About us

Our story

Once, we were welcomed to Wisconsin. Now, we welcome you.

We love getting together with neighbors and friends.

The heritage of Foxtown Hospitality Group can be traced to 1839, when our founding families came to Wisconsin. They arrived as strangers, but quickly made friends and connections and began to plant roots. In that spirit, a warm welcome awaits you at all of our venues. It’s like we’ve known each other forever.

Our history

Of families, foxes, and foaming beer.

Our roots go deep, and so do our caves.

The Fromm and Nieman families came to America with few material possessions, but flush with ideas and energy. Pursuing their dreams, they would make a lasting imprint on Wisconsin, and Ozaukee County especially, as loggers, landowners, bankers, growers, breeders, scientists, and visionaries. They would undoubtedly be pleased to know that their entrepreneurial spirit, family values, and community-mindedness would birth a hospitality group some 170 years later. After all, welcoming friends and neighbors and feeding a crowd around the table was just part of being family. Today, Foxtown Hospitality Group toasts their legacy.

Milestones of family and community.

1852

From there to here.

The Fromm and Nieman families immigrate to Wisconsin in 1852 from Germany for the plentiful land and opportunities. They settle in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

1857

Early craft brewers.

At about the same time, two other German immigrant families open the Zimmermann and Opitz Brewery on what is now Foxtown Crossing. August Gerlach would take over leadership in 1884, renaming it Mequon Brewing.

1883

The Union.

The families unite when Frederick “Fritz” From marries Alwina Nieman. They have five children: Walter, Edward, John, Henry, and Erna.

1890

Boom times.

John decamps to Michigan to participate in the logging boom there. He raises a family with his wife, Martha, who insists they move back to Wisconsin. They return, bringing his hard-earned wealth from the logging boom to Cedarburg.

1904

The startup.

The four Fromm brothers—Walter, Edward, John, and Henry—form what they modestly call “The Company” while sitting on the porch of their family farm. Its mission: to produce silver foxes while also cultivating and harvesting ginseng.

1908

Lending a hand.

After giving numerous loans to local farmers and utilizing their hogs as collateral, John decides the community needs a bank. Along with other local businessmen, he founds Cedarburg State Bank. Two years later, he would establish the Thiensville State Bank.

1910

Canned good.

Ever the entrepreneur, John founds the Cedarburg Cannery and the Old Milwaukee River Cannery. The business would eventually become the Herbert A. Nieman Canning Company, located on what is now Mequon Town Center.

1916

Investing in silver.

Alwina Nieman-Fromm co-signs a loan with her farm (a wedding gift from her father) as collateral to help her sons purchase three silver foxes and begin to pursue their business plan.

1921

Fox towns.

John Nieman’s son Edwin marries Erna Fromm, the sister of the four “Company” Fromm brothers. They move to Mequon, bringing 12 pair of From Silver Foxes, thus beginning the Silver Fox era in the Mequon-Thiensville and Cedarburg area.

1920

A new ventrue.

John Nieman provides the necessary capital for his son Edwin and the Fromm brothers to establish Fromm Bros., Nieman & Co.

1925

Family recepies.

Fromm Bros., Nieman & Co. builds its own food manufacturing plant in Mequon. This allows them to continue producing their own nutritionally focused recipes at volume sustainable for growth. The plant is still in operation today and serves as company headquarters.

1933

A world first in foxes.

The fox breeding and ginseng growing business prospers. Their innovative breeding techniques and sound nutrition result in the world’s very first litter of 11 silver foxes, born on the company’s farm in Mequon-Thiensville.

1984

Tom takes the reins.

After graduating with a chemical degree engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and gaining professional experience, Edwin J. Nieman Sr.’s grandson Tom returns to Wisconsin with his wife Kathy and newborn son Bryan to take head the family business.

1995

Taking the family name.

Federal Foods, Inc. is renamed Fromm Family Foods, LLC to reflect its fourth-generation ownership and the company’s strong family values.

2013

Small Business Person of the Year.

Tom Nieman wins the U.S. Small Business Administration-Wisconsin Small Business Person of the Year Award.

2014

A century of success.

Remaining committed to independent pet specialty, Fromm celebrates its 100th anniversary on the heels of another year of outstanding growth.

2019

Something’s brewing.

Foxtown Brewing Co. opens on the site of the original Adolph Zimmermann and Optiz Brewery. The development’s exposed hand-hewn beams, cream city brick, original rafters and lagering caves date from the original brewery buildings.

2022

Hip town square.

Foxtown Brewing is joined by a live music hall and bar, a fine dining restaurant, a butcher shop, a coffee house and bakery, and event space as part of Foxtown Commons, a 17-acre “town square”-style concept.

Reverse order

Careers

Foxtown Hospitality is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

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