- Luke Zahm: This week on Wisconsin Foodie: Today, I'm honored and thrilled to be in Sherman Park neighborhood here in Milwaukee.
Behind me is Sherman Phoenix, and I'm gonna have lunch with my man TrueMan, owner of Funky Fresh Spring Rolls.
- You ready to get your grub on?
- Oh, I'm always ready to get my grub on.
- TrueMan: Let's get it.
- Luke: Let's eat.
- TrueMan: In total, the Sherman Phoenix is part food hall, part community space.
It's part meeting space, but it also is a beacon of hope for the community.
- Luke: Wow.
- Stupid good.
- Yeah, stupid good is the word.
Palermo's is a third-generation frozen pizza manufacturer.
And in fact, is one of the largest in the world.
- Giacomo Fallucca: Some would say that we unite and serve.
Others would say that we're in the pizza business.
So we do both.
We are a frozen pizza manufacturer.
We manufacture 300, 400 different varieties of pizza.
- Nick Fallucca: All right, welcome to Palermo's.
- Luke: Thank you.
- Yes, your first time in a pizza factory?
- It is my first time in a pizza factory.
I feel like Charlie going into the chocolate factory.
- Nick: Pretty much.
- Luke: Yeah.
- Except we hope you don't fall into a giant river of sauce.
I think Milwaukee is a great place for food production in general.
We have some of the best natural resources in the country.
Really great ingredients from your wheat, to your proteins, to the water, so.
- Luke: Midwest me, baby.
I love it, I love it.
[upbeat music] Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.
- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.
[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.
It's on everything we make.
- I'm going out to pasture with the cows this morning.
- Announcer: At Organic Valley, we're on a mission to save small family farms.
- Farmer: Tasting pretty good?
- Announcer: And you can join us.
- Farmer: [laughing] Girlfriend's on a mission.
- Announcer: Organic Valley.
- Twenty-minute commutes.
Weekends on the lake.
Warm welcomes and exciting career opportunities.
Not to mention all the great food!
There's a lot to look forward to in Wisconsin.
Learn more at InWisconsin.com.
- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.
Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swiss"consin and see where your beer's made.
- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.
Come for the adventure; stay for the memories.
Go wild in Wisconsin.
To build your adventure, visit DNR.WI.GOV.
- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.
From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.
The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.
- Luke: Additional support from the following underwriters.
[relaxing music] Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
[upbeat music] We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.
We are a merging of cultures and ideas, shaped by this land.
[sizzling] We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.
[glasses clinking] We are storytellers.
We are Wisconsin Foodie.
[groovy music] Today, I'm honored and thrilled to be in Sherman Park neighborhood here in Milwaukee.
Behind me is Sherman Phoenix, and I'm gonna have lunch with my man TrueMan, owner of Funky Fresh Spring Rolls.
And he's gonna break down for me what makes this neighborhood dynamic, what keeps it growing, and how it all connects over food.
- You want yours?
My name is TrueMan McGee and I am owner and head Roll Master of Funky Fresh Spring Rolls here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Sherman Phoenix, where our flagship Funky Fresh Spring Rolls location resides.
Funky Fresh Spring Rolls, what they are, they're non-traditional gourmet spring rolls, handcrafted with fresh ingredients, never ever, ever deep fried, but baked in healthier oils right here.
We have flavors such as buffalo chicken and kale, chicken club, sweet potato and black bean, and over 25 different flavored spring rolls.
The Sherman Phoenix was created out of, I think, one of the more recent, most devastating things to happen to Milwaukee, where the young man, Sylville Smith, lost his life in a police shooting.
Unfortunately, the neighborhood kind of just, like, erupted where the banks got set on fire, gas stations and a lot of tragic things.
Just a really a black eye on Milwaukee.
This place where we at now used to be the BMO Harris Bank and it got burnt down.
And two women, Juli Kaufmann and JoAnne Sabir, they seen hope out of the flames and they seen a need for change.
In total, the Sherman Phoenix is part food hall, part community space, it's part meeting space, but it also is a beacon of hope for the community that something as tragic as a riot, you know, as craziness like the riot ended up being the best thing that could happen for so many people.
It's like that, where we've become a close-knit family and we support each other and our families become family.
And we gather friendships and ways to support each other.
I think our story's great and I feel like with any great story or great business, people are gonna support.
But the way to keep people coming back, we gotta execute.
We gotta have great stuff.
- Hey.
