CHICAGO — Roeser’s Bakery opened in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood in 1911.
Four years prior, founder John Charles Roeser started selling baked goods with a partner from two horse driven wagons after immigrating from Germany to the Windy City.
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“I often think about him,” said current owner John Charles Roeser IV, who is the great-grandson of the founder. “You got to have a lot of courage to do that, to come to a new country.”
I love what I do, and I’m very passionate about what I do… I’m just trying to make them proud.
John Charles Roeser IV, Roeser’s Bakery owner
Roeser said the neighborhood has changed since his great grandfather put down roots there. First serving Western Europeans and Eastern Europeans after that, the bakery’s customer base has been mostly Puerto Rican over the last 40-50 years.
“From every generation, we’ve kept a little bit of everything that people liked,” Roeser said. “Were here to serve anybody in the neighborhood and were here to serve with a smile on our faces.”
The bakery has become an institution selling specialty cakes, donuts, cookies, pastries, and homemade ice cream. Its exterior and display window was featured prominently in the beginning of a season one episode of FX’s “The Bear.”
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“They had a bunch of special donuts they wanted me to make,” Roeser said. “I had a lot of friends and family reaching out to me after they saw that.”
Roeser is fourth in line to own and run the bakery from his great-grandfather, grandfather and father, each with the same name. His own son is quite young with no plans to take over just yet.
“I have a son, John Charles Roeser V,” Roeser IV said. “It will be a while until we know what he’s trying to do.”
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Roeser said he loves being the go-to person for the bakery, working everyday of the week for most of the day. He said he’s proud to run the oldest, family-owned bakery in Chicago, a town known worldwide for it’s food beyond deep dish pizza.
“I love what I do, and I’m very passionate about what I do,” Roeser said. “My great-grandfather, my grandfather, my father, I’m just trying to make them proud.”
For more information on Roeser’s Bakery, visit roeserscakes.com