In 2012, Matt and Katie Wessel were living in Munich. They fell in love with the city that felt so much like their home in Milwaukee.
They also fell in love with brezeln, Bavarian-style soft pretzels.
“They had these pretzels that were unlike anything we’d had at home. Pretzels weren’t a Milwaukee thing back in 2012. We thought, ‘Why aren’t German pretzels a big thing in a German city like Milwaukee? We should start a pretzel business and make pretzels and sell them to bars and restaurants and try to bring this thing that we fell in love with while in Germany back home,’” Matt Wessel said.
“Pretzels were a big part of our experience in Germany,” he continued. “Katie and I would go to beer gardens quite a bit and play cards, drink a beer and have a pretzel; it was a wonderful time in our life. The Germans have this word gemütlich which means cozy and warmth and feeling like everything’s right in the world. It’s the feeling you get when you’re just surrounded by cheer, good times and family.”
“That’s how we felt when we were in the beer gardens, and the pretzels were a big part of that having a pretzel was something we really looked forward to and enjoyed whenever we could. In our minds, it was not only a good business opportunity, but it was also something very personal to us,” he said.
When the couple returned to the States in 2013, they turned their beer garden dreams into reality and launched Milwaukee Pretzel Company.
Katie quickly mastered the pretzel-making process and Matt had a background in marketing and brand development he knew would help sell pretzels. The entrepreneurs did not have experience in the food industry, but that did not stop them. The pair rented space in a small commercial kitchen and began selling pretzels to bars and restaurants all over the city.
Before the close of its first year in business, Milwaukee Pretzel Co. needed to hire two additional employees to keep up with the demand. By the end of its second year in business, the company doubled its staff again. Now, the company has over 100 employees.
“In 2021, we bought a 22,000 square foot building and at the end of 2024, we’ll open the new wing and grow to 50,000 square feet,” he said.
“We’ve been in business for 11 years now and every year has brought with it some sort of substantial growth, not just in terms of sales but in terms of knowledge and experience and understanding. In those early years when we were making small batches and trying to find someone to buy them, we were always processing feedback and information. It’s not like we took a class, or went to a seminar, or did an apprenticeship. We just learned as we went along,” he said.
“If you pointed to where we’re at today on day one, this is where you are going to be in 10 years, that would’ve freaked us out. It would’ve seemed impossible without training, but you really can learn as you go, make good decisions and increase your knowledge base,” he explained.
Today, Milwaukee Pretzel Co. continues to grow as it moves beyond supplying fresh pretzels to commercial customers and expands into ecommerce, fundraising sales, and frozen grocery store items.
“Our core business is food service, which is selling pretzels to restaurants and bars. We are doing that in 22 states. We have a smaller list of states for our frozen grocery, but that’s growing. Our e-commerce division, which you can order on our website, and we’ll ship it to your home serves the whole country. And then we have a very fast-growing fundraising division that is in over half the country right now,” he said.
“Seeing the brand saturation in Milwaukee has been a big source of pride for us because we wanted to bring these pretzels to Milwaukee, and we’ve successfully done that. We feel proud about having made good on that vision to bring the pretzels that we fell in love with in Germany to everybody here back home,” Wessel concluded.
To learn more about this startup success story, connect with Milwaukee Pretzel Co. here.