Bagel cafe provides tasty amenity at Dudley Tower

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

October 13, 2025

WAUSAU – As the bagel market nationwide continues to rise, a new local business is hoping to grab its share.

The recently opened Dudley Tower Cafe in downtown Wausau is the latest addition to a growing $4.7 billion industry – one expected to reach more than $6 billion annually by 2029, according to The Business Research Company’s Bagel Global Market Report 2025.

Teenager’s love of bagels leads to cafe brainstorm

Cafe Founder Ross Bodenheimer said the inspiration for the bagel shop came a few years ago, when his eldest daughter – now a senior in high school – brought up the idea.

Helping make her argument, he said, was the noticeable absence of a bagel shop anywhere in Wausau.

“Initially, she suggested setting up shop in a location where another unrelated business had just vacated,” he said. “I gently put her off, saying ‘maybe someday,’ explaining there was a lot more work than she realized in running a restaurant.”

Additionally, Bodenheimer said the location his daughter proposed wasn’t convenient for him, especially since he needed to maintain a full-time job.

“It also wasn’t convenient for my wife, an elementary school teacher in the area,” he said. “The idea was put on the back burner, but earlier this year, it resurfaced. This time, the stars were aligned, and a bagel cafe made a lot more sense.”

Bodenheimer, the CFO for Envoy Logistics – which also does business as Pallet Pro – said in March 2025, they moved from another Wausau location to the Dudley Tower, a 10-story, commercial high-rise in downtown Wausau that can accommodate 500 employees when fully occupied.

He said the main floor offered a beautiful space, perfect for a cafe, but no one was operating one there – though tenants had expressed a desire for the possibility. 

“As we were talking with the owners and management of the tower, they had said how much they would really like to have a cafe operating in there as an amenity to all its tenants,” he said. “When I told my boss about it, he was very supportive and said we definitely should do it. I figured if we could get it up and running so we could launch in the summer – when my wife, Tia, and kids were off from school – we’d be in good shape. We did just that.”

Between May and July, Bodenheimer said he leased the space, got all the legal paperwork set up, located vendors and hired three staff members.

“Getting everything done that quickly came quite easily for me, mainly because of my work,” he said. “Over the past six years, I’ve been part of seven different mergers and acquisitions. So, for me to set up [all the tax IDs, necessary forms for federal and state taxes, employee forms, etc.] took me just a matter of minutes.”

Being in charge of procurement as part of his role with Envoy Logistics, Bodenheimer said he also knew how to work with vendors.

“I knew who to contact and what I had to do to get things rolling,” he said. “That allowed us to speed up the timeline.” 

Slow, steady wins the race

Occupying only about a quarter of the first-floor space, Bodenheimer said Dudley Tower Cafe opened its doors July 15, with a gradual menu rollout to work out any issues before expanding further.

“We now have three different menu boards,” he said. “On the first day, we only offered barista services and no food. We got that right over the course of two or three days, and then we opened up one of our food menus. We worked out the kinks there, and then a week later, we opened up the third menu board.”

Bodenheimer said they launched the website – DudleyTowerCafe.com – early last month.

“That includes online ordering for pickup only,” he said. “We’ll eventually offer delivery service in the Greater Wausau area, but we’re not going to turn that feature on until we know all the kinks have been worked out with everything else. Delivery will probably happen in late 2025.”  

Bodenheimer said the cafe’s menu boards consist of 15 different flavors of bagel with a choice of several toppers, avocado toast, breakfast and lunch bagel sandwiches and deli salad sandwiches, salads, wraps and paninis. 

To quench customers’ thirst, Bodenheimer said the cafe offers a variety of hot or cold beverages, espresso shots, hot or cold teas, specialty drinks and fresh fruit smoothies. 

“Our breakfast sandwiches all come with cream cheese, two eggs, a choice of meat and a choice of cheese,” he said. “We just launched a new feature for fall – a s’more latte, with toasted marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate. On Oct. 1, we started offering soup. We’ll always have two soups available and they’ll be in constant rotation. I’m hoping to have 10-12 different flavors of soup.”  

Bodenheimer said the cafe’s team takes particular pride in a few key areas of its food and beverage offerings.

“We spent a lot of time trying to source the right roaster for our coffee,” he said. “We use a local roaster in Wausau – Condor Coffee. They have the flexibility and capabilities to where they don’t roast our beans until the day we order them, and then they deliver the next day. I would challenge anybody to have a fresher cup of coffee, because we’re always using just-in-time inventory on our roasted coffee products.”

Bodenheimer said the same goes for all of the cafe’s espresso-based drinks, as those beans are roasted fresh in the Wausau area as well. 

Another source of pride, he said, is the quality, taste and size of the cafe’s bagels. 

