93 Years of Tradition and Counting
Beginning with the Fobe Family's Tradition
of Belgian-Style Baking
Passion For Culinary Excellence
The secret ingredient to everything we bake at West End is culinary consistency. Biting into a donut, you taste the passion, history and meticulousness behind 93 years of the Fobe family’s tradition of Belgian-style baking. Adolf Fobe and his wife Mary, Belgian immigrants, opened the bakery because they wanted to share their culinary gifts with the Michiana community.
After Fobe quit his job at the Oliver Hotel in South Bend to pursue his dream, he opened West End Bakery in a small shop on 7th Street just west of West Street in Mishawaka. It soon become a cherished community staple.
WEST END BAKERY MOVES TO ITS CURRENT LOCATION
In 1934, the Fobes moved West End Bakery to a storefront a block east to its current site at 414 W. 7th Street. For awhile the Fobe family lived in the back of the little storefront.
After the end of World War II, the business was thriving and the family was growing. When the time came, Fobe handed the reigns of the bakery to his son, George, to continue the tradition.
The family tradition continued, and eventually Fobes’ son became a father. Growing up in the bakery, Greg Fobe learned how to bake with the tradition and love that was passed down from his grandfather. He was taught many of the traditions by Laslow Kincses, an immigrant from Hungary who had become head baker at the shop.
For decades, Greg and Les kept the doors of West End Bakery open and served the community. Kathy Davis began working at the bakery more than 20 years ago, learning the recipes and exactly how everything is done from Greg and Les. She eventually became head baker.
THE TRADITION CONTINUES WITH NEW OWNERS
In 2020, when Mike Wojtysiak and Jeff Butler decided to buy a bakery with Dave Priceas general manager, they were elated to learn the next day that the West End Bakery was being put up for sale. When they bought it, they persuaded Kathy to stay on as head baker so they could keep the West End Bakery tradition going.
“This is just too good of a tradition to just let go away,” said Wojtysiak, who grew up in the neighborhood.
Today, we are proud to continue the Fobe family’s tradition of excellence and service to community and the people that make Michiana home.