- What's up, brother?
- TrueMan, how are you, man?
- Good, how are you doing?
- It's good to see you.
- Yes sir, yes sir.
- Thanks for having me here.
- My pleasure.
You ready to get your grub on?
- Oh, I'm always ready to get my grub on.
- Let's get it.
- Let's eat.
- It's your first time in the Phoenix, right?
- Yeah.
- Awesome.
- It's beautiful.
- Yes, man, yes.
- Look at this place.
How long has this been open?
- This has been open three years now.
November 30, 2018, the Phoenix was risen.
- You know, it's kind of crazy because this is one of those projects that I even heard about in teeny, tiny small town in southwestern Wisconsin.
- TrueMan: Right, right.
- And, like, how important it is to the Sherman Park neighborhood.
- TrueMan: Yes.
- And after, like, the, you know, the tumultuous history of this place, to come together and have a bunch of beautiful businesses.
- TrueMan: Yes, yes.
- Luke: It's amazing.
- TrueMan: Yes, it's truly a pleasure of mine to be part of this building.
When JoAnne and Juli reached out to me and said they wanted me to be a part of this, immediately within minutes, I agreed 'cause I knew that it's gonna be something historic, but it could be something so beneficial to the neighborhood, which is the neighborhood I grew up in.
- Luke: Yeah, this is the neighborhood you grew up in?
- TrueMan: Absolutely.
I remember as a young boy, riding my bike through this neighborhood, and who knew, 30 years later, I would be part of the rebirth of this neighborhood and this building here?
- Luke: Yeah, this is amazing; I can't wait to eat.
Thank you.
- TrueMan: Let's get it, brother.
- Luke: All right, sounds good.
- Right here, we have a meal from a new company in the Sherman Phoenix called Who's Cooking.
Who's Cooking make a lot of great Southern cuisines, and we have right here a seafood gumbo which has shrimp, crab, has the nice gumbo roux in there, some fluffy white rice.
And we have a homemade, from scratch, everything from scratch, chicken pot pie.
First bites, first bites.
- Luke: I know.
- TrueMan: I'm a pot pie sort of guy.
- Luke: You're a pot pie kinda guy?
- TrueMan: Mm-hmm.
- Luke: What do you mean by pot pie kinda guy?
- Someone who likes great ingredients rolled up in some sort of pastry all together and eat it.
Sort of like spring rolls.
- Yeah, right?
- Anything that goes in a pocket or filling, simple to eat, I'm with it.
- Luke: That's your jam.
- That's it.
- Well, I gotta say, not necessarily being, like, as neat and tidy as a spring roll or a pot pie, this gumbo is delicious.
Like, you get that essence of seafood, and you get some of that smoky sausage.
- TrueMan: Mm-hmm, mmm.
- Luke: The brightness of those scallions and vegetables.
All right, I gotta try this pot pie.
- Oh, yeah, dig in there.
- Here we go.
- That crust is so flaky though.
Look at that.
- That's delicious.
It's sweet, it's so rich.
That flaky crust, those vegetables.
This feels like something you want on a cold winter's day.
- TrueMan: Exactly.
[gentle music] - Luke: What's next, Mr. TrueMan?
- TrueMan: Next up, we're kinda hopping all over the place.
Usually we start with breakfast, but we're gonna have breakfast right now.
- Luke: Oh, my gosh.
- TrueMan: This is a breakfast croissant from Rise & Grind Café.
This right here is one of my favorite meals.
It's the Croissan'wich.
You got turkey sausage, two over hard eggs.
- Luke: Fried eggs?
- TrueMan: Fried eggs and a flaky croissant.
Oh, man this is me.
I don't know if I've ever had a Croissan'wich that was prequeled by... - Both: Gumbo.
[both laughing] - We're really doing ourselves in here.
- TrueMan: Mmm.
You can literally get everything in every bite.
- Luke: Right?
Buttery.
- You can taste the croissant, you can taste the egg, the cheese, the turkey sausage.
- Yeah, this is delicious.
I would eat this every morning.
- TrueMan: Yeah, 100%.
[gentle music] Oh, here comes the wings.
Thank you, brother.
Nice.
So, these are from Buffalo Boss.
- Luke: That's like a little gift.
- TrueMan: Hot wings here, mm-hmm.
- Mmm.
I love chicken wings.
- TrueMan: Mm-hmm, you can't go wrong.
- Seriously.
This is like a dream come true.
