WEST ALLIS — There is a store in Wisconsin that just makes rice crispy treats. Nothing else. One product and dozens of flavors.
Carrie’s Crispies in West Allis has flavors like Blue Moon, Fruity Rainbow, Orange Dreamsicle, S’mores, Peanut Butter Cup, White Chocolate Raspberry, Sour Patch Lemonade, Dubai Chocolate, Pineapple Jalapeño, Habeñero Berry, and tons more. They’ve made 400 different flavors since formally starting Carrie’s Crispies in 2015.
And of all those flavors, I wanted to try the chocolate reaper made with Carolina Reaper pepper powder. It's a pepper known to be incredibly hot.
Now, at first, I thought, oh, this is no problem. It’s probably just a gimmick. Let me tell you, I was wrong.
Watch the video below to see my reaction to the Chocolate Reaper made with Carolina Reaper powder....
Carrie’s Crispies is owned by the husband-and-wife duo Bryan and Carrie Cieslak.
"Rice crispy treats, that’s all we think about and do," Carrie said.
She has had a love affair with rice crispy treats since she was a teenager.
“It’s a weird combination, I think, of like gooeyness and a little bit of crunch," She said.
Cieslak would make rice crispy treats and bring them to friends. Eventually, those same friends would ask for custom flavors. They were so popular, Carrie and Brian got the idea to start selling them. So, in 2015 Carrie's Crispies officially opened. The Cieslak's sold their sweet treats at farmers' markets across the area. As business picked up, they faced a decision. Continue working nights and weekends to keep up with demand, or quit their jobs and go full-time on rice crispy treats.
They chose to pursue their passion and opened their physical storefront in 2020. Ever since, business has continued to grow.
“And then lately a lot of people have been driving from Illinois, Minnesota, from the Midwest, making the time in their trip, in their road trip, to come visit us," Brian said.
When I was at the store, a group of ladies came in from the Oconomowoc area. Not an out-of-state guest but still about 40 minutes away.
“They’re incredible, the best rice crispy treats I have ever had in my life. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s magic. They are so good," Angela Fatla, said.
Which is why Carrie and Brian can ignore the business advice that diversification is good. Their one-track mind approach has paid off for them.
“A lot of people can’t wrap their head around it, which is good, which means we’re innovative to a point. So, yea, that’s all we do. I mean, why expand it when we haven’t even begun to tap the market on our product?" Brian said.
All they need is one product, with dozens of flavors, and the business keeps growing.
“We are going to be expanding our building. We just need a lot more production space," Carrie said.
The store is open from Wednesday - Friday, 11 am to 5 pm, and Saturday from 11 am to 3 pm. They do bulk orders for corporate events, birthdays, weddings, and more.
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