Dave's Killer Bread on track to become Oregon's next $1B brand

Dave's Killer Bread, based in Milwaukie, is on course to become Oregon's next billion-dollar brand.

Dave's Killer Bread, owned by Georgia-based Food Conglomerate Flower Foods Inc., reported estimated retail sales for 2022 of $965 millions, making it only second in the company's top-earning brands last year behind Nature's Own which reported $1.4billion.

David Dahl founded The Breadmaker in 2005 after spending 15 years in prison. It was there that he first learned to bake and his passion for baking, which began in his family's small bakery as a child, was reignited.

Dave's began as a sub-brand of NatureBake owned by the Dahl family. In 2012, it acquired the parent company and renamed it Dave's Killer Bread. Glenn Dahl, Dahl's elder brother, was NatureBake president at that time. Flower Foods acquired it in 2015 for $275 millions. In the same year, it expanded distribution to all fifty states and launched a foundation for "second chance workers" with criminal convictions.

Dave's growth under Flower Foods soared, and it became the number one organic brand in America by 2016, as well as the fastest growing brand in the category of fresh packaged breads by 2019. Dave's initial retail sales estimate in 2016 when it joined Flower Foods was $241.8 millions, a 300% increase within six years.

Dave's will join Oregon's billion-dollar companies such as Nike Inc., Columbia Sportswear, Portland General Electric, Schnitzer Steel, Northwest Natural, Lithia Motors, Consumer Cellular, and Schnitzer Steel.

Dutch Bros, a fast-growing Oregon food firm (NYSE: BROS), is also racing towards $1 billion. Joth Ricci, CEO of Dave's Foods, said that the company was "in striking range" of $1 billion revenue by 2023.

Dutch Bros has reported a $739 million annual sales figure for 2022, and a total of $201.8 million for the fourth quarter.