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August 11, 2025
GREEN BAY – Voyageurs Bakehouse Owners Ben Cadman and Celeste Parins are celebrating the expansion of their physical footprint and continued evolution of their brand with the opening of their new location at 320 N. Broadway.
Found in the Rail Yard Innovation District, the new space is just down the hall from their previous location in downtown Green Bay.
Cadman said the bakehouse’s booming success – evident in its expansion that includes locations in Green Bay (2020), Appleton (2021) and De Pere (2024) – began to cause a few literal and figurative growing pains at its flagship Green Bay bakehouse and store.
He said it became apparent they needed to either add on to their former space or potentially find a new home.
“When we built the place five and a half years ago, we didn’t really know at that time how popular our bread product was going to be,” he said. “And [then] we started a wholesale program, we’re selling at farmers’ markets and then, obviously, we had our store that we were selling at.”
As bread numbers increased during those first three years, Cadman said it got to the point where they realized the cooler – “where we basically cold-ferment our sourdough overnight” – was too small to handle any more than a certain number of breads per day.
“Then we started to see there [were] going to be some bottlenecks in our production,” he said.
Cadman said the temporary production pains meant they couldn’t take on new wholesale clients, and the close-quarters work environment – where ovens were baking items 11 hours a day at 500 degrees in the previous location’s 1,000 square feet – was not conducive to a healthy, happy experience for their employees.
With care and respect for the well-being of their staff and the desire to continue growing their brand, Cadman said a solution had to be found.
After looking at many venues and even planning for a year to build an addition onto the former location, he said there were a few details of that expansion that were just not sitting well with them, and it wasn’t exactly what they wanted.
“We realized that to spend all of that money and for it not to be close to perfect, it didn’t sound like it was the right thing to do,” he said.
So, Cadman said, they pressed pause and went back to the drawing board.
“I started looking at other buildings in town again – trying to really figure out what we were going to do,” he said.
As the search continued, Cadman and Parins said they imagined different possibilities for the future of the business.
Cadman said one thought was to cease the wholesale program and just focus on the flagship bakehouse and two storefronts.
Whether it was luck, a coincidence or a divine combination of both, Cadman said it was about that same time when they learned the Greater Green Bay Chamber of Commerce’s incubator kitchen, The Cannery Green Bay, was vacating its space.
It was the perfect opportunity for two reasons, Cadman said.
It was large enough, he said, at 10,500 square feet, and it already had “great bones” as a functioning hospitality venue, including items like coolers – “a big bonus.”
“The timing was kind of perfect, and we switched gears and went back into architect mode and planning,” he said. “We basically spent from April 2023 right up until the end of 2024, doing design, fundraising and getting all of our ducks in a row to start what we’ve started here.
From January until last July, Cadman said “it was everything from demolition to… transforming the space into what it’s become today.”
A continued focus on high-quality ingredients
Cadman said Voyageurs Bakehouse specializes in naturally leavened, artisan sourdough, using freshly stone-ground flour from local farmers in Lodi, Wisconsin’s Heartland Craft Grains, to be exact.
The husband-and-wife team who own Heartland, Cadman said, grind all of the types of grain they grow in a stone mill on their farm, delivering it fresh to Voyageurs each week.
He said Voyageurs has a variety of sourdough products for sale, including Seeded Country, The Country, The Pullman, The Italian, Cinnamon Raisin Maple and brioche buns.
Pastries are also available daily, Cadman said, with items on the menu like sourdough cinnamon rolls, espresso rye chocolate chip cookies, sourdough croissants, pain au chocolat (sourdough), almond croissants (sourdough) and seasonal sourdough danishes and cake slices.
The eggs used at Voyageurs, Cadman said, are organic, from Waseda Farms in Door County, and its dairy products are all locally sourced.
Further supporting buying local, the couple said they purchase their vegetables and fruits from local farmers and have many relationships with local growers.
“What makes the product special [is] ensuring that you’re using the best quality products all of the time,” Cadman said.
Menu expansion is in the works
Those already familiar with Voyageurs Bakehouse know many of the menu’s staples – such as a sourdough cinnamon roll; a hand-crafted cinnamon roll latte; the grilled pastrami Reuben, made with pastrami by Maplewood Meats; Roth aged Swiss cheese on Voyageurs’ Grilled Seeded Country bread; or the bakehouse’s spin on chicken salad, which includes poached chicken, spicy giardiniera, cucumber, local mixed greens and lemon mayo, tucked in between slices of Voyageurs’ Italian sourdough.
Cadman said the level of commitment to its menu will continue with the new space.
He said they quickly realized that the equipment available to them in the new location meant hiring chefs and other professional kitchen staff to make a full menu was now a possibility.
“We’re really lucky to have an amazing opening team in the kitchen,” he said. “The idea for the menu, and this will change over time, but at its very core, we’re basically becoming a brunch restaurant. And at the moment, it’s just Tuesday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.”
Cadman said they also plan to offer small plates and bites and larger sharing plates in the new space.
Paying homage to their brand, which is centered around travel, Cadman said they plan to include menu items that have influences from French and Middle Eastern cooking, for example, while also offering modern takes on classic American dishes.
He said the menu will also be seasonal.
“If you visit us once a month or something like that, you can expect a lot of the menu [will] have changed from the previous month [you’ve] been here,” he said.
Looking ahead
Cadman and Parins said they, along with their staff, readied the new space and tested their operational flow through soft openings in preparation for their big debut Aug. 8.
For now, the couple said hours at all three locations will remain 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Cadman said that doesn’t mean they don’t have continued big plans for the future of the new space – which could include adding Sunday brunches.
He said they are also planning on getting a wine and beer license, as well as hosting pop-up dinners and other similar events.
The couple said they have plans to open the space for event rentals in the future as well.
Cadman and Parins said they remain passionate about keeping their businesses in downtown areas and/or main streets, to help these areas flourish and to serve as a space for neighbors and business owners to gather and feel a sense of community.
“We really wanted it to become a staple of our communities, to have a great, amazing artisan bakery,” he said. “[Our mission] is to bring high-quality sourdough bread and pastry to tables throughout Northeast Wisconsin. I think conversations are made around dining room tables over great food. We always hope and dream that if someone is buying bread from us, and they’re sharing it at home, they’re breaking bread with their friends and family, and it sparks conversation.”
Check out Voyageurs Bakehouse’s social media platforms for more.
