Continental Mills

An 89-Year Old Company with the Spirit of a Startup When you hear the name Continental Mills, it might not sound familiar at first. But what if we asked if you’d ever tried Krusteaz Pancake mix? Yes? Now you know part of the story! We are a family-owned business that was founded in 1932 by an innovative woman named Rose Charters who decided to tackle the challenge of making the perfect, easy-to-prepare pie crust. She called her product Krusteaz pie crust (cleverly combining “crust” and “ease”). Rose and her husband James started selling the mix to friends, neighbors and local cafes. They quickly outgrew their home kitchen and soon opened the first manufacturing plant in Seattle.