Fizzeology

31 miles from PFC—La Crosse

Fizzeology: a fermenting business

People’s Food Co-op made a recent visit to Viroqua’s fermented food producer Fizzeology. Fizzeology has been a steady supplier to People’s Food Co-op for many years. Faith Anacker brought her Sauerkraut, Kimchi, and other flavors into the La Crosse store in 2012. Faith sold the company to Rob Andolsek about two years ago.

 PFC met with Rob and his production crew on a chilly fall morning. During the length of our interview, the crew cut, trimmed, shredded, and set up for fermentation several hundred pounds of cabbage for a batch of German Sauerkraut. In addition to German Sauerkraut, the company makes Kimchi, Curtido, Naked Sauerkraut, Ginger Carrots, and Seasonal Ferments.

 Fizzeology proudly supports our region’s local farmers. They use local cabbage, carrots, daikon, burdock, and other ingredients in their products. Local producers such as Harmony Valley Farms, Driftless Organics, Small Family Farms, and local Amish farmers all bring their produce to Fizzeology. Not only is Fizzeology super local, but all ingredients are also organic.

Rob bought the business from Faith in August of 2021. He has a background in engineering and had had a 20-year career at S&S Cycles in Viola, but decided he was ready to have his own business. While still at S&S, he worked part-time with Faith for several months to learn the ropes. He has been full time at Fizzeology since June of 2022.

He took business advice from other fermented food makers but found that the business skills he’d learned at S&S applied to his new business as well. “I know manufacturing, purchasing, shipping – figuring out the fastest way to do stuff. I identified where the costs were and I worked to bring those costs down,” Rob said. For example, he realized that some of the farmers supplying his produce lived near his markets. He arranged to have the farmers drop off their produce and return with a load of Fizzeology for delivery to co-ops and restaurants near their farms.

Fizzeology can be found in groceries and restaurants from Madison to the Twin Cities. You won’t find Fizzeology in the big chain groceries, however. He works almost exclusively with co-ops and farm stores. Kimchi, the Korean staple, is a big seller. “Toppling Goliath in Decorah buys gallons of our kimchi and Viroqua Co-op buys a lot for their kimchi Reuben.”

Rob finds the toughest part of the business has been getting an accurate forecast for what the stores will order. “I worry about running out of stock. You don’t want to lose a customer because you can’t meet demand.”

Fizzeology crew at speed. From left: Justin, Mary, Daniel, Gabe – Rob is behind Gabe.

Labor assistance

The business is very much hands-on. Vegetables for the ferments are chopped and prepped by Rob and staff from Employment Partners, a program owned and operated by Daniel Chotzen that provides job coaching to adults who have difficulties finding employment.

It’s steady work. Daniel and his crew work at the Food Enterprise Center year-round. Employment Partners has been working at Fizzeology Foods for years – having worked for Faith before Rob bought the business. “I couldn’t do it without Daniel and his crew,” Andolsek said.

The day People’s Food Co-op visited, Rob had four crewmembers from Employment Partners to help with processing. Daniel, Gabe, Justin, and Mary were busy filling glass jars with Fizzeology’s Sauerkraut. After a break and a clean-up of the workspace, the crew set to work processing hundreds of heads of cabbage for the next German Sauerkraut fermentation. Gabe has worked with Employment Partners for 22 years, Justin for 20 years, and Mary is the rookie with only 10 years of employment.

The Fizzeology crew is an efficient team. Rob and Daniel make the first cuts, Mary, Gabe, and Justin remove the outer leaves and cut the cabbage halves into smaller pieces. The unused leaves and scraps are picked up by a local pig farmer for forage. The crew finishes about 380 pounds of cabbage in 25 minutes of chopping.

“I like a challenge, see if I can grow the business,” Rob says, splitting another cabbage as he talks. “I like working with these guys and working with the farmers. I don’t want too much more business. I don’t need the stress.”

Fizzeology has been a mainstay at the La Crosse store for many years. PFC has been lucky to have such an excellent source of local, organic kimchi and sauerkraut so close to home.

Fizzeology is available in the La Crosse store.

Fizzeology Foods offers the following products:

• Kickapoo Kimchi (made with cabbage, carrots, onions, red pepper, black Spanish radish, daikon, burdock, ginger, garlic, and salt)

• Kickapoo Curtido (a Latin-style ferment made with cabbage, carrots, red chili peppers, onions, oregano, cilantro, red chili, and salt)

• German Style Sauerkraut (made with cabbage, caraway seeds, juniper berries, and salt)

• Naked Sauerkraut (made with cabbage and salt)

• Ginger Carrots (made with carrots, ginger, and salt).

• Fermented Chili Sauce

• They make a Seasonal Ferment that changes based on what ingredients are available.