If there had been computers and rampant video games to keep kids occupied in the 1980s, Anna Bakalinsky might not be where she is today, the owner of Mila’s European Bakery in Thiensville.
Bakalinsky also has her mother to thank for her current position. Mila Kofman needed to occupy little Anna at her Thiensville Bakery while Mila worked.
“My mom would give me decorating tubes and a cake and she would let me use my creativity to practice the writing, the different borders; she would show me how to make a rose out of butter cream,” Bakalinsky said. “One day my mom gave me a cake and I decorated it.”
Before rushing out of the shop at the end of the workday, Mila put 8-year-old Anna’s wildly decorated cake in the showcase window. When they came back the next morning, the clerk said a woman came in looking for a fun, whimsical cake and bought Anna’s.
“My mother was completely shocked and embarrassed that it was not at her level of quality,” Bakalinsky said. Yet that was the start of a future career for Bakalinsky.
Mila and her husband, Mark, taught Bakalinsky so much more than just the art of baking. They instilled in her a strong work ethic and an entrepreneurial spirit, Bakalinsky said.
“Working at the bakery, my parents instilled the European stronger work ethic in me and my brother [George Kofman, a computer specialist who lives in Bayside]. We were encouraged to pursue the American dream.
“I gave 110 percent. It was more gratifying than bagging groceries at a local grocery store. I was taking charge and I was in a way my own boss — with limitations, of course.”
Bakalinsky remembers a specific time when those limitations were tested. As a Girl Scout, Bakalinsky wanted to win a prize for selling cookies. To achieve this goal, Bakalinsky had a more efficient sales strategy than everyone else’s door-to-door efforts. She set up her display at Mila’s Bakery.
“I dressed up really cute and all the customers thought it was cute that a little girl was there selling Girl Scout cookies,” Bakalinsky said. “They would come into the bakery and buy my Girl Scout cookies instead of Mila’s cookies.”
But Mila didn’t let that competition last long, Bakalinsky said. “My mother said, ‘That’s it, pack up your stuff!’”
‘Be yourself’
Years later, Bakalinsky, armed with a degree in marketing and international business from the University of Wisconsin-Madison entered the corporate world. But she always felt the pull of the family business.
“After work I was helping out in the bakery, assisting and advising my parents,” she said. And Bakalinsky realized that life in a corporation wasn’t anywhere near as sweet as baking.
“I didn’t want to look like everybody else, I didn’t want to dress like everybody else; they were all clones of each other,” she said. “Then I remember what my parents had instilled: Be yourself. I was more of an entrepreneur than a person sitting in a cubicle.”
Bakalinsky wanted to apply her marketing degree to Mila’s, although her parents weren’t thrilled with the idea initially. “They wanted me to be more experienced and knowledgeable. I was a recent graduate but I knew I’d rather market something that I truly believed in and enjoy than something intangible. Everybody loves food.”
She left the corporate world and joined her parents in the bakery business in 1996, and worked alongside them until she bought Mila’s European Bakery from her parents in 2005.
Bakalinsky’s goal was to take the business from a neighborhood bakery that was open sevent days a week to a fast growing wholesale and Internet baked goods supplier. She achieved that goal and more. Today Mila’s projected annual revenues reach approximately $1.5 million.
“I sell to selected grocery stores in the Milwaukee area like Woodman’s and Grasch Foods as well as certain Pick ‘n Save and Sendik’s,” she said. “I also supply distributors and deliver products to high-end grocery stores in Illinois.”
Bakalinsky’s mother still helps as a technical advisor and is involved in product development and research. Bakalinsky’s father passed away in January.
Bakalinsky was recently selected as one of The Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 issue, which profiles up-and-comers in the local business community.
Bakalinsky added, “Dad was taken to the hospital the day after I turned in my application for 40 Under 40. I didn’t think I had the qualifications, I’m just doing what I love and enjoy.”
Bakalinsky also loves and enjoys spending time with her husband, Roman, and their three very busy kids, Ellie, Jacob and Zach.
Some bestsellers at Mila’s European Bakery are almond horns, cheese bars and coffee cakes. Customers can order these and other Mila’s European Bakery favorites at the company’s website, www.milasbakery.com, or by calling 262-242-1404.
Joan Elovitz Kazan is a freelance writer who regularly contributes feature stories to magazines. She writes social media postings and website copy for a variety of businesses and assists high school students in developing and editing their college application essays. This article is the first in a projected series of profiles of community individuals.
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