MUKWONAGO, WI — Even more colorful than “Mukwonago” — the name of the town hosting Bushmans’ Inc. Milwaukee-area office — is the office itself. This potato company’s suburban office was once a stagecoach stop.

Rosholt, hours north in Wisconsin’s hinterlands, is Bushmans’ headquarters.

Michael Gatz, new business director, and Bushmans’ salesman Jim Stefan, were just beginning to settle into the new office when The Produce News stopped in.

The stage coach stop was built in 1848. The coach tops were so high that buildings such as this had hinged doors located a dozen feet above the road level. From there, one man could pass luggage from the coach-top directly over to a co-worker standing inside the high door. Such a door-to-nowhere is still in place in Bushmans’ new office. So are beams that clearly show the adze marks on hewn logs. What is missing is the second floor of the original building, which was removed to leave a very high ceiling in the 165-year-old building.

Neatly tacked side by side on the back wall of the office are three burlap bags bearing Bushmans’ “Country Boy” brand. Gatz said “Country Boy” and “Potato World” are Bushmans’ oldest brands.

Gatz acknowledges that his allies at the U.S. Potato Board have gone to great lengths to modernize potato branding. But, he said, “I also am old school.” By Thanksgiving Bushmans’ plans to introduce a modern, revitalized “Potato World” brand, while keeping some features of the classic old label.

Gatz said the Mukwonago office is a good strategic decision for the company because it is near many customers: 30 minutes from downtown Milwaukee and only 90 minutes from Chicago.

Gatz’s father was a produce dealer on Chicago’s old South Water Street Market. Gatz worked as a category manager for the Milwaukee-based retailer Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc. and worked in this area for Maglio Produce Co. before taking his position with Bushmans’.

Meeting Aug. 6 with The Produce News in his Rosholt office, family-owner Mitch Bushman said, “We continue to grow and expand. We are fortunate as the industry consolidates that we keep growing with it. We have a great group of growers that we work with.”

Bushmans’ produces 16,000 acres of fruits and vegetables each year. The company has only 45 employees to handle the production, packing and shipping. Most of that production is in potatoes, according to the owner.

Gatz indicated that the firm works with growers in other states, including Idaho, Colorado, Florida, California and Michigan, “and we need to even expand that to be closer to our customers. The only way to cut your expenses today is to save on freight.” He noted that potato prices are sometimes the same as in the 1960s.

“We have a packing facility in New Brunswick (Canada). We would like to expand that way,” Gatz said.

Whether the potatoes come out of Wisconsin or another allied source, the Bushmans’ motto is “Let us be your warehouse.” Production near to customers reduces freight costs and delivery times from that “warehouse.”

“We need more product,” Gatz noted. “We never turn down a customer.”

As a one-time produce buyer, he understands a buyer’s desire for the convenience of making one call to one supplier to fulfill any need, such as any type or pack of potato. Bushmans’ works to fill that role.

Gatz said Bushmans’ is moving beyond the industry phone call indicating, “Here’s a load of russets. What do you want to pay?”

“We have grown potatoes for 100 years. We know it so well,” Bushman said.