Madison Sourdough

What Madison Sourdough does

Madison Sourdough is a privately-held artisan bakery, cafe, mill, and patisserie operating from a single location at 916 Williamson St in Madison, Wisconsin, founded in 2009 with approximately 21 employees. The company produces naturally leavened sourdough breads through a 36-hour wild fermentation process and French-style Viennoiserie pastries using premium Wisconsin butter and local dairy. Approximately 40% of its flour is stone-milled in-house from Meadowlark Organic grain sourced from Wisconsin farmers, enabling real-time response to grain quality variations. The business serves three primary customer groups: walk-in and carry-out consumers at the daily cafe (8am-3pm), wholesale accounts among Madison restaurants, grocery stores, and coffee shops supplied 360 days per year, and event clients purchasing custom wedding and celebration cakes through a preorder system with $50 tasting kits.

The revenue model combines retail cafe sales (in-person and via Toast Tab online ordering), wholesale distribution to local foodservice accounts, custom and signature cake preorders priced at $50-$70, wedding cake packages, gift cards (physical and digital), and retail flour sales. Pricing is unit-based with no subscription or recurring contracts, and the company does not offer delivery beyond the single pickup location. The business is founder-owned (Drew is referenced as the owner), operates without disclosed institutional investment or parent company, and runs with a comprehensive employee benefits package including health/dental insurance, paid leave, retirement matching, and tip share for hourly staff.

Strategically, Madison Sourdough has pursued product diversification into higher-margin categories (wedding cakes, custom cakes, stone-milled flour retail) and channel expansion through Toast Tab digital ordering, while remaining a single-location, Madison-only operator. Its competitive position rests on proprietary fermentation and milling techniques, direct Wisconsin grain sourcing relationships, and an integrated bakery-mill-cafe-patisserie model that supports both retail volume and wholesale distribution within the local food ecosystem.

Name

Madison Sourdough

Legal name

Madison Sourdough

Website

https://madisonsourdough.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Madison Sourdough is a privately-held artisan bakery, cafe, mill, and patisserie in Madison, Wisconsin that produces sourdough bread and Viennoiserie pastries from in-house stone-milled Wisconsin grains, serving local consumers, wholesale foodservice accounts, and wedding clients from a single storefront.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Artisan Bakery

NAICS

Retail Bakeries (311811), Baked Goods Retailers (445291)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Artisan & Specialty Bakeries (Sourdough, Heritage Grains) (THAFAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cafe-Bakeries (Bakery + Coffee/Foodservice) (THAFAFAG), Patisseries & Viennoiserie (French-Style) (THAFAFAB), Retail Bakeries (Bread & Daily Bakery) (THAFAFAA)

Keywords

• Artisan bakery
• Sourdough bread
• Stone-milled flour
• Viennoiserie pastries
• Custom wedding cakes

Headquarters

HQ city

Madison

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Retail Cafe Sales: Dine-in and carry-out sales of bread, pastry, breakfast, and lunch from 8am-3pm daily. One-time transactions with high daily volume.
2. Online Ordering: Carry-out orders placed through Toast Tab platform for bread, pastry, breakfast, and lunch.
3. Wholesale Distribution: Supplies fresh bread and Viennoiserie pastries to Madison restaurants, grocery stores, and coffee shops 360 days a year.
4. Wedding Cakes: Custom wedding cakes with tasting kits ($50), multiple serving configurations including 8-inch table cakes, sheet cakes, and tiered options. Pickup only at bakery.
5. Signature and Custom Cakes: Signature flavors (Orange Cardamom, Chocolate Caramel Espresso) at $50-60, custom cakes at $60-70 with 72 hours notice. Five cake sponges, ten fillings/coverings, various textures and decorations.
6. Gift Cards: Physical gift cards sold in cafe, eCards purchasable online through Toast Tab with scheduled email delivery.
7. Flour Sales: Stone-milled Wisconsin flour sold in cafe including whole wheat, Kamut Khorasan, rye flour, and polenta. Should be used within a month or frozen within 4 months.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Madison Sourdough operates a bakery, cafe, mill, and patisserie in Madison, Wisconsin that produces naturally leavened artisan sourdough breads (36-hour wild fermentation process) and French-style Viennoiserie pastries from stone-milled Wisconsin grains. The business also offers custom and signature celebration cakes, wedding cakes, in-cafe breakfast and lunch service, and sells its own stone-milled flour and gift cards to consumers.

