At the time of acquisition, Berlin Natural Bakery was producing two separate lines of bread, a complete wheat line and a complete spelt line. As the years passed by my knowledge, understanding and love of the natural health industry continued to grow. Truly understanding the needs of our customers that were buying our spelt products, it became apparent, that we needed to make a choice. We could not be all things to all people. What we discovered about the superiority of the spelt grain over the years; really made this decision for us. In 2002 we took a step of faith and completely eliminated all varieties of wheat, except spelt. We became the first all spelt bakery in the country. This in fact proved to be beneficial in many ways.

1) It totally eliminated any risk of cross contamination.
2) It allows us to focus our efforts on continual education of the spelt grain.
3) We now had the capacity to add additional lines of spelt products, to our spelt bread line.
4) Our willingness to suffer revenue losses, confirmed our commitment to our customers regarding our spelt products in two ways. First, it proved our true commitment and concern of their health, and second, it proved our commitment and belief in the superiority of the spelt grain.

We have since launched (5) new products; A new line of home style cookies, with three varieties to choose from and two new varieties of bread. By November 1st, 2003, we will be launching two varieties of par baked herb bread sticks and a zesty little spelt cracker.

As our research continued, we also became true believers in the additional nutritional values of sprouted grains. Three of our products are now made with sprouted grains: Sprouted Spelt Bread, Sprouted Biblical Bread and our new Sprouted Biblical Breadsticks with herbs.

Research is not my only source of knowledge regarding the value and importance of clean natural and nutritionally beneficial foods. There is no better teacher, then our own personal experiences with our health. After suffering through an illness and finding the cure to be balanced nutrition, clean & pure foods, and bringing balance into my life, took the knowledge I had gained over the years, from philosophy to fact. As you read through our web site, you will soon come to realize that we are indeed a bit fanatical about what we do. Our own experiences in life, confirmed our belief that good health, must begin with good nutrition and clean foods. Our goal is not to be all things to all people…our goal is to provide you with the best tasting and the most nutritious spelt products available. We at Berlin Natural Bakery are totally committed to serving you our very best, from our kitchens…to yours!