The
Butter Braid®
Brand Story
Have you ever wondered how some businesses got their
start or how some brands came to be? Below is the story from one of
the individuals who started it all - Marlene Banwart. Although she will
be the last to take credit for such a great undertaking, Marlene and her
husband Ken, deserve a great deal of thanks for the many lives they have
so positively affected through the 15 plus years they have dedicated
their time, talents and services to Country Maid, Inc. and the Butter
Braid brand. And now - the story begins...
Ken and I were married in 1974. We had 6 children entrusted to
us, 3 boys, and 3 girls. Ken was a farmer and things went real well for
the first 14 years. Then the farming crunch hit us. We were small
farmers, and it was almost impossible to make enough on the farm so Ken
found a part time job in town. He started out as an office equipment
repairman and then moved into sales. Even with Ken's part time job in
town it seemed we were still going backwards. In 1989 Ken suggested that
we put out a truck patch (a real large garden) and sell the produce at
the local farmer's market. It seemed like a good idea since the kids and
I could help and it would be a family project.
You may be wondering what this has to do with our company story…
but please bear with me. The first year that we started to take our
produce to Farmer's Market we noticed that there were a few venders
successfully selling baked goods. It seemed logical that we should
consider doing the same. We started to make baked goods – one of them
being the braided pastry. At this time it was only the plain pastry
dough with no fruit filling. Our braided pastries immediately became a
hit. People would be waiting in line when we arrived and began to call
and ask us to make braided pastries for them. In the fall of 1990, the
week before Christmas, we had 60 calls from people who wanted braided
pastries. This is when we started to realize that others found our
braided pastries as special as we did.
At first, when we would take the braided pastries to the farmer's
market, we would get up early to mix the ingredients. Then we would let
it rise and bake it so it would be fresh. It made for a very long day.
Ken suggested that we try mixing the dough ahead of time, freezing it,
and then taking it out of the freezer the night before farmer's market,
letting it rise overnight, and baking it just before we left. This
worked extremely well.
Even while working with the truck patch, Ken was still working
part time and farming as well. It still seemed we were not getting
ahead. In January of 1991 a small voice inside kept telling me to "Do
something with the braided pastries." When I mentioned this to Ken, he
told me that he would be there to support me.
In May of 1991 we decided to start producing and marketing our
braided pastries on a larger scale and as an official company. We
created the Butter Braid brand name for our braided pastries and named
our company Country Maid, Inc. After getting the information we needed
to be in compliance with food safety laws, we set up a small
manufacturing plant in the basement of our home. It was at that time Ken
suggested we incorporate fruit into the braided pastries like you see
today.
Ken focused on marketing the braided pastries while I made them.
Since Ken was strictly on commission while he was selling office
supplies and equipment, his time was his own. When Ken would sell a
piece of equipment, he would give the customer a freshly baked braided
pastry. By the next week they would ask how they could get more. Ken
told them he could sell it to them frozen so that any time they wanted
it fresh, all they would have to do is take it out of the freezer eight
hours ahead of time and bake it.
To deliver the braided pastries, Ken put a chest freezer in the
back of his pick-up. He would plug it in the night before so it was good
and cold before he left. It would then stay cold all day long. It was
not long until one freezer was not enough, so he put another freezer in
his pick-up. Ken would take orders one week, and deliver the next. Some
of the schools that Ken stopped at wanted to sell the braided pastries
as a fundraiser, which worked real well, and little did we know it,
would be the start of something great! As demand started to pick up, Ken
started to market it to stores.
Toward the end of 1991 Ken quit his job selling office equipment
and started selling braided pastries full time. At about the same time,
the basement was getting too small and we needed more room. We decided
to renovate our two car attached garage for a new production area and
added a large walk in freezer. Before farming was to begin in 1992, Ken
asked his brother to farm his ground. Ken needed to devote full time to
the production and marketing of Butter Braid brand products. Within six
months, we were delivering to 50 stores and had outgrown our garage.
In November of 1992 we moved our business to a renovated building
in the same town of West Bend, Iowa. And in July of 1997 another larger
building was needed to house our production and storage. We are
currently in this same building, but with the addition of a warehouse
during the spring of 2001, and another in 2007. In late 2002 the
decision was made to remove Butter Braid products from stores. This
would help us fulfill our company and personal mission of "Helping
Others Help Themselves". We have since focused only on serving the
fundraising market.
From our basement to our current building there have been a lot of
changes over the years. I was always uncomfortable with change, but
Ken could always see that if we did this or that, we could improve upon
many things. One thing I always made sure of was that whatever changes
we made, we did not decrease the quality of our Butter Braid products. I
was always adamant that we maintained that homemade look and taste.
Through all the changes that have been made, to this day we still are
proud to say that we braid our Butter Braid braided pastries by hand. I
would love to tell you that I make all these Butter Braid products in my
kitchen as I once did, but I can't tell you that. However, I can tell
you that our workers take as much pride in our product as I do.
Most Sincerely,
Marlene Banwart
Co-Founder of Country Maid, Inc.
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