A SWEET SPRING: UW-Stout Students Head Into Semester Delivering More Loaves
Stout Bread launched last year to near-immediate popularity, sold 1,200 mini loaves in fall 2023
While Stout Bread started last year all because a college student wanted some Banana Bread for himself, he and his team are now producing bread every week for students at UW-Stout.
Though the Stout Bread team – made up of Aidan Vandre, Collin Moder, and Tyler Kwiatkowski – kicked off the semester by promoting chocolate-covered strawberries for Valentine’s Day – receiving 72 orders in just nine hours – the biz is best known for its fresh bread.
Vandre, also known as Walter Wheat, whose nickname is inspired by the popular show Breaking Bad, started Stout Bread in Fall of 2022. From September through January, he was producing about 40 full-size loaves per month. He said that in February of 2023, they sold 47 full-size loaves and 350 mini loaves. This past semester they baked roughly 1,200 mini loaves. Since starting his business, in the past three semesters, Stout Bread has sold in total 4,240 loaves.
Moder and Kwiatkowski’s nicknames follow the Breaking Bad suit, Moder nicknamed Jessie Wheatman, and Kwiatkowski as Skinny Wheat. Wheat says they work together as a team. “None of us really have individual strong suits, we just all work together.”
This past December Stout Bread sold bread at the Winter Market hosted by Brewery Nonic, in Menomonie. While most of the bread made is for students, Vandre said that faculty will message them for orders every so often. One of their favorite parts of the job is when parents message them on their Instagram page and order bread for their kids as a surprise. Vandre says if businesses in town would be interested in placing orders he would love it, but they have yet to pursue it.
While Stout Bread is still a hobby and Vandre describes it as “just cooking bread,” his business has taught him skills that he can apply to his future career in mechanical and manufacturing engineering. He said that it has helped him show how to lead a team. Wheat also said that his social skills have improved when it comes to communicating with customers, both in person and online. According to Vandre, there is also behind-the-scenes work that has shown him a lot.
Vandre balances Stout Bread and his school work by having the team cook every Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday is a smaller batch and Friday is the big production day. They bake from roughly 7am-4pm, and then after that, they go out and deliver and sell bread.
Submitted article from Harvey Hall News Service at UW-Stout • Interested in ordering from Stout Bread? Check out their website or message them on Instagram (@uwstoutbread) for delivery or pickup in Menomonie.
