Milling & Baking News - October 18, 2022 - 16

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Doyle says regulatory guidance
from NAMA key for millers
involved in the long-term decisions until
the day he died (in 2010). "
Early in his career, challenges Mr.
Doyle said were a struggle included
dealing with some difficult personalities
that were large flour buyers of King
Milling flour. Among key decisions he
made during his tenure, none was more
important than one in the mid-1980s to
move beyond milling soft wheat native to
Michigan. More equipment was installed
to make the A mill a swing mill to grind
wheat brought in from the hard winter
and hard spring states.
" Now we mill more hard wheat than
soft, " he said. " I milled it at K-state and my
uncle had (Mike Doyle, who headed engineering
at King Milling). So Uncle Mike
designed a mill that could do it. It was
getting hard to get enough customers for
soft wheat, and there was all kinds of hard
wheat business in our area. "
Mr. Doyle said King Milling is the
only facility in Michigan that grinds
hard wheat. The facility also is the largest
mill in a state with seven flour mills,
according to the 2022 Grain & Milling
Annual, published by Sosland Publishing
Co. He described his 42 years in milling
as a " long, satisfying job " enhanced
now by two of his sons - Patrick and
Regan - working for the company and
good relations with his cousins who
also work at and are shareholders
in the business (his cousin Jim was
named president of the company
Oct. 12, and his sons Patrick and
Regan were promoted as well, while
Brian Doyle transitioned to the position
of chairman (see related story
on Page 19).
King Milling derived its name from
a family that acquired the Lowell mill
in 1890 out of bankruptcy. The Kings
were a logging family and the Doyles,
another logging family, invested in
King Milling about 10 years later, Mr.
Doyle said.
The two families partnered together
until 1930 when the last member of the
King family involved in the business died,
and the Doyles assumed full control. Vestiges
of the connection between the two
families endure.
" We weren't related to the Kings, "
Mr. Doyle said. " My father (King Doyle)
was named for Mr. King. He was Francis
King, who went by the name King
because he hated the name Francis. My
middle name is King. My son Patrick's
middle name is King. "
Patrick has been involved in general
management and Regan in operations.
Both are fifth-generation members of the
Doyle family involved in the business.
Other members of the Doyle family
involved in King Milling include Brian's
cousins Jim, who was named president
" The goal here is to get
total buy in and make
(the strategic plan) a
working document. "
- Brian Doyle,
King Milling Co.
last week, and Steve, a senior vice president.
Steve's son Michael, also fifth generation,
recently joined the company.
Among crises that faced King Milling
during its 125-year history, Mr. Doyle said
a fire during World War II was a turning
point. The flour mill burned in 1943 while
King Doyle was at the University of Michigan.
While the facility was being rebuilt,
during World War II, King Doyle joined
the Navy.
" The new mill started up in April 1945, "
Mr. Doyle said. " It is a monolithic mill.
Grandpa (William C. Doyle) had to go to
the war department to get reinforcement
rod because all the steel was going to the
war effort. He went to Washington to get
those requisitions. They built the spouting
out of wood. Anything that could be
made out of wood was made out of wood.
The people who poured it were all in their
40s or older who put a shift in doing that
while they were working their own farms
because all the younger people were overseas
shooting guns. "
Ten days after the rebuilt mill started
up, Mr. Doyle's grandfather William died.
King Doyle, who was in the Pacific Theater
on the USS Hale, was not informed of
his father's death for another month. He
received the information when his ship,
which had been damaged during the Battle
of Okinawa in a kamikaze attack, was
At a reception during the annual meeting of the North American Millers' Association, Brian Doyle,
right, was joined by his wife Cheryl Doyle and son Patrick Doyle.
16
MILLING & BAKING NEWS
on dry dock for repair.
" It was supposed to take 90 days to
repair it, so his ship captain gave him
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Milling & Baking News - October 18, 2022

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