At St. Croix Baking Company in Hudson, Wisconsin, Charles Froke uses more than 25 years of experience gained working alongside culinary leaders such as Thomas Keller, José Andrés and White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier to create something that matters to the people he serves. That means more than 1,000 monster cookies a week, hundreds of holiday pies and elaborate gingerbread creations, but for Froke, the real measure of his work is the memories those baked goods help create.
That focus on people was shaped during Froke's years in luxury hospitality. He led teams, worked alongside some of the industry's most respected chefs and created food for major weddings, celebrations and high-profile guests.
“I learned something from every single person that I worked for or worked with,” he said.
Froke grew up in Burnsville, Minnesota, where his mother and grandmothers taught him to make cookies, cakes and other desserts. His interest in baking eventually followed him into restaurant kitchens. When Froke was considering colleges, UW-Stout Polytechnic was a natural choice. Both of his parents were Stout graduates and his father later taught at the university. Froke enrolled in the hospitality program and quickly gravitated toward the culinary classes where Professors Philip McGuirk and Peter D'Souza became important influences.
McGuirk encouraged Froke to work at The Creamery, a fine-dining restaurant that also offered lodging in Downsville, Wisconsin. The experience deepened his understanding of cooking and baking and helped him see where those interests could take him. While working there as a pastry chef, Froke crossed paths with Four Seasons representatives who were staying at the restaurant while visiting the Stout career fair.
Froke made the opportunity count. He prepared chocolates and other food amenities for their stay, placed his résumé in their room, spoke with recruiters at the career fair and followed up with desserts that evening. The effort led to an assistant pastry chef position at the Four Seasons in Washington, D.C.
Froke spent nearly 20 years with the company, taking on increasing responsibilities and executive pastry chef roles. His career also took him to Miami and Costa Rica, where he worked on major weddings, bar mitzvahs and other large events. In Costa Rica, he oversaw five restaurants in addition to events, banquets and room service, while staying closely connected to the staff he had built in Washington, D.C.
Froke has also measured his impact by what happens to the people he has trained. He believes knowledge should be shared, not guarded, and has encouraged employees to take what they learn and use it to build careers of their own. One former employee went on to build a career as a chef before returning to work with Froke for several years. When he later stopped at St. Croix Baking Company on his way to catch a flight from Minneapolis, he pulled Froke aside and became emotional as he reflected on what he had learned from him.
For Froke, that moment captured something more meaningful than a successful pastry or a busy bakery. “I'm not here to hide recipes and hide knowledge,” he said. “It's about giving it to people and having them go out in the world and doing something with it.”
Creativity became another important part of his work. For years, Froke created elaborate gingerbread structures in the Washington, D.C., area, including edible versions of the National Cathedral, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the Smithsonian Castle.
Some projects require more than 100 hours and more than 100 pounds of gingerbread. Pieces can change size during baking, structures have to fit together and a mistake in one section can affect the entire project. The work demands planning, precision and problem-solving, skills Froke also relied on throughout his career in professional kitchens.
Eventually, Froke began thinking seriously about owning a business. After years of leading pastry operations in luxury hospitality, he wanted to build a place where he could combine the standards and experience he had developed throughout his career with a strong focus on relationships and community.
Eventually, Froke began thinking seriously about owning a business. After years of leading pastry operations in luxury hospitality, he wanted to build a place where he could combine the standards and experience he had developed throughout his career with a strong focus on relationships and community.
He had already been working on a business plan when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the hospitality industry. Three months into the pandemic, Froke returned to the Midwest and decided it was time to move forward. St. Croix Baking Company opened in Hudson in 2020.
Froke brought the standards he developed in luxury hospitality with him, along with a clear vision for the kind of business he wanted to build. Quality remained important, but so did knowing his customers and finding ways to give them what they wanted.
The bakery's menu has grown around those relationships. That can mean making hundreds of pies for the holidays, even when pies aren't Froke's favorite thing to produce. It also means continuing to make his grandmothers' monster cookie recipe, now the bakery's biggest seller.
But sometimes, the impact of those relationships is much more personal. One customer told Froke that his family had brought his baked goods to a grandmother, and it was the last time they were able to spend together before she died.
“It may seem simple,” he said. “But what we are doing is making people's days or their special occasions memorable.”
That same philosophy has shaped Froke's approach to his career and the people he has mentored. He learned from the people who invested in him at Stout and throughout his career, then carried those lessons forward by sharing his knowledge, developing the people around him and creating a business where relationships matter.
“It's the love of making things for other people and seeing enjoyment in what people take away from here and how it affects them,” Froke said.