Product overview

Madison Sourdough is a bakery, cafe, mill and patisserie operating as a from-scratch bakery on Madison's near east side. The core offering centers on naturally leavened sourdough breads (36-hour process using Wisconsin grains) and French-style Viennoiserie pastries. The company operates a cafe serving breakfast and lunch, offers signature and custom cakes (6" and 8" sizes) for preorder, and provides custom wedding cakes in tiered and sheet formats. A Cake Tasting Kit ($50) supports wedding cake consultations. As a mill, they produce and sell stone-milled flours including Whole Wheat, Kamut Khorasan, and Rye. Online ordering and gift cards are facilitated through Toast Tab integration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sourdough Bread Naturally leavened artisan breads made with Wisconsin-grown wheat, rye, and corn using wild fermentation; a loaf takes 36 hours from building the leaven to finished loaf. Sold at the bakery cafe, online via Toast Tab, and wholesale to Madison restaurants, grocery stores, and coffee shops.
• Viennoiserie Pastries French-style laminated pastries including croissants and other breakfast pastries, made with premium Wisconsin butter and enriched with local eggs and milk. Sold at the bakery cafe, online, and wholesale.
• Signature Cakes Pre-made signature flavor cakes available in 6\" (serves 6-10, $50) and 8\" (serves 8-16, $60) sizes. Signature flavors include Orange Cardamom and Chocolate Caramel Espresso, with monthly specialty flavors.
• Custom Cakes Build-your-own celebration cakes with choices of sponge (vanilla, chocolate, carrot, lemon, almond), fillings/coverings (buttercreams, jams, caramel, Parisian cream, lemon curd, ganache, cream cheese frosting), textures, and decorations. 6\" serves 6-10 ($60), 8\" serves 8-16 ($70). 72 hours advance ordering required; no fondant or edible photos.
• Wedding Cakes Custom tiered wedding cakes available in multiple formats (8-inch display cakes, sheet cakes, tiered 10\"+8\"+6\"), with rich chocolate, buttercream, homemade preserves, and decadent caramel options. Ordered via website inquiry form; pickup only at the bakery.
• Cake Tasting Kit $50 cake tasting kit for wedding cake consultations, includes three servings of each of five cake sponges and two ounces of each of ten fillings/coverings. Purchased via website and supports the wedding cake selection process.
• Stone-Milled Flour Whole grain stone-milled flours available for retail purchase at the cafe, including Whole Wheat Flour, Kamut Khorasan whole wheat, Rye Flour, and Polenta. Not sifted to remove germ; recommended use within one month or freeze within four months.
• Cafe Food (Breakfast & Lunch) Dine-in and carry-out breakfast and lunch offerings served daily 8am-3pm with the kitchen open until 2:30pm. Available in two indoor dining rooms and an outdoor patio (weather permitting).
• Gift Cards Physical gift cards available for purchase in the cafe, and eCards available for online purchase with specified email delivery date and time, both processed through Toast Tab.

Quantifiable outcome

• 36-hour fermentation process produces artisan sourdough bread with complex flavor profiles
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Meadowlark OrganicOthersPrimary flour supplier providing organic grain milled either in-house at Madison Sourdough or at Meadowlark's facility in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Allows direct work with Wisconsin grain farmers to request specific wheat varieties and track harvest quality. Critical supplier for their 40% in-house milling operation.
• Toast TabcoreTechnology or IntegrationOnline ordering and payment platform for carry-out orders and eGift card sales. Powers the digital ordering experience and transaction processing for credit card payments on their website.
• Local Wisconsin FarmersOthersLocal grain farmers supplying Wisconsin-grown wheat, rye, and corn. Works directly with farmers through Meadowlark Organic relationships to source specific wheat varieties and maintain supply chain transparency.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Bien Cuit: Brooklyn-based artisan bakery known for stone-milled, naturally leavened sourdough breads. Highly comparable in production philosophy (wild fermentation, stone milling, whole grains) and direct-to-consumer retail.
• Tartine Bakery: San Francisco-based artisan bakery and cafe famous for naturally leavened sourdough and laminated pastries. Operates retail bakery-cafes with wholesale distribution, directly comparable to Madison Sourdough's integrated bakery-cafe-mill model.
• Levain Bakery: Multi-location artisan cookie and pastry bakery-cafe with strong local brand and wholesale. Comparable in specialization, premium pricing, and cafe-bakery retail model.
• Great Harvest Bread Co. Franchise of artisan bakery-cafes that mill their own whole wheat flour and bake from scratch daily. Closely mirrors Madison Sourdough's stone-milling, scratch-baking, and community-retail positioning.
• La Farm Bakery: North Carolina artisan bakery and cafe producing heirloom-grain breads and Viennoiserie from scratch. Comparable in its cafe + wholesale + grain-sourcing craftsmanship narrative.

Broad incumbents

• Panera Bread: National cafe-bakery chain operating bakery-cafes with bread-driven menus. Overlaps with Madison Sourdough's cafe-and-bakery format but at scale and with a different price/value proposition.
• Boudin Bakery: Established San Francisco sourdough bakery chain with cafe retail and wholesale distribution. Operates at broader scale but in the same sourdough cafe-retail category as Madison Sourdough.
• Bimbo Bakeries USA: Largest U.S. wholesale bakery conglomerate (Thomas', Sara Lee, Entenmann's). Competes with Madison Sourdough at the wholesale-grocery end but at industrial scale rather than artisan focus.
• King Arthur Baking Company: Vermont-based, 200+ year old baking brand selling premium flour, mixes, and baked goods with an experiential bakery-cafe flagship. Adjacent incumbent that overlaps on flour sourcing for home bakers and artisan baking education.

Others

• Meadowlark Organic: Wisconsin organic grain farmer and milling partner that supplies Madison Sourdough's in-house stone-milled flour. Included as an enabling supplier whose fortunes are tied to Madison Sourdough's grain sourcing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/madison-sourdough

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Madison Sourdough