Neighborhood: Walker’s Point
Address: 201 W. Walker St.
Founded: 1976
Owner: Steve Sazama (“Saz”)
Employees: 250; 650 seasonal
Market: Catering, festivals and retail barbecue products
Why did you decide to move the catering operation from the west side to Walker’s Point?
Sazama: “Being on Second and Walker was absolutely perfect. It was 30,000 square feet, as opposed to our 8,000, and it was a building that was very easily converted into catering because it was a manufacturing company. Also, it was connected to the freeway, which was so important.”
Why did you decide to invest about $3 million in buying, renovating and equipping the new kitchen?
Sazama: “Our off-premise (catering) has really grown over the years and we just need the extra space. We’re the official caterer for Summerfest, the Wisconsin State Fair, the Elkhart Lake races. We also have a partnership with the Green Bay Packers where we run the Tundra Tailgate Zone. We invested in some state-of-the-art equipment in which not only can we cook food better, we can cook it faster, but we now have the ability to flash freeze our products so it will keep it fresher than in the past.”
What are some new capabilities created by the additional space?
Sazama: “We have a new industrial feel banquet hall, which has just turned out tremendously. We’re starting to get some day business even, company meetings. Right now, there seems to be two things brides are looking for: They either want the industrial look or the barn look. It’s right across the street from this business, so we were very fortunate when we moved in on South Second, we were obviously looking for places to be exclusive at, and this came out of the clear blue sky.”
