• A family business based on history and traditions
The entrepreneur Adrian Vlad found the stone mill in the Maramureș area. According to history, the miller who owned it was Buhai Ioan a Ciocului de Buciumi, the biggest builder of parish houses in the Chioar area. Although it was abandoned in a barn, dirty and unused for over 10 years, Adrian Vlad chose to give life to the mill with stones, out of the desire to ensure a healthy diet for his family.
"And that's how I started to make a small house especially for her, clean it, paint it and repair it. The mill cost 1.500 lei, but the final investment reached 15.000 lei. I set up a house for him and obtained a sanitary-veterinary certificate, I bought a motor because he didn't have one. That was about the whole investment", said Adrian Vlad in an interview with Agrointelligence magazine.
The mill can grind 50 kilograms of grain/hour, obtaining a quantity of flour that is sufficient for the consumption of Vlad's family and even his friends. Due to the power of the mill to grind hundreds of kilograms of grain, the entrepreneur decided to expand his business, moving his workplace from Afumati to the center of the country, to Intorsura Buzăului.
The mill from Afumati moves to Intorsura Buzăului
With small and sure steps, the entrepreneur managed to transform his passion for healthy food into a business that would ensure his daily living. Due to the high demand for flour, Adrian Vlad had to move his workplace to a larger space, which would allow him to produce and store in relation to the existing demand. The quality of the milled wholemeal flour attracted more and more customers, reaching over 500 kilograms of milled grains weekly. In 2015, the entrepreneur stated that the price of a kilogram of wholemeal flour produced at the mill was 6 lei, and the demand is constantly increasing.
The Raw Generation Exhibition
The national raw food and healthy living exhibition called "Raw Generation Exhibition" was an excellent opportunity for "Stone Mill" to assert itself once again and promote traditional grain grinding. The first edition in Brașov took place in 2016, and Adrian Vlad was one of the 60 exhibitors. Regarding the participation in this type of event, he stated in an interview given to Agrointeligența magazine: "I participated with stone milled flour at the Raw Generation Exhibition where only raw and organic food is presented. We were successful beyond expectations and almost broke even with requests".
Photo source: www.moaracupietre.ro and the Facebook page "Stone Mill"
