The Full Story
About
Johnston's Ready Bake grew out of Johnston’s Bakery, where our frozen dough program began as a way to help customers deliver fresh bakery products with greater consistency. As grocery bakeries and food-service operations faced increasing staffing challenges, demand for high-quality, ready-to-bake solutions continued to rise.
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Over the past 25 years, that frozen division has grown every single year — driven by our customers’ need for reliable products that make baking easier without sacrificing made from scratch quality. What started as a supporting part of the family bakery became something bigger: a focused operation dedicated entirely to frozen bakery solutions.
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Today, Johnston's Ready Bake stands as its own company, built on the same family values and baking expertise that started it all. We combine decades of hands-on baking knowledge with modern production and food safety standards to deliver products that perform consistently, taste great, and help our customers succeed — even with smaller teams and tighter operations.
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While we’ve evolved, our purpose hasn’t changed: support the people behind the bakery case and in the kitchen with dependable products and service they can count on.
Mission
Our mission is simple: make bakery products that taste homemade, perform consistently, and make life easier for the people who bake and serve them. At Johnston's Ready Bake, quality ingredients, careful processes, and a commitment to service are baked into everything we do.
History
1950
Joseph and Caroline Johnston opened their first company, L.S.P. Bakery, a wholesale bakery supporting local grocery stores. Joe developed the “Sheboygan Style Hard Roll” and was affectionately referred to as “The Hard Roll King.”
1961
The business was expanded to include a retail operation and renamed Johnston's Bakery.
1987
The business was acquired by Joe and Caroline's sons.
1988
Johnston’s introduced its first Frozen Dough product, “Holiday Stollen.”
1999
A state-of-the-art frozen dough plant was constructed.
2014
The plant was expanded to add frozen cookie dough production.
2024
Frozen Pre-baked production is expanded at the plant, almost doubling the size.
Sheboygan-Style
Hard Rolls®
Joe Johnston always believed a good bun should complement what's inside, not compete with it. In 1950 he perfected the version of the Sheboygan-style Hard Roll® that lives on today. This award-winning bun features a thin, crispy crust dusted with cornmeal and a soft, flavorful inside. It is perfect for use with juicy burgers but is versatile enough for the classic Sheboygan double brat, pulled pork, deli sandwiches, breakfast sandwiches and more. These delicious hard rolls are available as pre-baked or frozen dough in multiple sizes.