CityView Magazine

40 | January/February 2018 B U S I N E S S B ob and Diana Carroll have a passion for great food. But at one time in their lives, the hustle and bustle of balancing their careers and raising children made the fast food drive-thru a frequent destination. Aer realizing that eating out too much was contributing to health problems, the Carrolls decided to make some diet changes. e grocery store became the best option for the couple who met by chance in Fayetteville over 25 years ago. e two are naturals at cooking, which helped matters. Bob worked as a cook in fine dining restaurants in high school and college. e couple also owned and operated Roly Poly in Fayetteville from 2004 to 2008. While shopping in supermarkets, they found flavorful fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy and breads – that part was easy. What the Carrolls didn't expect is what they discovered when they scoured through aisles of salad dressings, marinades, rubs and sauces: Most products they saw were full of sugar, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, additives and other fillers that are bad for you. "Big companies add sugar and fillers for a larger profit margin," Diana said. So Diana started working on her own recipes using organic stevia as the sweetener. She invited friends over to taste a barbecue sauce and an Italian salad dressing that she was proud of. "My friends said, 'Diana, you have to sell this,'" she said. "ey liked it better than anything that was in stores." "e next thing you know, I come home from work and Diana says, 'I'm meeting with a bottler about my Italian dressing and barbecue sauce,'" Bob said. "Over the years, I've learned that when Diana has an idea, I either need to get out of the way or get onboard!" us Bare Foods Inc. was born. A Hurricane Brings Them Together Bare Foods, the Carrolls and their family would have never happened if not for Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Diana, a native of Wake Forest, was planning a weekend in Charlotte with girlfriends and Bob was scheduled for a field training exercise while a soldier at Fort Bragg. "My unit's field training was canceled due to the hurricane so some friends and I decided to go out on the town," Bob said. Fayetteville-based Bare Foods Aiming for "great taste without regret" BY NATHAN WALLS

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