The Rice River Farms® Story

Humble beginning …

Rice River Farms® is the retail division of its parent company, Chieftain® Wild Rice. With humble beginnings in the industry, this company started in a small town called Hayward, Wisconsin. A customer list was purchased, one sale rep handled the customer service and the shipping took place from a small garage. The focus was on providing our nutty flavored gourmet wild rice to chefs at fine dining restaurants.

Purchase of 160 acres of rice fields and equipment in Aitkin, Minnesota in 1973 set the stage for what would become a successful farming venture. Lyle Ward was hired to run the farm and under his competent direction the farm prospered and an adjoining 260 acres was purchased in 1975. Additional acreage was leased from the state of Minnesota and a flood ditch and pumping station was developed on the Rice River.

New Growth …

Advancement began when in 1981 the company was incorporated as "Wild Rice Enterprises Inc." and several more sales representatives were hired to handle the increased interest in gourmet rice. Products were still being shipped from the garage but with the influx of sales, more space was needed for packaging. A building was rented north of Hayward on Highway 63, a sales manager was hired and computer software was developed to manage prospect and customer activity.

By the end of 1989 the company was thriving and several changes had been made, the Chieftain® logo/trademark was officially transferred and registered to Wild Rice Enterprises, Inc. and the corporate name was changed from Wild Rice Enterprises to Five Star Foods, Inc. The farm also expanded as it purchased an additional 160 acres and developed it into 136 acres of rice paddies.

Change of location …

With sales rapidly increasing, the company quickly outgrew the rented building. Failure to find a site that would fit their needs in the Hayward area resulted in the purchase of land in the Spooner Industrial Park. A building was built, the same building that still houses the operation today. The year 1990 marked the completion of the building and the move to Spooner.

In 1993, just out of college, Joan Gerland was hired as the Telemarketing Supervisor for the sales representatives. Her unbridled enthusiasm and sharp business sense lent her to implement need selling techniques that assisted the sales force in obtaining new business. Joan became General Manager in 1995 with fresh ideas and goals; target customers became widely varied extending to catering companies, event coordinators, personal chefs, and industrial clients. To lend a hand with the increasing duties of the company, Jim Deutsch was hired in 1995 as Operations Manager. He quickly forged concrete relationships with vendors and implemented quality assurance guidelines while organizing warehouse and production needs.

Retail venture …

The rice industry was booming and Chieftain® was handling increased inquiries about where home consumers could purchase the rice being used in restaurants. In 1997 the Rice River Farms® trademark was approved and packaging began on a small offering of retail rice options that were easy to prepare and could be offered in specialized gourmet stores. By the end of 1997, Rice River Farms® had attained a total of 580 acres which contained 437 acres of rice paddies.

Preparing for the future …

Foreseeing growth in both the retail and food service sales, an 8000 square foot addition was added in 1998. State of the art equipment was installed to bag products; the bulk warehouse was doubled in size and the sales offices were moved to the current location in the building. Several years later a 70' by 180' building was set up at the processing plant and in 2001 Rice River Farms® proudly processed 400,000 green pounds of wild rice and produced 162,000 total pounds of finished wild rice!

Recognition of our special dry roasting process led to the trademark "Dry Roasted Wild Rice" in 2003 and as the years passed integration of new technology was required. A new telephone system was installed as well as our current software system.

Rice River Farms® today …

Our product line now has seven wild rice blends and over two hundred additional specialty items. In addition to our wild rice products we carry several hundred specialty items including orzo, grains, couscous, exotic rice, beans, lentils, spices, mushrooms and trail mixes. Rice River Farms® is an equal opportunity employer and prides itself in being a family oriented business with flexible schedules.