May 2015
| Business World
81
neering, superior craftsmanship, and a classic
design to provide customers with fresh, nu-
tritious whole grain flour. Leavitt says he is
excited that the product is being made in his
home state of Utah, where it can support the
local economy – for example, by using local
plastics engineers, trucking companies, and
employing a locally-based workforce of sales
persons, production crews, engineers and
patent attorneys, for starters.
At this point, that St. George facility is as-
sembly-oriented, but L’Chef has a five-year
plan to convert it into a true-manufacturing
facility.
“We plan to move all manufacturing here to
the U.S. step by step,” Leavitt says. “We’ll do
it with the NutriMill brand first.”
LEADING THE WAY
Also in L’Chef ’s future is international dis-
tribution. Now that the company is a true
manufacturer and not just a distributor, they
can achieve price points and margins that
will allow them to compete on the world
market.
According to Leavitt, the company show-
cased the NutriMill Harvest for the first time
at the International Home + Housewares
Show in Chicago, and international interest
was remarkable.
“America is not the only place where people
are looking for grain mills that allow them
to mill fresh flour at home,” he says. “There’s
a huge grain mill market in India. Australia
has a real health related focus and they show
increased interest in whole grains. In Germa-
ny and other parts of Europe, they’ve been
harnessing the grain milling business for a
long time. Breads are very important to the
European lifestyle.”
“We’re going to bring to Europe, Australia,
Asia and India a grain mill that is sensible,
innovative, beautiful, and priced in a way
that catches a lot of people by surprise.”
Leavitt says they have “high hopes for inter-
national distribution” with the NutriMill
brand. At the end of their five-year plan,
they will see how it’s been received and eval-
uate the next steps of pushing their L’Equip
brand internationally as well.
Again, Leavitt reiterates that expectations
are high. He says they consider themselves
experts at incorporating whole grains in your
