1932 Baptiste Gardetto establishes bakery in Milwaukee,
devoted to retail sales of Italian bread.
1968 Baptiste’s son John takes the reins, and repositions
the company as a manufacturer of breadsticks,
selling through wholesale channels.
1975 Nanette Gardetto joins her father’s company.
1981 Nanette Gardetto begins selling Snak-Ens mix to grocery stores out of the family stationwagon.
1987 Snak-Ens enters wholesale distribution, and is
sold through brokers to grocery stores and
vending companies.
1998 Gardetto’s moves from Milwaukee’s South Side to
a new facility in Franklin’s business park.
1999 General Mills purchases the Gardetto’s name and
Snak-Ens. A noncompete agreement does not prevent Nanette Gardetto from entering the specialty bread
products arena with the Baptista’s Bakery line, which
had already been on the drawing board.
2000 BaPtista’s Bakery line of specialty bread products
and dipping sauces introduced through deli sections
of retail stores in Wisconsin.
2001 The Baptista’s line will be rolled out in the Midwest
(from the Great Lakes states south to Texas) in February
and the rest of the country in May.
