Image courtesy of Rupena's Fine Foods on Facebook
For Maria Rupena Karczewski, president of Rupena’s Fine Foods (7641 W. Beloit Road, West Allis) and a third-generation Rupena, creating a food experience is how they roll. “People think we’re either a restaurant or a grocery store, but we’ve got a lot going on here all around,” she says.
In addition to their renowned meat department featuring specialties from in-house butchers, they’ve got scratch-made bakery, local artisan foods, a catering division and parking lot events with grilled food and specialties from guest vendors. Maria plans to add an in-store café, cooking classes and after-hours dinners.
Maria’s grandfather, John S. Rupena, a Yugoslavian immigrant, started the business in 1925 when he purchased the butcher shop on Holton Street where he had worked. John S. and his wife, Mary, ran the business, and in 1951, they built a new location for Rupena’s Independent Market on Center Street.
John S. retired in 1984. Maria’s parents, John W. and Priscilla, took over and moved it to its current location in West Allis. During the early-mid 2000s, Maria operated Rupena’s Summit Café, which was located inside the mixed-use development in the former Allis Chalmers factory. She plans to recreate that café, which will have an Italian villa ambiance, inside the store. It will offer coffee and scratch-made sandwiches, salads and wraps.
Leading a Team of Talent
Rupena’s has a staff of in-house butchers that can do custom order cuts, and craft specialties like beef swirls stuffed with fresh spinach and house made Italian sausage. Maria notes they’re working on a new item, “butter-aged steak,” an alternative to dry-aging that creates a juicer steak while reducing waste, since there are no dry edges to be trimmed and discarded. They also make Polish, Italian and Hungarian sausage from John W.’s recipes.
Maria gives creative license to Rupena’s team members to run with their ideas. Their deli features hot food to-go, including their State Fair roasted chicken. Other customer favorites are the chicken schnitzel, spaetzle and cabbage meals; meatloaf; lasagna; mock chicken legs; and homemade sarma (stuffed cabbage rolls) prepared by Maria’s mom, Priscilla. Cold salads like tuna and chicken salads are made from scratch.
For Easter, Rupena’s will offer heat-and-serve ham dinners in various serving sizes. They’ll also have hams wrapped in rye dough. “The fresh rye dough gets puffy and steams and bakes the ham at same time,” Maria explains.
Maria’s husband, David, makes most of the cakes featured in the bakery department. His carrot cake is a customer favorite. He also encourages and trains employees to come up with cake ideas. The bakery also features products from local bakers like Krieg’s Lakeside Bakery DBA Canfora, and pies from Mr. Dye’s Pies.
There’s a produce department, and aisles of shelf stable goods with major brands and local artisan products like Brew City Pickles and Freese’s Candy. Rupena’s has their own line of spices, rubs and salad dressings. A beer and wine department offers an assortment of beverages to pair with your meal.
The catering division does barbeques as well as high-end events and weddings. For decades, Rupena’s had a solid presence at the Wisconsin State Fair, but Maria says they’re trying to sell their State Fair building so she can concentrate on growing store offerings. They will continue to operate the State Fair building until they find a buyer.
Maria says her family has always had a pay-it-forward attitude and goes the extra mile for customers, whether it be free delivery of groceries or keeping Rupena’s gift cards at the counter for customers that might be short of money to pay for their groceries. Maria will have murals, designed by MKE Graphics, installed that depict the Rupena family and the store’s history.
“Rupena’s is not just a grocery store, there’s so much happening here,” Maria emphasizes. She encourages people to sign up for their weekly newsletter (through rupenas.com) to learn of weekly specials and upcoming events.
