SOUTH MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Mornings at Stephen’s Breads in South Milwaukee are spent working at a fast pace to make sure loaves of bread are baked and enough dinner rolls are in the oven. It is a flurry of activity owner Stephen Blanchard wouldn’t trade for anything.
“We do it because it is different every day. We never have one day that is going to be exactly the same,” Blanchard said.
Almost from the moment it began operation, Stephen’s Breads has had to adapt to changing customer needs amid the pandemic. Blanchard opened his business in early 2020 and had his first farmers market booked in March until he shut it down because of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an effort not to let dozens of loaves of bread go to waste, Stephen began offering home delivery. At the time, the idea of having food and groceries delivered to your home was still catching on, but quickly Blanchard noticed it had become totally mainstream.
“Before the pandemic most people didn’t go to homes or didn’t get a person just delivering as much, pandemic rolls around and everyone wants everything delivered to their door or curbside pickup,” he said.
It allowed Stephen’s Breads to develop a strong following in Milwaukee’s south suburbs and beyond. It proved so successful that in late 2021 Stephen’s Breads began partnering with Wild Flour Bakery in South Milwaukee, allowing him to operate a brick and mortar bakery space for the first time.
“When I started I just never thought we would be working on this scale,” Blanchard said.
Finding success, in part due to changing customer preferences, has not been unique to Stephen’s Breads.
Ten miles to the north in downtown Milwaukee, something similar has been seen by Riley’s Good Dogs, a food truck pedaling unique combinations of both vegetarian and meat based hot dogs. Owner Hank Stiehl launched the business in 2021 as a food truck, and during winter months, has began operating a curbside pick up kitchen. It is a concept he thinks may not have worked a few years ago.
As people have grown accustomed to curbside, it has provided a niche.
“We are able to be safe for our customers and our employees and really give everybody who is involved with our business exactly the experience they are looking for,” Stiehl said.