Since 1968

In 1968, Joe Pedretti was working at his brother’s bakery in Prairie du Chien — Prairie Made Bakery — when he heard the bakery in Elkader was for sale. He bought it and moved his family here.

It was called Quality Bakery then, and Joe and Mary opened its doors on Monday, July 8, 1968.

Some decisions just turn out right.

Joe and Mary Pedretti holding a tray of fresh-baked goods in the bakery, in black and white
Joe & Mary
The Opening Notice from the paper: Quality Bakery will reopen under the ownership of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pedretti and open on Monday, July 8
July 3, 1968

1968 to today

Three generations

The bakery has stayed in the family since 1968. Each time it needed someone, someone was there.

Newspaper clipping, Local bakery is a family affair: Joe and Mary Pedretti and their daughter Jane Reimer beside racks of fresh buns

  1. 1968

    Joe & Mary Pedretti

    Bought the bakery and moved the family to Elkader, and ran it for thirty-five years. A whole generation of kids in town called him Grandpa Joe, not only his own.

    Joe Pedretti leaning on the counter in front of the bread shelves, in black and white
    Grandpa Joe, behind the counter
    Joe at the bench with three kids helping with the baking sheets
    Joe, with his daughter Heidi, & grandsons Nicholas & Christopher

  2. 2003

    Jane Reimer

    Joe and Mary’s daughter. Her brother Gary had taken over the baking years earlier, and in 2003 Jane bought the bakery to keep it going. She was warm with everyone who came through the door, and the town loved her for it.

    Sue, Mary and Jane in aprons at the counter with a tray of donuts and shelves of bread behind them
    Sue, Mary & Jane
    Jane, Joe and Christopher beside the big mixer in the bakery kitchen
    Jane, Joe & Christopher

  3. Today

    Christopher Reimer

    Jane’s son. He grew up in the bakery, in the back with his grandpa as a kid and then Friday nights with his uncle Gary all the way through high school. He was baking full time by 2003, and he and Jane spent those first years rebuilding how the place ran. Over the years that followed, it became his. His own three boys have grown up in the back of it the same way.

    Christopher at the bakery counter today
    Christopher, today
    Christopher and his three young sons in aprons at the bench, cutting shapes out of rolled dough with cookie cutters
    Christopher with his boys
Joe, Jane, Mary and Christopher standing behind the donut case
Joe, Jane, Mary & Christopher

Same corner. Same building.
Third generation behind the counter.

A lot of small towns do not have a bakery anymore. We’re still here.

The bakery windows at night, lit from inside, with the baker working at the counter Christopher in the bakery kitchen at night A tray going into the oven Christopher shaping a long roll of dough on the bench Christopher stretching a sheet of dough in the kitchen Weighing and mixing the dough Shaping loaves of dough on the bench Cutting rounds out of a sheet of dough Donuts frying in the fryer Golden rolls fresh out of the oven Christopher in the kitchen before the doors open The Pedretti’s Bakery storefront in the morning

While Elkader sleeps

Nine at night, the ovens come on.

The town goes quiet and the building fills with the smell of bread.

By the time the first car parks on Main Street, the trays are already cooling.

The new look

A fresh look but still the same recipes that you love, same faces that you see, and the same 4 am alarm.

The bakery before the refresh: cream walls with red Pedretti’s Bakery lettering and the old wood-trimmed cases
Before
The bakery after the refresh: exposed brick, the new rolling-pin sign, the acrylic menu board and new cases
After
Three people hanging the new rolling-pin Pedretti’s Bakery sign on the brick wall
Hanging the new sign
The new acrylic menu board mounted on the brick wall
The new menu board
The hours and phone number on the bakery window, under the Pedretti’s Bakery logo
Hours on the door
The whole brick building on the corner of Main and Bridge, with the bakery’s striped awning and the faded painted lettering on the side wall
The building today
The bakery from the sidewalk: the striped awning, the window lettering, the red door and the bench
From the sidewalk
The window display behind the Pedretti’s Bakery lettering, with the old mixing bowl, bread boards and milk cans
The window display

Come see us

101 North Main Street
Elkader, Iowa

On the corner of Main and Bridge, open Tuesday to Saturday from 6 am.

Get directions
Map of downtown Elkader with a pin on Pedretti’s Bakery at the corner of North Main and Bridge streets, by the Turkey RiverPedretti’s Bakery · Main & Bridge · Elkader