California-based Sourdough & Co. makes Midwest debut

Rich Palzewic

Staff

December 8, 2025

WAUSAU – When a former Subway tenant vacated a building they owned, Aaron Olson – partner at Sourdough & Co. in Wausau – said he and his father immediately began searching for a new occupant.

Olson said that’s when Sourdough & Co., a California-based franchise, first caught their attention. 

After working with a franchise broker, conducting their own research and traveling to Las Vegas to meet the corporate team, Olson said he and his father were convinced.

“In Vegas, we saw the product and tasted it, got to see how a store worked and met everyone,” he said. “It seemed like a great fit. Everyone was very similar to us as far as morals and how they do business, and obviously, the product was great, so here we are today.”

Olson said the space at 601 Forest St. in Wausau offers plenty of room for customers to enjoy sourdough sandwiches, soups and salads, with gluten-free wraps and flatbreads also on the menu.

“Another reason Sourdough & Co. piqued our interest was because of the health aspect of the food,” he said. “Personally, I like clean eating and being healthy with my body. There are no preservatives in the meats, they use first-choice cut meats and sourdough bread is much better for you than a lot of stuff you can get in a fast casual dining environment.”

Olson said sourdough bread offers several health benefits compared with many other types of bread: 

• Improved digestion – the fermentation process used in making sourdough increases the availability of nutrients and helps enhance gut health by providing prebiotics.
• Lower blood sugar impact – sourdough bread has a lower glycemic index compared to regular bread, which means it can help maintain stable blood sugar levels.
• Nutrient absorption – the fermentation process helps break down gluten and phytic acid, making it easier for your body to absorb essential minerals.
• Rich in antioxidants – sourdough contains antioxidants that can help combat oxidative stress in the body.

Making its way east

Though most Sourdough & Co. locations are in California, Olson said the franchise is working to expand nationally – with him and his father currently managing the chain’s only Midwest location.

“I think the closest one to us is in Houston or Denver,” he said.  

A quick look at Sourdough & Co.’s website (sourdoughandco.com) shows just more than 40 locations nationwide in California, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Oregon and, now, Wisconsin.

The Wausau location, per the website, is the only one located east of the Mississippi River.

“I do think the novelty of the idea – there are no Sourdough & Co’s even close to here – is also a bit of a draw,” Olson said.

The restaurant’s “great nutritional value and taste of the food,” he said, also plays a part in the franchise’s gain in popularity and growth.

“It’s one thing for a franchise like Sourdough & Co. to have the morals and business practices we like, but if the food didn’t taste good, people [wouldn’t] eat it,” he said.

Thus far, Olson said the food reviews have been great.

“Honestly, now that we’re fully open, the only complaint we’ve gotten is wait time,” he said. “The wait time is due to a little bit of a staffing issue, but we are hiring and working through that. We didn’t think it was going to be this crazy to start.”

Work to be done

Olson said his family has owned Olson Tire & Auto Service on Forest Street since the late 1980s after his father started the business in 1987.

That’s where the Subway restaurant idea, he said, eventually came into play.

“We did an expansion [of the building] in 2005 where we put a Subway in the front of the building,” he said. “We had Subway offerings for the guests [of Olson Tire & Auto Service] and for downtown locals.”

Olson said that Subway restaurant – which the family did not operate – was there for about 16 years before the owners decided to step away.

“After the original owners got out, Subway tried to put another tenant in there, but that only lasted for about eight months,” he said. “After that didn’t work out, we tried to find somebody to lease it, but we couldn’t make that happen. It probably sat vacant for a little more than a year. That’s when my father and I began looking for other options.”

Though the family owned the building that formerly housed Subway, Olson said considerable work was needed to prepare the space for Sourdough & Co.

“It was basically a full remodel,” he said. “It was a lot of long days tearing up tile, doing some wall work with repainting and rebuilding and redesigning the countertops. It was a pretty big undertaking.”

However, Olson said the work has been worth it as Sourdough & Co. continues to gain traction.

“I wouldn’t say the [location] has a lot of foot traffic but definitely a lot of vehicle traffic,” he said. “Grand Avenue is the street that runs right in front of us, and that’s one of the busiest streets in the area for vehicle traffic.”

Sourdough & Co. Wausau is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, visit the website or the restaurant’s Facebook page.