Dave Dahl (born January 12, 1963) is an American entrepreneur, known for co-founding
Dave's Killer Bread
Dave's Killer Bread is an American brand of organic whole-grain products. Flowers Foods purchased the brand in 2015 for $275 million.
The brand was founded in 2005 in Milwaukie, Oregon by Dave Dahl, who learned the baking trade growing up in h ...
. Prior to founding the company, he had served a total of over 15 years in
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
for multiple offenses including, but not limited to,
drug distribution,
burglary
Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...
,
armed robbery, and
assault
An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...
.
Early life and career
Dave Dahl was born in
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. At the age of 9, Dahl began working at the family bakery which was founded by his father James A. "Jim" Dahl in 1955.
Dave often fought with his father because he did not like working there and began smoking cigarettes and using other drugs in his teens. He dropped out of high school in 1980.
In 1987, Dahl was incarcerated for the first time after burglarizing a house. He rejoined the bakery in 1989 after accepting a job offer from his brother Glenn before quitting again and moving to
, where he served more time in prison for armed robbery.
In 1997, Dahl was arrested again in Portland, Oregon, after which he was incarcerated at the
Snake River Correctional Institution
Snake River Correctional Institution (SRCI) is a medium security prison in the western United States in eastern Oregon. The largest facility in the Oregon Department of Corrections system, it is located in unincorporated northeastern Malheur County ...
near
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Oregon. In 2001, he was placed on a drug treatment program and vocational training in computer-aided drafting and design, which he began to teach other prisoners after excelling at the course. Dahl was released from prison on December 27, 2004, after which he rejoined his brother Glenn at the family bakery for the third time.
While working at the bakery, Dahl came up with a cornmeal-crusted loaf which he and his brother named "Dave's Killer Bread" and formed the basis of the new brand. After initial success at local farmers' markets, stores began carrying the brand's products and by 2013, the company had employed over 300 people (approximately one third of whom were ex-felons) at its headquarters in
Milwaukie
Milwaukie is a city mostly in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States; a very small portion of the city extends into Multnomah County. The population was 20,291 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1847 on the banks of the Willamette River, the city ...
, Oregon. In August 2015, Dave's Killer Bread was acquired by
Flowers Foods for $275 million.
In 2016, Dahl started an organization known as Discover African Art, for which he opened a flagship showroom in
Clackamas, Oregon and a boutique in Portland's
Pearl District
The Pearl District is an area of Portland, Oregon, formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significan ...
the following year. In June 2017, the organization contributed to grain shipments bound for a village in
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
.
Legal problems
In November 2013, a female friend of Dahl’s called the police to report that he was having a mental health crisis. Upon officers’ arrival, Dahl fled the scene in a black Cadillac Escalade and proceeded to immediately ram two police cars head on. Dahl then fought with officers as they arrested him, sending three officers to the hospital. In October 2014, after being diagnosed with
bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...
, Dahl was found guilty except for insanity on two counts of third-degree assault and one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a
Washington County judge, who placed him within the jurisdiction of the state's Psychiatric Security Review Board. In January 2015, Dahl was kept on conditional release under the Board's supervision, with requirements including bans on driving and visiting bars.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dahl, Dave
Living people
American bakers
American people convicted of assault
American people convicted of drug offenses
1963 births
Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon
American people convicted of burglary
American people convicted of robbery