From the sweetness of a fluffernutter cookie to the savoriness of pesto monkey bread, local bakery Midwest Sad strives to provide food that speaks to one’s heart to offer a sense of comfort through tough times.
Right off Wells Street, located at 770 N. Jefferson St., one enters the double doors of the modern, airy building with high vaulted ceilings. Signage featuring Midwest Sad’s mascot, a weeping stick of butter known as Mr. Butter, greets you upon arrival. Then after descending down the stairs, the array of cookies, brownies and cinnamon rolls on the shelf complement the subtly lit exterior of Midwest Sad’s ordering window.
The name “Midwest Sad” is designed to bring awareness to seasonal affective disorder, which is a type of depression caused by seasonal patterns. Owner and founder Samantha Sandrin said that one of her reasons for launching the business this past May was to provide positivity for those dealing with challenges through a diverse flavor profile.
“Midwest Sad stands for Midwest Seasonal Affective Disorder, so essentially it stands for that specific condition, but then we make all those foods that make you feel better during that time of year,” Sandrin said. “Right now, seasonal depression is in full force, so it’s really just making sure that you have something to eat while that’s happening.”
Sandrin got her start in the food service industry when she was 14 years old, working as a dishwasher, then eventually climbing up the ranks in management positions. She subsequently took co-ownership in Strega, a pasta-focused restaurant located in the 3rd Street Market Hall, before taking the plunge to start Midwest Sad in May.
Sandrin highlighted cultivating an understanding dynamic between herself and other team members as another reason for launching Midwest Sad.
“I worked from basically being a host to all the way being a restaurant manager and director. I bartended, I served, I was a bakery manager, I’ve been a line cook; I’ve basically been every position in a kitchen, and I didn’t like the way most of them were ran. They can be a toxic environment,” Sandrin said. “We don’t do that here, if my staff needs time to be a human, they get that.”
Jennifer Recka, a baker at Midwest Sad who first met Sandrin from working in a shared kitchen together in 2021 and has worked with her ever since, said that close relationships and looking out for each other is a key part of the job.
“It’s great to work with people whom you know closely. Our whole team likes to uplift each other, check in and make sure everyone is doing well in their mental and physical health, figuring out how to do that every day, encourage the good times, while also getting stuff done,” Recka said.
Additionally, she said that the business has surpassed initial expectations, with it still being in its first year of operation.
“I don’t think that some things that we’ve got going now were going to happen in a year or two. We figured out how to do wholesale in a small kitchen, which was super exciting. People are reaching out all the time,” Recka said.
Marina Sanchez-Castelo, a pastry chef who moved to Milwaukee from Texas in October, said that something she’s noticed about Midwest Sad has been the focus on using food to foster fellowship.
“That focus on community through food, I would say that’s what separates us. The way I see it, it’s food and sweet treats that are not pretentious, if you get my meaning. It’s not super fancy French patisserie, but we have stuff for everybody, anybody can find something that they like here,” Sanchez-Castelo said.
Maddy Schmid, an attorney at the Milwaukee law firm Michael Best & Friedrich, said that she first learned of Midwest Sad through social media and that the proximity to the firm’s office served her well, with both factors inspiring Schmid and her group to give Midwest Sad a try.
“It popped up on my Instagram For You Page, it was like some Milwaukee, Midwest based influencer was posting about them, then I noticed it was really close to where I work, so I was like, ‘I definitely want to check it out,’” Schmid said. “We’re celebrating a birthday, and we thought it would be a great inaugural trip to the business.”
Ashley Smith, another attorney at Best & Friedrich, underscored the importance of supporting new local establishments.
“It’s always nice to support small business, and something that’s local,” Smith said.
By taking input from its staff, what’s on Midwest Sad’s menu serves as a cornucopia of differing tastes to suit its customers.
“Most of the menu we all talk about before it’s changed, and I’ll ask them to put stuff on the menu,” Sandrin said. “Or ‘This sounds really good, let’s do it.’ They have complete creative control, I’m not the final say. Everyone else also has the final say in everything we do.”
Recka said that something that makes Midwest Sad stand out from other sweet shops is emphasizing allergy friendliness and fresh ingredients.
“We try to make sure there is stuff that is vegan and gluten-free. For our flavorings we always use fruit compounds made of whole fruit or freeze-dried fruit powder; we don’t use extracts, we use whole ingredients such as butter, we don’t use shortening or oils in our baked goods, like some commercial bakeries do. Sam’s recipes have more Italian influence, so we use Italian meringue buttercream instead of American buttercream, so it has a bit of a smoother texture,” Recka said.
Sanchez-Castelo said that Midwest Sad plans to expand by opening its second location in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and that the two locations would accompany each other well by broadening the shared consumer base between the two locations.
“We are opening a new location in Tosa very soon, I think it will impact the current location positively, I think the people that go there will find out about us here, and that we can also tell people about the other location,” Sanchez-Castelo said. “They will complement each other.”
Midwest Sad is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and is closed on Sundays, with the original Milwaukee location being located roughly just over a mile from the center of Marquette’s campus.
This article was written by Mikey Severson. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @MikeySeversonMU.
