Our Story

Where It All Began

The name Elsie Mae belongs to Kelly Deem’s grandmother, a woman who spent her life in the garden and the kitchen, preserving and baking with a patience and care that only comes from doing it with love, season after season.

Kelly grew up at her side. Watching. Helping. Learning what it meant to know your food from the ground up, to know the farmers, to know the land, to understand that something made slowly and with intention just tastes different.

In 2012, Kelly took those recipes and that belief and set up a table at the Kenosha Harbor Market. What started as one farmers market table grew into exactly the kind of business Kelly always believed it could be, and then some.

Building the Brand

From Kenosha, the journey continued. Kelly relocated to Milwaukee, where she built the wholesale distribution systems, licensing, and production processes that would take Elsie Mae’s to the next level. Through determination, persistence, and countless early mornings, she expanded the brand into 18 grocery stores, including every Sendik’s Food Market location throughout the Milwaukee area.

As demand grew, so did the vision. What began as a small-batch pie business evolved into a recognized Wisconsin food brand, earning awards, expanding into wholesale distribution, and building a loyal following across farmers markets, specialty retailers, and grocery stores. Each step forward was guided by the same commitment that started it all: creating exceptional products, building meaningful community connections, and sharing a little comfort through food.

Four Brands, One Mission

As the business grew, so did the vision. Elsie Mae’s expanded beyond the bakery into something bigger: a full brand family rooted in the same values but offering three distinct experiences.

The Sweet Shop in Lake Mills, Wisconsin anchors it all. The production kitchen, the flagship storefront, the home base for every pie, every jar of jam, every canned cocktail that goes out the door.

Pies & Pints was the next chapter: a bakery bar concept in Kenosha combining everything Elsie Mae’s makes with craft beer, spiked lemonades, and a stage for live music. It was set to open on Mother’s Day 2025. Ten days before the doors opened, a fire destroyed the building. The rebuild has been a long and hard road, but it is still actively in progress. What also came out of that perseverance was Sugar & Vice finding its home.

Sugar & Vice lives upstairs at Last Ditch Brew Pub in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A cocktail bar born from Elsie Mae’s — but built for after dark. Seasonal menus shift throughout the year, each drink poured fresh and crafted with intention. The same hands behind every pie now pour something a little more dangerous.

Peninsula Pies is our seasonal Door County kitchen, where everything is baked on site inside The Cherry Hut in Fish Creek. Open May through October, this is where Elsie Mae’s heads north for the summer, bringing the same handmade pies, small batch jams, and bloody mary mixes to a corner of Wisconsin that knows a good bakery when it tastes one.