WHEATLAND – The Wild Whisk, a popular downtown cafe with all homemade food goodness has come up with an idea to “pay-it-forward” in the community with a dry erase board that allows people to buy a beverage and then donate it to someone in Platte County.
After the beverage is chosen and the person is chosen, that name goes up on a board within the store and if your name appears, you can come in and collect your “forward.”
Rosetta (Rosie) Stoll came to Wheatland and opened her downtown café in 2015. Since then, the menu for food and drinks have multiplied along with the customer base.
“I first opened over where Dan Brecht is now (The Wandering Hermit),” said Stoll. “I started there as just a bulk food store. To make sure I could make it, I actually had a sign on the door that said, ‘will taking in mending.’ So I did some mending and sewing for people for a little while because I was determined that I was going to make this work.”
Next, Stoll brought in deli meat and cheeses along with her bulk foods store and things began to grow.
“Things would come in at 50 lb. bags and I’d repackage them,” Stoll said. “It was flour, beans, spices, noodles, jam and candy. After that I had a double oven put in over there and started making fresh rolls and then started making sandwiches in that small kitchen.”
In 2019 Stoll defied the odds and the pandemic and moved into her current location at 714 9th Street in Wheatland.
With a little faith and a lot of work, Stoll and her business survived and actually prospered.
“Last year my bulk foods were not moving,” Stoll said. “People came in here with one mindset which was wanting ready to eat food. They didn’t want to buy food to make it. I liquidated all of my bulk product and that part of my business and we put in the coffee bar. And that’s been a good thing.”
Stoll who believes in supporting all things local uses Cheyenne Coffee exclusively which is roasted right here in Wheatland and is run by Bill and Kris Born. As the Borns did with Miners and Stockmen’s in Hartville, they have the ability to create a specific house-blend coffee for any business, and Stoll is considering having her own special blend at the Wild Whisk.
Their beverage menu is varied and contains anything you can think of including coffee, lattes, shakes, ice cream shakes and a new drink that just came in called Lotus which is an energy drink and it is plant based.
“It’s a little bit like a Redbull,” Stoll said. “But it doesn’t have all the chemicals. It’s all plant based and it’s so much better for you. AND, people love it.”
What people may not know about Stoll is her extreme work ethic and calling to provide wholesome fresh homemade food. She is at the store at 4 a.m. every day, long before it opens three hours later and she loses herself in her baking so sandwiches will have fresh bread and then also bakes fresh sweets such as cakes and pies and sweet rolls.
“Everything is prepared fresh,” Stoll said. “Baking my own bread is what makes the sandwich I think. I bake fresh sandwich rolls and then our deli meats and cheeses come from Amish country up in Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.”
Each week you will find a standard menu of fresh sandwiches along with specialty sandwiches that are created each day. All of which are Stoll’s own creation.
“The main menu is a build your own type of system,” Stoll said. “You can come in and check off whatever meats and cheeses that you find on our menu. You can then choose your condiments, extras like fresh tomatoes, lettuce, onion, whatever. One day a week I will do like a hot roast beef sandwich or maybe a pastrami sandwich. I have also made the popular Birddogs breakfast sandwhiches. These consist of a fresh hoagy bun, a chicken strip, a house honey-mustard sauce, a fried egg, bacon and cheese.”
The “Pay-it-forward” board which is a newly created idea suggested by Kris Born has been popular among community members who want to buy a drink or a sandwich for local police, first responders, fire fighters or other people who serve selflessly in the community.
“I just thought that it was such a cool idea,” Stoll said. “People will buy a sandwich or a drink or whatever they think you might like and they’ll put your name on the board. So it’s like a pay-it-forward thing. You come in and claim your item and then if you want to do it for someone, you can.”
Stoll grew up about 50 miles east of Memphis, Tennessee and has been a self-made business woman.
“I grew up in Tennessee and I did not graduate from high school,” Stoll said. “My mom had a heart attack and was in the hospital for nine weeks. I had just gotten out of seventh-grade so someone had to stay home and take care of her. I never even finished eighth grade.”
Stoll did go on to get her GED and finished in the top two percentile. She grew up Mennonite and learned how to cook from a young age from her mother who cooked and baked. The café is open from 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. They additionally started staying open on Friday evenings from 6-8:30 doing soft pretzels and the coffee bar.
