Milwaukee, WI
Made In Wisconsin: Milwaukee Pretzel Company expands as demand grows
Milwaukee Pretzel went from an idea to a successful business in just a few short years. The story starts when owners Matt and Katie Wessel spent time in Germany for Katie’s job in 2012.
“We were traveling a lot of places in Bavaria, and we were eating these pretzels day in and day out. And it just hit us that America—and Milwaukee in particular, a very Germanic city—needed these pretzels as a part of its identity,” Matt Wessel says.
TMJ4, Tom Durian
Once they returned to the U.S., Katie, a self-described foodie, started playing around with recipes, mixing styles of pretzels they enjoyed during their travels.
“It was only once we were back and we talked about it and made a few batches, and friends tried them, that we thought we had something that was fairly viable,” Matt said.
Those same friends helped Matt and Katie with their first big order. After meeting with the German Fest board in 2013, Matt thought he could get the pretzel into the next year’s festival.
Watch: Milwaukee Pretzel Company started by husband and wife duo.
Made In Wisconsin: Milwaukee Pretzel Company expands as demand grows
The organizers had another thought. Matt says, “They tried them and were very straight-faced; we didn’t know what they thought. Well, they called us later that afternoon and said, ‘We actually have a vendor spot open for this festival. Can you do it?’ I’m like, ‘No, that’s three weeks away, we can’t do it. But thank you.’ But Katie is like, ‘We can do it.’” They made 2,000 pretzels for the festival and sold out.
Pretzels were made in three different locations as the company continued to outgrow each space. Eventually, they settled in Milwaukee’s Granville Woods, where they can make more than 2,000 pretzels an hour, and are currently expanding. Doubling their square footage will increase output tremendously.
Matt says, “Probably about 10,000 an hour. Twelve thousand pretzels an hour.” This will likely mean the company will have to add to their 105 employees and their current amount of equipment. Some of the company’s products are made by machines, while others are still made by hand and likely always will be.
Wessel believes the reason the pretzels are so popular is the ingredients—or really, the lack thereof. They don’t use preservatives or sugar when making their pretzels, making their pretzels fresh to order before they are shipped to customers.
Wessel says, “It’s really gratifying to see people start to talk about Milwaukee as a region for pretzels. We’ve even had people outside of the Midwest refer to ‘Milwaukee pretzels,’ referring to our style, and that means a lot to us.”
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MILWAUKEE – Forecast from FOX6 Meteorologist Lisa Michaels
Frosty Monday morning with temps in the teens inland to low 20s near the lake.
Mostly sunny to sunny skies on Monday. Highs in the mid-40s inland, upper 30s near the lake.
A total lunar eclipse will happen Tuesday morning, total eclipse from 5-6am. It may be tough to see due to increasing clouds.
Increasing clouds on Tuesday with highs in the low 40s. Chance of rain and storms possible Wednesday through Friday with warming temperatures.
Today: 39 Lake. Mostly sunny.
High: 44°
Wind: SE 5-10
Tonight: Partly cloudy this evening, mostly clear overnight.
Low: 27°
Wind: SE 5
Tuesday: 39 Lake. Mostly cloudy.
High: 43°
Wind: E 5-10
Wednesday:41 Lake. Chance for scattered showers and t-storms.
AM Low: 32° High: 45°
Wind: E 5-10
Thursday: 39 Lake. Mostly cloudy. Chance storms.
AM Low: 37° High: 42°
Wind: NE 5-10
Friday: Chance for showers and t-storms Warmer. Warming at night.
AM Low: 37° High: 57°
Wind: SE 5-15
Saturday: Mostly cloudy with AM rain showers. Blustery with falling afternoon temperatures.
AM Low: 47° High: 53°
Wind: NE 5-10
6-day planner
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Local perspective:
Meanwhile, FOX6Now.com offers a variety of extremely useful weather tools to help you navigate the stormy season. They include the following:
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We have a host of maps and radars on the FOX6 Weather page that are updating regularly — to provide you the most accurate assessment of the weather. From a county-by-county view to the Midwest regional radar and a national view — it’s all there.
School and business closings
When the weather gets a little dicey, schools and businesses may shut down. Monitor the latest list of closings, cancellations, and delays reported in southeast Wisconsin.
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Community members and city leaders celebrated the opening of four new community-powered fridges on the North Side of Milwaukee. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Friday, Feb. 27, at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, 3624 W. North Ave., to mark the occasion.
The effort to fight food scarcity by opening community-powered fridges comes after several grocery stores closed in the area, creating a food desert.
District 15 Ald. Russell W. Stamper II, who saw several grocery stores in his district close over the past few years, served as the event’s emcee.
“We could either complain about the problem, or we could come together to find a solution,” Stamper said.
In July 2025, a Pick ‘n Save on the North Side closed, prompting the opening of a community-powered fridge at Tricklebee Café in the Sherman Park and Uptown area. Since then, several other grocery stores have closed in the area.
This led Stamper, FEED MKE, Metcalfe Park Community Bridges and One MKE to open four more community-powered fridges.
Christie Melby-Gibbons, executive director of Tricklebee Café, talked about the organization’s community-powered fridge. About a week ago, the fridge was empty for the first time since its launch, so staff turned to their online community for support.
“Within 20 minutes, a woman came in with bags of food and filled the fridge for less than $100,” Melby-Gibbons said.
The community-powered fridge network is run by residents on a take-what-you-need, leave-what-you-can model. Taking a grassroots approach to solving food insecurity in the area, community members provide fresh produce and other healthy food options to ensure that their neighbors have access to nutritious foods.
“Everybody deserves to eat. I can’t go to sleep at night knowing my neighbors are hungry,” said Melody McCurtis, deputy director of Metcalfe Park Community Bridges.
Here’s a list of all the community-powered fridges:
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges
3624 W. North Ave.
Rooted & Rising- Washington Park
3940 W. Lisbon Ave.
Sherman Park Community Association
3526 W. Fond du Lac Ave.
Dominican Center
2470 W. Locust St.
Tricklebee Café
4424 W. North Ave.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
This article first appeared on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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