Let me begin by telling you a little about my family and myself. 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 Farmer's Market. It seemed like a good idea, the kids and I could help and it would be a family project. In 1989 we had a 1/3 of an acre truck patch, in 1990 we had a two-acre truck patch, and in 1991 we had a three-acre truck patch.

What does this have to do with Butter Braid? If we had not put out the truck patch we would have never started making Butter Braid. Let me explain. The first year that we started to take our produce to Farmer's Market we noticed that there were a few venders that were successfully selling baked goods. It seemed logical that we should consider doing the same thing. We started to make baked goods along with Butter Braid (at this time it was only the plain Butter Braid, no fruit filling). Butter Braid immediately became a hit with our Farmer's Market customers. People would be waiting in line when we arrived at Farmer's Market to make sure they could get some Butter Braid. People would start to call and ask us to make Butter Braid for them. In the fall of 1990 I had decided to spend the week before Christmas preparing for the holidays for my family. That week I had 60 calls from people who wanted Butter Braid. This is when I started to realize there is something special about Butter Braid.

At first, when we would take Butter Braid to Farmer's Market, we would get up early to mix the ingredients for the Butter Braid. Then we would let it rise, and bake it so it would be as fresh as possible for Farmer's Market. After that, we would pick vegetables in our truck patch for Farmer's Market. 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 over night, and bake it just before we left for Farmer's Market. This worked real well and saved us from having to get up so early.

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 kept telling me to "do something with Butter Braid." When I mentioned this to Ken he told me that when I decided to do something with Butter Braid he would be there to support me.

In May of 1991 we decided to start production and marketing Butter Braid on a larger scale. After getting the information we needed to start a company, and to be in compliance with the food safety laws, we set up a small manufacturing plant in the basement of our home. It was at that time Ken suggested that we incorporate fruit into the Butter Braid. It took us some time to develop that process, but once we did it really worked well.

Ken focused on marketing the Butter Braid and I manufactured it. Since Ken was strictly on commission while he was selling office supplies and equipment, his time was his own. When Ken would sell a copier or another piece of equipment, he would give the customer a freshly baked Butter Braid. 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 Butter Braid 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 Butter Braid as a fundraiser, which worked real well. As demand started to pick up, Ken started to market it through stores.

Toward the end of 1991 Ken quit his job selling office equipment and started selling Butter Braid full time. At about the same time, the basement started to become too small and we needed more room. At this time we decided to fix up our two car attached garage and we added a large walk in freezer. Before the 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. In six months we were delivering to 50 stores and had outgrown our garage.

In November of 1992 we moved our business to a building in West Bend. We were in this building until July of 1997; at that time we moved into a new building that the economic development department helped us build. We are in this same building at the present time, but we have added a warehouse during the spring of 2001.

From the basement to our current building there have been a lot of changes in the equipment that we use to make Butter Braid. I was always uncomfortable with change and Ken could always see that if we added this or that, we could become more efficient. One thing I always made sure of was that whatever change we made, we did not want to decrease the quality of our Butter Braid. I was always adamant that we maintained that homemade taste. Through all the changes that have been made, to this day we still braid our Butter Braid by hand. I would love to tell you that I make all these Butter Braid in my own kitchen, but I can't tell you that. I can tell you that our workers take as much pride in our product as I did. One of my jobs today is to go around and visit with our employees and to make sure that we maintain that homemade taste.

We are a growing company but we are still very small. Since we are a small company we do not have a huge advertising budget, however we do rely upon our satisfied customers telling other people about how great Butter Braid is. For the foreseeable future, our company will continue to grow through word of mouth. If you love our Butter Braid, we would appreciate it if you would tell a friend!

Marlene Banwart