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Published March 14, 2021

If you follow Uncle Mike's Bake Shoppe on Facebook or Instagram, you are just as likely to see a take-and-bake meal as the latest kringle flavor. The expanded menu was part of the new path forged by owners as the pandemic took hold.

'My dad always wanted to do take-and-bakes and it seemed like the perfect timing when the pandemic hit. Our kringle sales suffered because people weren't stopping before work or school,' Nathan Vande Walle said. 'The meals took off and it helped us to keep employment levels.'

There were those who said the business shouldn't be considered essential, but the owners wanted to do whatever they could to thrive and keep their 95 employees working. It would be quite a year.

With a key marketing person enticing customers via videos and photography of everything from specialty sandwiches to rich chocolate chip cookies, Uncle Mike's would not only survive a difficult year but would also manage to overcome challenges.

Mike (Uncle Mike) Vande Walle, Nathan's dad, died from COVID-19 in December.

Despite their grief, they didn't miss a step. Nathan, who runs the business with his mother, Mary, and sister, Brittni, continued Uncle Mike's legacy of success. It is a story that began years earlier as the elder Vande Walle learned the trade while working in his parent's bakery, Mehlberg's, in Shawano.

Mike went on to open a candy store with other family members in Appleton before he and Mary decided to open a store of their own. The first Uncle Mike's Bake Shoppe opened in De Pere in 2001. A second location was added in Suamico in 2004, and a third in east Green Bay in 2018. Growth also meant the purchase of a 12,000-square-foot production facility in De Pere.

Like his parents, Nathan grew up in the bakery business.

'In middle school, we would drive to Green Bay so my parents could start working early,' he said. 'We'd sleep in the car until 6 a.m. or so and then get up and wash dishes or do whatever needed to be done. I didn't really think about it; we didn't really have an option. We were living in Appleton and the bakery was my parents' dream.'

Despite the hard work, Nathan grew to love the business, and after graduating from Marquette University with a business and marketing degree, he made his way back home.

'In college, I was doing the website and the little social media there was,' he said. 'It refreshed my feeling that I wanted to go back. Brittni went to Edgewood College and also decided to join.'

With the family working together, Uncle Mike's found its niche as a high-quality bake shop. As they developed recipes and listened to their co-workers and customers, they won hundreds of awards, including the one that put them on the map; the Best Kringle in North America for their Sea Salt Caramel Pecan Kringle.

And while that gave them notoriety and became a best seller that is shipping all over the country, they became much more. New items are featured weekly and you are just as apt to see a chicken sandwich as filled donuts. Two of the stores have delis, and the massive enterprise includes wholesale, fundraising, online ordering, and more additions made in response to the pandemic.

'When the pandemic hit, our marketing person was right on it,' Nathan said. 'We got together to decide what it would look like and we put together stages and had a rough plan. Maybe it wasn't perfect, but we knew closing wasn't an option.'

As curbside pickup and preordering were offered, loyal customers kept the orders coming in. Kringle became a popular holiday gift and an additional person had to be assigned to handle the influx of orders. And, when Nathan read about a business in the south that was advertising its products for pickup at various locations, he decided to do the same with the kringle.

He said. 'We promoted it on Facebook and basically said that our award-winning kringle is coming to town. Orders were placed and we got hundreds of them.'

The result was 'pop-up shops' and weekly visits to locations in Appleton and Milwaukee, two areas where Uncle Mike's might open stores in the future. Nathan said they would like to open a new store next year and four or five within the next five years.

He leans heavily on what he has learned from his parents.

'They were my mentors,' he said. 'I often came up with ideas that I thought might work, but they had the experience that might say otherwise.'

Mary continues to manage the east Green Bay store and is an integral part of the team. Brittni is in charge of human resources and customer service, and Nathan oversees production and management. Even with the pandemic and personal tragedy, their creativity in the midst of it all resulted in a sales gain of about 20% for the year.

Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is co-owner of DB Commercial Real Estate in Green Bay and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.