About Us

 

WeatherVane Creamery is a “Wisconsin Only” specialty retail shop and café featuring wrapped farmstead, artisan and specialty cheeses, organic, small batch churned scooped ice cream, malts and floats, soup, gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, carefully selected frozen meats, Wisconsin kitsch items, exclusive locally roasted coffee beans, other edibles such as maple syrup and honey, and the customer experience of the pour over coffee and tea method.  Currently we are looking for investors and lenders to be able to open our store front in River Falls, Wisconsin and are working on developing an online store.

Part of WeatherVane Creamery’s mission is to provide the community with a LOCAL business that is SMART, QUIRKY, ACCESSIBLE, and MAGICAL. It will be an “iconic Wisconsin destination store that successfully combines and appeals to TRADITIONAL SENSIBILITIES with a HIP and MODERN feel.”

What started as an idea to open a coffee shop has evolved and expanded to become a celebration of all of the things that Sarah missed during her ten years away from her home state.  She took the time to listen to what people said was missing in River Falls.  And all along she had been working with the Pierce County Economic Development Corporation, Small Business Development Center, and the River Falls Chamber of Commerce to develop the business plan and explore financing options.  Well, the truth of the matter is, she’s just a girl with a lot of passion, energy, and a great track record for running successful businesses who has very little funds.  The banks aren’t interested in investing in a business that has coolers and refrigeration to leave behind if something happens.  They want business owners to have a house or something that they can possess and we don’t have that.

For River Falls, we are excited and honored to get to be the people to show the rest of the world what we’ve got here.  It is the place less traveled with secret treasures abound.  River Falls is on the cusp of a major transformation as a community.  We can smell it in the air.  Also, in creating the business we have been able to share our vision with others and it has already made a difference in the community.  Other people’s eyes are starting to open with wonder about the possibilities of River Falls.  People want to start businesses after talking with us.  Alliances are already forming for the future.  Not to mention the miracle of job creation and working with local contractors and vendors!  And we have folks that want to visit from all over the country after hearing about what we are doing.

 

Sarah’s Story

Hey, I am Sarah Kowal and I am the visionary-extraordinaire of WeatherVane Creamery.  See, I lived in River Falls ten years ago as a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where I got my Bachelors of
Science in Horticulture.  During that time, I worked at Whole Earth Grocery and really got to know the community, especially the local business community on Main Street.  In fact, River Falls, Wisconsin is where I got my first taste of running a business (unless you count my paper route when I was eleven or selling donuts at my dad’s auctions at ten).  Well, from there I moved on to greener pastures (or so I thought) to take a job in Chicagoland for the largest horticultural company in the world.  I then went on to become a store manager at Starbucks Coffee Company on the commuter train line in Palatine, IL.  During that time, I was acknowledged for being a leader in fiscal responsibility, employee development, customer service, and community involvement (you can get the details on LinkedIn).  Eventually I made my way to Portland, OR where I was hired to expand a natural foods co-op.  I developed systems and teams for the two stores and connected with amazing farmers of wonderful bounties.  Peaches, cherries and figs oh my!  I was known amongst Portland chefs as an expert in sourcing locally grown specialty fruits and vegetables.  I have a great compassion for farmers that provide us with our food and love sharing new and special things with people.  I found myself in a position last March to create a new life and recalled with great fondness the wonderful things from River Falls, Wisconsin.  I packed up my trusty sidekick and set out on an epic journey across the country that began on Easter Day to come home and put down some deep roots.