ET Foods – Not Your Typical Little Grocery

By Marilu Miller –

The store itself had humble beginnings – friends pooling their resources to buy frozen bakery items from Riches Bakery.

A favorite item was the cinnamon rolls, they were huge and oh, so very delicious! From there it just grew and mushroomed after they had a chance to purchase a walk-in freezer, into what was originally called Elephant Trunk Rock Foods. Today, it is simply ET Foods.

After driving thru the hills to arrive at the store, you will find yourself at a red pole shed. This shed is roughly 60 x 199, not large by any means. In fact, it started it’s life as a machine shed on the Vern and Ed Wiedenfeld farm where they planned to operate their AgBag business and of course to keep their many pieces of machinery. It does not appear that one has arrived at a grocery store. There are no huge glass windows with the specials posted on them. Instead, it is a simple white windowed door with a blue sign on top. Amazingly Simple! When they first opened, there were two wonderful furry four-legged mascots lying by the door or prowling nearby waiting to greet you, Rocky and Rusty. These two would great you with their friendly barks and attempts to get some loving attention from you, their newest best friend. Some of the regular shoppers even kept some treats in their car to share with them. These two are gone now, but, have been replaced by two more curious and friendly furry mascots and all four have hand drawn pictures on the wall behind the cash register.

The simplicity continues as you enter the building. ET Foods is not like any grocery store that many of you are accustomed to. Oh, you will see shopping carts, a cash register, and shelves stocked with a wide variety of products. But that is pretty much where the similarities end.

One difference you will see is the notice board. Not that notice boards are unusual, but, this one is different than most. First, it has one whole section that is dedicated to ‘Mom’s Brag Board’ where the local mom’s and workers can post the latest newspaper pictures of their children doing great things. There is another section for nothing but business cards as many people in the area have a side job, or jobs in specialty services that it comes in handy to know about. Then of course, you will find that there are flyers announcing the next church festival or dinner, an ice cream social, or fundraiser. Also most of the local schools post their sports schedules and special events. Then there are the lost and found, help wanted, and the latest litters of kittens and puppies that are looking for homes.
 
Be sure to select the grocery cart that is right for you. Some are larger than others. There are a few different sizes to choose from and this comes in handy for the mom who is shopping for a larger family, we have a good number of large families here in this farming community. There are also smaller carts or baskets that can be chosen. Perhaps a utility type cart to do some bulk shopping is what you need?

The products available here at ET are as varied as at most any other grocery store. The difference is that the product can change weekly, but, even more importantly, whenever possible, certain products are locally made and purchased. Especially the produce, meat, and cheese. There are many different sellers that they purchase products from, both case loads, banana box loads, and pallets. The banana box loads provide a huge variety, as this is a pallet loaded with boxes that are filled with miss matched items, left overs, and bent and dent items. They fill the boxes just as full as possible with whatever there is to fill the box, so it might be cans, boxes, or both. As a result of how products are purchased, the shoppers will notice a little bit of a difference in how the store is set up. There is not one aisle that is just fruits and vegetables, or just pasta. Also, one entire aisle is dedicated to pallets of products, one brand of soup might be on one, the next might be a certain brand of vegetables, the next pallet might be filled with a certain brand of cereal, or perhaps two liter bottles of soda. On the rest of the shelves, you might see two flats of this brand and variety of canned fruit, then next to it will be another brand, but only one or two cans. The spices tend to get all mixed in together, even when one of the workers tries to separate them. Baking supplies are lined up on one side of the aisle and across from them are the prepared boxed foods like potatoes or hamburger helper. Part of the reason for this is the number of shelves, the size of the store, and the insane beauty of buying. As I said before, you never know what will be in a banana box load – one or two cans or boxes of this or a case of that.

When you walk into the freezer section, you will notice big, beautiful, glass door freezers! TV dinners, ham, bacon, burger, different cuts of pork and beef, chicken, pizzas, ice cream and frozen yogurts, desserts, and breads. Some things are available in bulk packages –  five or ten pound bags or boxes, and most are just the usual packaging.

When you reach the cooler section, you will see the same big, beautiful, glass door coolers! One complete side is dedicated to dairy products. There is a very large selection of local cheeses. There are so many varieties to choose from: mild cheddar, sharp cheddar – pick how many years of age that you want to try!- Colby, string- regular and smoked, and even limburger! The shopper can even pick how they want it: full blocks, or partial blocks are offered for many of the flavors. But, beyond that you can also find the usual slices or shredded, some of which can even be purchased in bulk. This cooler is truly a cheese lovers dream! Of course, there is milk of different types. It can not be a dairy cooler if there is no milk! There is also a very nice selection of yogurt to choose from. For those who love to bake and love to use real butter, (sorry margarine … just is not the same) there are usually a few brands to choose from, including some from a local creamery.

What amazes me, from the time that the store opened til now, is that this all started from a group of friends wanting to buy cinnamon rolls and other bakery goods.

Ed and Vern have never been in this to make a big profit, just a profit. They saw a chance to provide a service. They took that chance and ran with it. Today, this little store serves hundreds of people every week. They keep the prices as low as they can so that families can buy the groceries that they need, but still be able to pay the bills and put gas in the vehicle so that they can get to where they need to go. They help with fundraisers, because you have to help ones neighbors. They even do their best to help support the local school districts – not something that many bigger stores will do.

The machine shed was built for one purpose, and that purpose changed when they purchased their first walk-in freezer so that more of the bakery items could be purchased and stored. But with that first big purchase of bakery items, was a condition that they had to purchase some pallets of groceries. Ed was sure that he would lose money, but the groceries were of good quality and things just took off.

Ed told me, “I have some crazy ideas, but the workers make it work. If it wasn’t for the workers and the customers, we wouldn’t be here.” All I can say is, I’ll be back for more cheese soon! See you then Ed!


DID YOU KNOW?

• Et Foods has been open and serving the greater Richland County and Southwestern WI since 2005
• We support local businesses and try to cross promote as much as we can for other local businesses
• We are involved in the local schools
• We try and help as much as we can for local charities
• We believe in bringing our community the best product we can for the least cost as we can.
• We try and give our customers the feeling that makes them truly feel welcome.
• We hug , laugh and cry with our customers because they are part of our family!