In 1929 as Depression-era workers were laying the first oil pipeline through Fayette County, Texas, brothers Alvin and Pop Weikel opened the Bon Ton Cafe. Hardworking pipeline men needed a place to eat, and the Weikel’s aimed to feed them.

Alvin’s son, Jim, got into the business in 1969, and the cafe became a destination for folks traveling through the area. Jim eventually sold the restaurant in 1985 so he and his wife, Jo Ann, could open a convenience store and bakery with an Eastern European flavor. Weikel’s Store and Bakery became famous for Czech baked goods—especially kolaches (a Czech pastry made of sweet dough filled with fruit or cheese) based on a recipe from Jo Ann’s mother, Nolie Kulhanek Schobel. Today, three locations bear the Weikel’s name, providing food, fuel and convenience staples.

In the Family

Weikel’s makes more than 14 varieties of kolaches daily, as well as custom-order flavor combinations, and it’s still very much a family business, with Jim’s son Philip now handling the operations. The kolaches and other baked goods are made with the same care and attention to quality that Philip’s grandmother Nolie inspired.

It used to take several weeks of training to get people up to speed on how to make the product. Now, they’re getting most of it in a day.

The La Grange location houses a deli and grill and makes fresh sandwiches featuring homemade bread. Weikel’s deli serves a variety of breakfast items, including a sandwich using a sweet bun made from kolache dough. For lunch or dinner, customers can choose from a variety of cold or warm sandwiches.

In 2017, the family opened a new location in Brenham. “The 1,800-square-foot bakery seats 14 and is designed with the Weikel families’ Texas Czech roots in mind. The walls are adorned with old family portraits, including the kolache dough recipe patriarch, Nolie Schobel,” said Nick Hensley, business development manager.

Hensley joined the business in 2015 and soon realized the kitchen’s production was not scalable. Books with family recipes were in English and some in Spanish, and sometimes the versions didn’t match. “They were using volumetric measurement methods, like two cups of flour, instead of measuring by weight. As a result, the products didn’t come out exactly the same every time depending on who was making it. Some employees used rounded cups, and some didn’t. Some recipes had deviated over time as a result of training dozens of new employees with no standardized process,” he explained.

Weikel and Hensley wanted to standardize everything. Hensley’s background in industrial operations management and his experience using automated industrial equipment would eventually help the team land on the solution. “I couldn’t find exactly what we needed,” Hensley said. “Industrial systems are highly customized, expensive and not flexible enough to handle retail or small batch type business … So we built our own app.”

There’s an App for That

Recipeasy was born out of necessity. Its iOS program runs on an iPad paired with a Bluetooth scale for measuring. The program walks the user step by step through the process, weighing each ingredient according to the recipe. “The iPad will show a picture of flour, so you know what to add to the scale. When the right amount is added, you are allowed to advance to the next step,” Hensley said.

The app helps make sure the preparation is perfect. When ingredients need to be creamed, employees can watch a video to see exactly how it is done. “We found after a week, Spanish-speaking employees were using the English version. All they needed were the pictures and videos,” Hensley said.

Managers can easily build recipes using the app by filling in the template and taking pictures or video straight from the iPad. “It used to take several weeks of training to get people up to speed on how to make the product. Now, within a day we can throw someone in the kitchen, and they can be making the product as good as someone who’s been there for years,” he said.

The app includes procedural programs, like how to fold an apple strudel. “It’s hard to describe to someone how to do this. They can watch a video and learn.” And because they must use the app to complete the recipe, they are trained every time they make it. Hensley added, “This app helps standardize everything. It’s uploaded on one iPad, and it updates all the iPads in all locations. It downloads new information automatically.”

The app sees use outside the kitchen, as well. Employees can learn how to change CO₂ tanks in fountain machines or print invoices and how to clean restrooms and equipment. The app allows any employee to be trained on almost any task.

The app also offers work opportunities to special needs employees. “An employee with a learning disability makes the kolache dough, and that’s very important to Weikel’s,” he said.

Today, products are shipped around the country, and more people are discovering Weikel’s baked goods. When people ask about the c-store’s success, the answer is simple: Everything is done the same way the family’s been doing it for decades, albeit now with a high-tech twist.

Philip said, “One of the best ways I can grow this business and honor my family and ancestors is to continue in their footsteps by running a good honest business with high principles, and by staying committed to a level of quality that has defined my family’s heritage.”