Samantha Siewrok and Chad Visger offer unique baked goods derived from classical French recipes at Pastries by Chad in Turtle Lake in Delavan, WI.
THE BUSINESS
Chad said even though the shop bears his name, the business truly could not be run without their incredible team. Ryan Burns, who is currently studying in culinary school, handles the production and simple decorating tasks. Kate Adler is in charge of cookie decoration. Samantha left her full-time job to take on the marketing, financial and invoicing responsibilities at Pastries by Chad. The couple’s children, Cole and Lucas, can also be seen at the shop and promotional events.
“One of the things I enjoy most is building something bigger than just myself. It is nice to think my sons could take over this business someday. Cole loves being here with us. You can see his drawings hung up all over the shop and he is a natural little salesman when attending events with us,” Chad said.
Chad believes desserts should be light and round out the meal, not be overly sweet and heavy. This belief leads to his production of entremets and petit fours that change seasonally on the menu. These French style cakes are not as sweet as traditional desserts and are not available in other locations locally. He describes the classic French treats as “perfect little pieces of art that taste even better than they look.”
The shop also offers retail breakfast pastries, cakes and cupcakes for any occasion. The majority of the business comes from wholesale orders for local restaurants, coffee shops and grocery stores. “Jeff Hufford was a huge mentor for us, encouraging us to take on the wholesale market and giving us insights on how to scale the business,” Chad said.
Accomplishments with UW-Whitewater SBDC
- Funding opportunities
- Marketing strategy
- Business guidance
THE CHALLENGES
“Some of the challenges we have faced as entrepreneurs are finding a work life balance, marketing and maintaining consistency in the products as we scale into larger batches. But we are learning as we go, developing a following on social media and reinvesting our income in new equipment and other improvements for the business,” Chad said. Samantha discovered the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UW-Whitewater, and the help from SBDC Consultant Ron Chisholm was instrumental.
“Ron was amazing!” Chad said. “He steered us down the right path and kept us moving forward. There was so much we didn’t know, and we are so grateful for Ron’s guidance.”
THE GROWTH
These co-owners took their first order in June 2021, and they started shipping orders nationally in November 2022. Their growth is evident considering the first year in business they provided pastries for two weddings and the next year they were up to twelve weddings. In 2023, they have wedding orders for every weekend from May through October. And some days in 2023 have two or three wedding orders booked in the same day. They are excited to see what 2024 will bring!
They aspire to establish a subscription service which would be similar to a dessert of the month club. The entrepreneurs also look forward to discovering ways to ship more delicate desserts and items that are less shelf stable.
Chad said, “I love pastries and food, I love learning and I love the game of entrepreneurship. But foremost, we are in this business to make others happy.” And it certainly seems they are accomplishing that goal!
Learn more about this Wisconsin small business: pastriesbychad.com or on Facebook @pastriesbychad