Photo credit: Evan Casey
Fein Brothers co-owner Todd Minkin
Since 1929, Fein Brothers (2007 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) has been one of Milwaukee’s premier food service and equipment supply companies. Locally owned, they provide equipment for both residential and commercial kitchens. In 2009, the business was bought by cousins and Fein Brothers employees Todd and Ben Minkin. They are celebrating the company’s 90th anniversary this year through their “Twelve Months of Giving Campaign.” Off the Cuff sat down with co-owner Todd Minkin to learn more about this, as well as the benefits of owning a local business in Milwaukee.
You’re a locally owned food service equipment and supply store for residential and commercial kitchens. You also design kitchens and dining areas and sell everything from dishes to a fully equipped industrial kitchen. What else should we know about your business?
We’re 90 years old and really concentrate on supporting the local economy, our local customers and our local restaurant partners by having one of the most knowledgeable sales staffs. We take that very seriously. We are always making sure our staff is familiar and aware of new technology happening in food service, which is changing every day. There are always new trends in restaurant dining and how things are being served. We take a lot of pride in making sure we are educated and as knowledgeable as possible on all the things happening in our industry. We also try to create a family atmosphere. You can walk into plenty of big box stores and sort of get lost. My local hardware store, for example, there’s always four people greeting me at the door asking me if I need some help. I walk into a big box store, and I have to look at the signs above the aisles to find what I need.
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You have a magnificent building. Can you tell me a little bit of the history behind it?
We occupy two buildings: the building to our south and the building on the corner, which was the original Schuster’s Department Store when they started business in 1884. When we bought that building around 1990, it still had a staircase that went from the outside into the basement—the Schuster’s bargain basement. You would enter the bargain basement from the outside. As Schuster’s grew, they built this building right here (2007 N. King Drive), and when they grew out of this, they moved up the street. We have a lot of people that come in here and ask if this was a theater at one time because of the grand staircase, the chandelier and the big marquee. But it was a department store for many, many years.
You’ve been locally owned for 90 years. Why is it important for consumers to be dealing with a locally owned business?
There are lots of reasons to support locally owned businesses. Number one, we’re the people spending the money in the locally owned stores and restaurants. We’re hoping people see a value to that and support us in helping supply them in what they need. The second thing is the level of service we’re able to provide. We know our customers can buy the items that we sell in many different places. The reason why our customers deal with us is due to the level of service we provide to them, which we feel is the best in the industry.
We also give back to the community. For our 90th anniversary, we have a campaign going on called the “Twelve Months of Giving.” We asked our staff to come up with an organization in need we could donate to. It’s not all about donating money, it’s about donating time, donating services as well as donating goods. We are six months into that right now, and we feel it’s important to give back to the community that supported us for the last 90 years.
Over the next 10 years, what changes do you foresee, if any, in your business or in the retail world?
I foresee our business getting better. I see people quickly learning what the internet has to offer and some of the positives, but also some of the negatives. So, we are seeing customers appreciate a local business, appreciate the services we have to offer, and consumers overall are pretty intelligent and realize it’s not always all about the bottom dollar—it’s what comes with that, what services come with that product you’re buying and that’s why more people are buying, locally. We feel so lucky to be in a city like Milwaukee that really embraces small, local businesses.
