Jennifer Patrello’s parents opened Stella’s Bakery in 1988, introducing their famous spicy cheese bread to Madison residents. Decades later, the baked bread has become a Dane County Farmers Market staple enjoyed at the capitol on Saturday mornings.
Now, Patrello is going for the jugular: taking her business across town and opening a new storefront on Regent Street.
The new Stella’s Bakery, located at 1219 Regent Street, officially opened its doors to the public on Nov. 1 and hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 4.
Patrello and her husband took over the bakery from her sister and brother-in-law in 2019, but wanted to have an increased presence outside their Saturday farmers market domain.
“We had a different vision for the business to be more year-round and central to Madison, so that we weren't just known for the Dane County Farmers Market and wholesale,” Patrello told The Daily Cardinal. “My husband's an architect, Patrick Patrello, and when we found this building [that had been] abandoned… for about 15-20, years, my husband wanted to restore it.”
The bakery offers a variety of sandwiches, breads and pastries in store. Their Thanksgiving pre-order is live now, providing many of the bakery’s favorite items before the busy holiday season. Stella's also offers shipping around the US.
The building buttresses a variety of entrenched small businesses such as Indie Coffee, After Hours Taqueria and Budget Bicycle Center. It was originally a 1960's-era medical office building designed by Wright architecture, and sold for the price of $660,000 in 2022 to Patrello was renovated to include two apartment units.
“This was a dream in the making for three, probably five years,” Patrello said.
Dane County Farmer’s Market rules stipulate that businesses seeking to promote themselves in the market can only operate a single retail location. Because of that, the original space, located in the south of Madison at 2908 Syene Rd., will now transition to a distribution center for the bakery’s production and wholesale campaign.
Patrello anticipated the new outdoor area would increase the options for using the space. The bakery offers new features such as outdoor seating and a bar, as well as an area Patrello said would be for kids to play.
“I want to utilize this outdoor space as much as possible,” Patrello said. New opportunities, Patrello explained, will hopefully engage the local Madison community. She said she’s interested in doing food cart nights, live music and other festive events in the neighborhood.
Patrello hinted at more to come once the transition period ends. She suggested the summer could bring an expanded menu featuring soup, sandwiches and salads.
“It's gonna take a little while for us to grow into this new space and get through our new systems and everything,” Patrello said. “Come spring, we'll have more of this worked out, with more details on what events we're having and hosting.”
Stella’s Bakery is serving customers in-store everyday except Monday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Iain Chang is a senior staff writer at The Daily Cardinal covering state news and politics.
