London Inc. Fall 2021 - 28

So, You Want My Job
OWNER, ARVA FLOUR MILL
Mark Rinker, new owner of the 202-year-old
Arva Flour Mill, chats about fortuitous timing,
realities that matter and a vision for the future
IN SEPTEMBER, MARK Rinker bought the historic Arva Flour
Mill (www.arvaflourmill.com), pledging to preserve its heritage
while modernizing its operation.
Rinker, 55, grew up in London. As a boy, he spent summers
riding his bike to the Fanshawe Dam to fish. When he grew up,
he often rode a mountain bike around the lake and sailed on
it. He went to Montcalm Secondary School and then studied
geography and political science at Western University. At 18,
he bought the skate-sharpening business at Kinsmen Arena,
beginning a four-year adventure that effectively launched his
career as an entrepreneur. He retired in July after a 34-year
career in the food and pharmacy industry.
He is married to Jo-elle, who has worked at London YMCA
for 27 years and is VP, children's educational service. The couple
has two grown children and a granddaughter, Sophie. Both
children will join the business, Matthew in sales and Mackenzie
as web content creator.
The couple's last trip was immediately before the pandemic
arrived, walking through Harry Potter World at Universal
Studios and starting to feel uncomfortable touching the
handrails.
Congratulations on purchasing the Arva Flour
Mill. After retiring from Synergy Medical, what
were your considerations as you looked for your
next adventure? Thank you very much. My son,
Matthew, asked me the same thing. Matt has worked
for me at Synergy Medical the last five years after he
graduated from Western. He covered Ontario and
Atlantic Canada, and prior to Covid, I was stretching
him into Michigan, Ohio and New York in support of our
U.S. sales directors.
I said I wasn't sure. I told him I would be starting an
investment company and would be looking for opportunities
to invest. That's all Matt needed to hear, and
he put his resignation in that day to continue to work
28 | londonincmagazine.ca | FALL 2021
alongside me. It was special for him to do that - and
added some time pressure! Then the mill went up for
sale two weeks later.
Finding a local buyer committed to the values of
the mill seems to have been important to the former
owners, the Matthews family. But sentiment
doesn't pay the bills. How do you balance the
economic realities while knowing how important
its legacy is for so many? Economic realities aside,
the reality that matters is the local -and national -
historical significance of the mill. The Arva Mill is the
oldest water-powered flour mill in North America and
Canada's sixth oldest company. In addition, the six-acre
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London Inc. Fall 2021

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