“When I was sourcing bagels, I was looking for a really high-quality bagel – something where the difference could be tasted by customers,” he said. 

Ultimately, Bodenheimer said he found a bakery in New York City he has been working with since they first ordered samples. 

Multiple shipments of bagels, he said, are flown to Dudley Tower Cafe every week. 

“They are a zero-preservative bagel and are absolutely delicious,” he said. “I wasn’t necessarily seeking a preservative-free bagel, but it’s a great add for people who are seeking preservative-free foods.”

As an added bonus, Bodenheimer said the bagels are “absolutely massive.”

“A typical bagel is three ounces, maybe four,” he said. “Ours are about five and a quarter ounces, which is a great platform for serving sandwiches. Besides the 15 flavors of bagels themselves, people can take any of those flavors and use them in our breakfast or lunch sandwich lines.”    

Bodenheimer said their smoothies are their most ordered item. 

“I did an exhaustive search to find the best, healthiest smoothies to offer customers,” he said. “A lot of smoothie blends are full of corn syrup and a lot of sugar and those types of things. We were able to source a company out of Minneapolis that doesn’t add any sugar or have any corn syrup in their smoothie blends.”

Bodenheimer said he recognizes that many customers use smoothies as a meal replacement, often choosing them instead of traditional breakfast or lunch options.

“So, we offer some supplemental additives available,” he said. “They can add up to 30 grams of protein to their smoothie. We also have a very nutrient-rich supplement that people can put into their smoothies to help hit their nutritional targets while replacing a meal.” 

Providing excellent customer service, Bodenheimer said, is a hallmark of the Dudley Tower Cafe.

“We made certain we hired people who would provide [great customer service],” he said. “We try to meet and exceed the expectations of every customer who allows us to serve them.”

Bodenheimer said superior customer service is one way Dudley Tower Cafe distinguishes itself from other places. 

“You can get a salad or a wrap anywhere, but here’s where we’re different from other places: we guarantee freshness and provide great customer service,” he said. “Those two things in combination will help people understand we offer a better salad or a better wrap or sandwich because they also enjoyed the experience.” 

A captive customer base

Though approximately two-thirds of the cafe’s business comes from people who work in the tower, Bodenheimer said it is also open to the general public. 

“There’s a big stigma with a lot of people in the Wausau community that the Dudley Tower is a private building for the people who work there, but our space is definitely public,” he said. “There’s a bank in the building and many other offices open to the public. So, there’s a lot of public foot traffic. There’s also public parking available, so it’s easy for people to stop by anytime.”

Between high-top and standard-height tables and couches, Bodenheimer said the cafe has a seating capacity of 40-45 people, also offering free Wi-Fi. 

A variety of artwork, he said, adorns the cafe walls, all done by local artists, and most of it is offered for sale. 

“Since opening, the Dudley Tower Cafe has had the opportunity to cater box lunches for businesses outside the tower, but still in downtown Wausau,” he said. “One was for 65 lunches, another for 80. [This month], we had a catering order for 280 box lunches for another business in the city.”

Bodenheimer said they’ve had great support from the folks in the tower and the community.

“It’s been phenomenal,” he said. “It would be great to snag one catering job a day.”

Cafe hours are from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. 

“We have a beer and wine license, so periodically, we will stay open a little later, inviting people to come in after work for a glass of wine or beer and some relaxation before going home,” he said. “The heavy attendance for these events will be the people in the tower, but the general public is certainly welcome to attend as well.”

The future looks bright

Though only in its infancy, Bodenheimer said he and his family have exciting plans for the future of Dudley Tower Cafe.

Delivery with a third-party vendor like DoorDash or Grubhub will begin later this year, Bodenheimer said, except for catering jobs – those the team does itself. 

“We plan to spend our first year focusing on brand recognition and developing the business,” he said. “Next summer, we’ll expand seating to our outdoor patio area. We’d also like to expand our business to the food truck industry next summer, or at a minimum, a mobile vendor.” 

Because they are only open Monday through Friday, Bodenheimer said there is an unlimited amount of weekend opportunities, community events, soccer tournaments, etc., to be a part of. 

“If it’s not necessarily a food truck, we’ll at least be a mobile vendor at farmers’ markets,” he said. “People are already asking if we’ll be opening a second location. We love our current location and just want to work hard to grow our business there.”

If, at some future point, there’s an opportunity to open a second shop, Bodenheimer said they’ll cross that bridge then.

“We want to be a single-location shop at this point, providing a quality product with a smile on our face every time,” he said. “If you’re a person who believes in supporting local businesses and wants to have a really good bagel experience with something fresh from New York City and get great customer service, we’re the stop for you – for sure.”