Stella's Bakery

About

Home of the Hot & Spicy Cheese Bread!

Story

We are a family owned and operated bakery specializing in high quality breads and pastries. Our most famous product is the Hot & Spicy Cheese Bread. In addition to providing a great product, we strive to be responsible members of our community.

To learn more about where we are heading, you can read our vision for 2027 below:

Stella’s Vision of 2027

Contributors: Brian Winzenried, Julie Winzenried, Jennie Patrello, Jose Campos, Kevin Miller, Sandra Bastida, Luz Cantu, Carlos Cardenas, Joel Campos, Kaley Gray, Syarif Ross, BJ Bruckner

March 23, 2017

Our business is successful because of our products, our Stella’s family, our culture, the impact we have on our community, and our financial health:

Our products:
-We have the best bread and pastries in Madison and we are among the best bakeries in the nation.
-Our products are all hand made. We use the best ingredients. We have the best equipment and we use the best methods. We are very proud of the work we do.

Our Stella’s family:
-Our employees have voted us the best small business to work for in the city of Madison. Why? Because we know that we’re only as good as our Stella’s family, so we share our profits with them by way of wages and benefits. We’re not overly worked, we get regular periods of rest (our work week is not overly demanding and we get regular vacation). We are engaged in our work and our skills are celebrated. Our team knows their voices will be heard. We know that the best place to grow personally is at Stella’s.
-We help each other drive toward our vision. We are all vocal, passionate, and supported.
-We serve each other and lead by example.
-Our skills and knowledge are world class. We are sought after for consulting work to help other businesses launch and improve.
-Personal and professional development are vital to us; we focus a substantial portion of our energy and resources to both receiving training and teaching others.

Our culture:
-We have fun! We don’t feel stifled by corporate restrictions, and even though we focus on efficiency we stay nimble.
-We are excited to be at work. We treat each other with respect. We have excellent communication habits. We are collaborative and engaged. We resolve differences in a healthy way.
-Our family is diverse and we celebrate the fact that we are minority and woman owned and that our team members represent many different cultural groups. Within this diversity we find commonality and we are able to celebrate each other's differences and learn from one another.
-We get together with our families on a regular basis and we are a tight knit group.
-Our space is inviting and it is a place that people want to be. This includes our Stella’s family, our customers, and our community.
-We stay sharp creatively through research and development. We are always looking to improve our recipes and processes and we love to test new recipes and methods.

Our community:
-Our customers love us both for the quality of our products and the attention they get from us. We are consistently voted the best bakery in Madison.
-We are aggressively involved in the community through various programs which serve historically disadvantaged groups of people.
-The professional community has nominated us for some of the best awards in the industry for baking and professional leadership.
-We’re committed to our community by being eco, health, and animal conscious. We’re agriculturally minded and source locally when we can. -We make choices and conduct ourselves with the best interests of our planet in mind. We use high-quality real-food ingredients that are good for our bodies. We care about animal welfare. Every conversation we have about where to source our ingredients and supplies considers these matters. If it means spending a little more to get things right we do so.

Our financial health:
-We are profitable. Our revenue stream is varied and strong.
-We have ample cash set aside. We have little to no debt.
-We practice open books finance and share our profits with our employees. We know our numbers and look at them, as a team, each week.
-Our financial practices are excellent and our books are easy to read.