FITCHBURG, WI — In the rolling Wisconsin farmland, work ethic and family values go hand-in-hand, and hidden gems are everywhere as family businesses pass from generation to generation.
This is where Nancy Potter founded Potter’s Crackers, a Fitchburg, WI-based producer of specialty crackers, with her son Peter Webber in 2006. When she started, Nancy pictured Potter’s as a “farmers market brand.” There was no way these crackers would sell beyond the Wisconsin borders, right?
Well, at least, that’s what she assumed.
But by 2010, the team was driving products to markets in Minneapolis and Chicago as Potter’s picked up steam. It was around that time that David Payne, the company’s current co-owner and general manager, joined Potter’s as a baker, first running the sheeter and prepping trays and later mixing dough. Payne had worked in meat plants for Johnsonville Sausage Co. and followed friends to this bakery while he pursued a degree in food science from the University of Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, Webber had migrated to northern California. As he parlayed his own food science background into a business degree from the University of California – Davis, the family expanded the business with a second bakery in Sacramento.
The logistics of managing two facilities while growing the business made building a plane while flying it seem easy. Payne started out as a mixer operator, but he was quickly promoted to shipping manager to help keep those plates spinning.
With his experience in large-scale food manufacturing, Payne knew the first big step for Potter’s was shoring up logistics and distribution. That’s when he took on the role of general manager … and Nancy’s right hand. By then, Potter’s had invested in a team to manage logistics, and Payne focused on bigger issues like production scheduling, sales projections and procurement, which was becoming more critical with scale. Eventually, the California bakery was shuttered, and the flagship bakery took back that location’s ovens, doubling its capacity and retaining many of those West Coast customers.
As the business grew beyond what Nancy had envisioned, she began courting potential suitors to buy the company, leaving Payne to ponder his own vision for Potter’s.
“I nervously asked my wife, Ashley, if we should buy the company,” Payne recalled. “She said, ‘Why not? You know every part of the business, so who better to take it over?’”
Though not tied by a bloodline, Potter’s was passed to its next generation.
In 2019, the Paynes became co-owners of Potter’s — David as general manager and Ashley leading strategic development — in partnership with Michael Tiede, the company’s CFO.
Less than six months later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, eclipsing Payne’s plans for Potter’s.
“It was a crazy time to be a new business owner, let alone the owner of a business that was starting to grow in grocery,” he said. “Our grocery sales took off and changed the entire focus. We went from a ‘one case at a time’ model to shipping pallets.”
Since then, Potter’s presence has expanded into not only independent retailers but also larger chains, including branded and private label products, offering varieties ranging from plain to smoked to Wisconsin Rye and more.
When pandemic restrictions loosened, people were entertaining small gatherings at home, sending the charcuterie trend into overdrive — and creating a boon for Potter’s.
The gourmet crackers are designed to complement high-end meats and cheeses and easily create an elevated culinary experience. The crackers are like, as Payne put it, “the rug that ties the room together,” paraphrasing a quote from The Big Lebowski.
The charcuterie trend increased momentum through Instagram, a social media channel that hadn’t previously aligned with Potter’s consumer base.
“Some of those images were getting millions of views,” Payne said. “I could literally see our target market jump from one generation that we thought was our demographic to a whole new, younger one.”
Potter’s recognized the opportunity to not only market how its crackers complement different types of cheeses but also celebrate what the brand’s home state is known for. In fact, the company has partnered with the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for promotional events, one of which landed the brand on a Today show segment and into the hands of Al Roker.
Potter’s products are not what one would consider a traditional cracker offering. Most varieties are dense, made with butter and milk, imparting an almost biscuit-like quality and chock full of grains, seeds, or nuts and fruits that create a textural experience with a distinct flavor profile.
Even the company’s oyster cracker disrupts the status quo, resembling a sourdough bite more than a cracker.
It’s made from a four-day starter that’s yeast-raised and formed into strips before being proofed, giving it a puffy look and different types of flavor.
This story has been adapted from the 2023 Innovations Annual issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.
