Bar Keepers Friend Team Talk Dyland Longs 

July 26, 2023

This week’s Team Talk is with Dyland Longs. Bar Keepers Friend Team Talk is a chance to get to know us—one team member at a time. It’s a glimpse behind the curtain. In this series, we ask individual teammates questions designed to share insights into the BKF family and reveal a little about the people behind the brand.

Bar Keepers Friend Team Talk Dyland Longs 

My first question for Dyland was, “How do you pronounce your name?” He told me it rhymes with island – island Dyland.

• What is your role at Bar Keepers Fiend?

My job is to order parts for equipment maintenance and track the orders.

• Why do you work at BKF? What do you appreciate about BKFs culture?

It’s close to home, and I work a 4-day, 10-hour schedule, so I have the weekends off. And it’s a great team.

• What’s something about BKF that most people don’t know?

People don’t realize how long Bar Keepers Friend has been around (invented in 1882) or that it’s family-owned. A lot of younger people know about Ajax and Comet but not Bar Keepers Friend. My mom and her generation know, but many young people don’t know how good it is.

• How do you use BKF products at home?

I have a stainless steel hot dog cart, and I found the Bar Keepers Friend  Stainless Steel Cleanser & Polish at Home Depot before I knew anything about the company. As you can imagine, a stainless steel hot dog cart gets grease, mustard, relish, and more on it. The Stainless steel cleaner works great. It keeps it clean and shiny.

• What are your hobbies and Interests?

I have a hot dog cart and do events on weekends like birthday parties. I do voiceover work and would love to do something for Bar Keepers Friend aimed at a younger audience. However, my passion is a board game my wife and I sell. It’s called Freedom Walk. It’s a board game, puzzle, and trivia about the underground railroad.

I wasn’t taught about the underground railroad in school, and I actually thought it was a railroad that was underground. I didn’t realize it at the time, but a trip to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2005 would forever change my life. My visit to this historic museum, dedicated to the Underground Railroad, brought to life the heroic efforts of enslaved North Americans who struggled diligently to free themselves from the oppressive grip of slavery.

I learned about heroes such as Harriet Tubman who not only escaped slavery but also made 13 crossings of the underground railroad to free more than 70 enslaved family and friends.

Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, my neighborhood was home to several Underground Railroad stations. I grew up literally feet away from this historical landmark.

So, in 2005 I made the game. It started drawn on a sheet of paper and progressed from there. In 2020, when people stayed in because of the pandemic, my wife and I put the game on the market, and it’s been selling well.

What would you like to add? 

It’s important that children know the story of the underground railroad, so we often give them to schools.

If you’d like to see the game, go to https://freedom-walk.com/