The Breakfast Bee: Healthy mornings on wheels

Chris Rugowski

Contributor

September 22, 2025

MANITOWOC – Donald and Faith Singer – owners of Manitowoc-based food truck The Breakfast Bee – said as local mobile restaurateurs, they are dedicated to serving healthier breakfast options made entirely from scratch.

Fueled by their commitment to serving meals they believe in and that customers enjoy, the Singers, backed by family and community support, took their vision on the road – literally – launching their food truck in 2025.

Coming up with a name

The Singers said the food truck’s name draws from personal connections.

For starters, the duo said they have a niece whose nickname is “B,” short for Briella, and Faith said she has a bee tattoo and thinks bees – especially bumblebees – are “really cool.”

With backgrounds in foodservice, collegiate athletics and entrepreneurship, the Singers said launching The Breakfast Bee was a natural extension of their shared passion and determination.

Since entering the food truck business, Faith said they have been met with great enthusiasm and support from the farmers’ market community early on.

“My job at Green Street Food & Spirits in Manitowoc gave me a chance to get to know the community, get some opinions and spread the word about our upcoming adventure into a breakfast food truck,” she said. 

Why breakfast?

The Singers say they often get asked why they chose to focus on breakfast for their food truck.

“The answer is simple – both of us like cooking breakfast, and we wanted to serve in the mornings rather than at night,” Faith said. “Plus, with no competition we could find, it made for a niche market.”

Visiting the Saturday farmers’ market themselves, Faith said, made them realize something was missing: breakfast. 

That, she said, led to the opening of The Breakfast Bee. 

“We looked at the food options and thought we’d give it a try in Manitowoc,” she said. “It’s such a lively city at night – we hope to capture them the next day when they need breakfast to get their day started.”

Donald said their foodservice background fueled their passion for launching the made-from-scratch breakfast truck, making the work more rewarding by focusing on healthy options.

“We’ve seen the ingredients being cooked in restaurants, and they’re not always that great,” he said. “We thought people would want to try this food truck option where they could see all the ingredients and that they’re real. We also wanted to feel good about selling it.”

Faith said she’s seen a shift in people’s attitudes as the world becomes more aware of what’s in their food, what containers are being used, etc. 

To align with this trend, she said The Breakfast Bee uses avocado oil instead of seed oils, dye-free sprinkles and homemade chocolate sauce instead of preservative-filled syrups.

Faith said they’ve seen firsthand how certain ingredients can impact people – specifically with their nephews – and how making thoughtful choices can make a real difference.

“It’s been interesting for us to see that change,” she said.

And the impact, Faith said, extends beyond just their family.

“We’ve had community members at the events asking about dye-free sprinkles,” she said. “By us making healthy choices, it gives us confidence we’re making a difference, one sprinkle at a time.”

The couple said many of the ingredients used in The Breakfast Bee’s menu items are locally sourced, and foods are made from scratch weekly – from their chocolate sauce to their pancake mix. 

Their chocolate sauce, specifically, the Singers said, is made from cocoa powder, sugar, water and vanilla and their pancakes are made from baking powder, sugar and milk. 

“How we’re cooking for ourselves at home, that’s how I want to cook for others,” Faith said. “We buy local and support local as much as we can.”

Pivoting is part of the game

The Singers said they are no strangers to putting in hard work and pivoting quickly when needed.

This is what propels them, they said, to keep working with the food truck and improving it for next season and beyond. 

“Being college athletes, working out six days a week and going to practices and events, and now being in our mid-20s, we’re into that new building period of life,” Faith said.  

In terms of improvement and growth, the duo said they both look at their past farmers’ market experiences to see what works and what doesn’t.

“We’re already thinking about menu changes,” Donald said. “It’s been nice to have support from the community where we’ve had enough success to be able to get creative with our recipes and offerings.”

Though they’re beholden to customers’ tastes, Faith said she appreciates the freedom the food truck allows. 

“Being a business owner is a lot of work,” she said, “but it’s the freedom of choice on how to represent ourselves that feels the best – that’s a huge part. Being business owners and doing what calls to us right now feels right.”

Now or never

Donald said he found inspiration in the 2014 film “Chef,” which tells the story of a chef who leaves his job to buy a rundown food truck and find success on his own terms.

The film’s plot, Faith said, resembles their situation and provided optimism.

“If you’re willing to learn and put the work in, you can make it beautiful and what you need it to be,” she said. 

Though the Singers said they got a good deal on the trailer for their operation, it required some TLC to get it ready for business. 

“After cleaning it up, we rearranged the setup to work better for breakfast,” Faith said. “The exterior got a nice new yellow paint job, and of course, a giant bee was added to the side.”

As they were working to build their business, the Singers said they learned they were also building something else – a family.

Faith said they found out she was pregnant with their first child just as The Breakfast Bee was getting off the ground.

Though their initial reaction was fear, Faith said that was quickly followed by a simple “can-do” attitude. 

“I thought, ‘If we’re going to do this food truck thing, we need to do it now,’” she said. “We have worked so hard to overcome fear and do the things that are going to make us happy in life.”

Learning on the go

Before they started feeding strangers, the couple said they tested their food on family. 

“It was a great learning experience to prepare us for our first event at the Garden Fair at Washington Park,” Faith said. 

The event, she said, turned out to be a major success – serving 130 people and selling out before the evening was over.

“Washington Park ended up being a very positive experience for us,” she said. “We couldn’t have had a better outcome.”

Faith said people were surprised when they found out it was The Breakfast Bee’s first day.

“Many compliments later, we are continually grateful for our community, because everyone has been kind and patient as we continue to figure out what works best,” she said.

Though the Singers said they are extremely grateful for all of the opportunities they’ve had this year, the Manitowoc Farmers’ Market stands out. 

“They didn’t even have a spot available for us, but the woman who runs it reached out and told us that by popular demand, the farmers’ market would like to make a spot for The Breakfast Bee weekly,” Faith said. “We really dipped our toes in the water this year, getting used to how it runs, to get us going for next year.”

She said they plan to work all winter preparing for next year’s events. 

“We didn’t struggle as much as we just didn’t know what to do,” she said. “It was our first attempt, but it will get easier.”

Food truck community

Donald and Faith said they see the truck as an opportunity to travel in the future, grow and set roots where it works best for them. 

The growing family said they know everything starts slow, but in the first few months they’ve been selling food, it’s been full of great growth and lessons. 

“We’ve had the support of the food truck community from the start, which has only bolstered our growth,” Faith said. 

Donald said community members have played a big role in helping The Breakfast Bee get off the ground – from sharing event opportunities to offering guidance on permits and preparation.

Linda Paider from Linda Loves Cheesecake, the couple said, has been especially helpful. 

“The community wants to help each other, which is a new experience,” Faith said. “Your competitors don’t always want you to do better than them, but this group of people specifically promotes everyone doing well. It comes down to the idea that if everyone works together, they all grow together.”

Follow The Breakfast Bee on Facebook as it announces its new menu items and schedules for next year.