[gentle music] - TrueMan: So, pizza, pizza, Sauce & Spice.
This is a jerk chicken pizza.
- Luke: Jerk chicken pizza, I love it.
- TrueMan: Jerk chicken pizza.
It's a barbecue base, mozzarella, jerk chicken.
Actually, we actually make the jerk chicken and we sell it to them.
- Luke: Cool.
- So this is the question of all questions, do pineapples belong on pizza?
The question of all, uh-oh.
Oh no, where we at, where we at?
- Yeah, who's watching?
- Who's watching?
- I tell you what, I... [clears throat] I like pineapple on pizza.
[TrueMan laughs and claps] On some pizza.
On some pizza it's good.
You get that Canadian bacon, or you get that jerk chicken on there.
Like, it's good.
It's sweet and salty and hot.
This is where it's at.
- TrueMan: Let me tell you, this is such a polarizing discussion.
- Luke: Oh, gosh.
- TrueMan: Why don't pineapples belong on pizza?
- Luke: Seriously.
That's a good pizza.
- Mm-hmm.
[gentle music] - Luke: This is your baby coming up next, right?
- TrueMan: This is my baby.
I'm so excited.
- Luke: Yeah.
- We got our Funky Fresh Spring Rolls.
Thank you, Bella.
We got our chicken club spring rolls, so it has chicken, turkey bacon, avocado, tomato, mozzarella.
Buffalo chicken and kale, that's spicy chicken, fresh massaged kale, jalapeños, Greek yogurt, blue cheese.
Actually, local jalapeños from our own Funky Fresh garden.
- Luke: Nice.
- We have our chicken, broccoli, and mushroom with feta 'cause feta's betta, that's what they say.
[Luke laughing] And we got sweet potato and black bean, southwestern flavors, cilantro, hand-rolled goodness.
The chicken club spring roll, now, I can pretty much...
I don't necessarily need a dip with this roll, but if I had to dip using one, I'ma use a little bit of the boom boom sauce with that.
- A little boom.
Okay, here we go.
That was so good.
You're right, it doesn't actually need the sauce.
You've got so many rich flavors going on in here.
Smokiness of that turkey, you get that chicken that's moist.
Good job on that.
- Thank you, thank you.
- All right, so this.
- This is our buffalo chicken and kale.
This is our top seller.
Little spicy chicken, kale, jalapeño, Greek yogurt, blue cheese.
Ah man, this is real good.
- That is good.
- Mm-hmm; this is the second roll we created.
The first roll was the sweet potato black bean.
- Well, this particular roll is...
I mean, like, you get a little bit of that tanginess.
You get a little heat from that buffalo.
- It's a little heat.
It's not crazy heat.
- Nope, but it's good.
- This is the roll that created the business, you know?
- Sweet potato black bean, here we go.
So the thing I love about this, it's kind of no muss, no fuss, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- You get the sweet potato that's wonderfully seasoned.
- TrueMan: Mm-hmm.
And that's got all that nuance, that deep, rich flavor.
You get the black bean, you get a little bit of that cumin in there.
- TrueMan: Absolutely.
- And it kinda just carries through.
But the thing that sings on this one is the crunch.
- The crunch.
- Luke: Oh, it's so good.
- They cook so well.
That combination, sweet potato black bean, cook the best.
- These are delicious, man.
- TrueMan: Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Appreciate it.
- You ready for the sweet spot, man?
- I'm ready to end it.
Ooh!
[Luke laughs] Beautiful.
All right, this is a Oreo cheesecake from Confectionately Yours.
Even has a cute little Oreo on the end of it.
- Luke: Oh, my gosh!
Wow.
- Stupid good.
- Yeah, stupid good is the word.
- I get so mad about how good this is.
[Luke laughs] 'Cause like, God.
- 'Cause you wanna just eat all of it.
- You wanna eat it all, but you know that the other side what that looks like.
- I know exactly what that looks like.
It looks like 10 minutes of burpees.
- TrueMan: Yes.
- Luke: Or 1,000 step-ups.
- TrueMan: Oh, my God, yeah.
- So, we're at the point of the meal where I have to make sure that people get paid.
- Right.
- But I wanna take you up on a couple of your challenges.
Can we do this thing?
- Yes, absolutely.
Let's knock it out.
- Luke: All right, here we go.
- So this is our Funky Fresh "Ways To Save."
You can do 20 pushups, 20 burpees, doable, right?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Or you can do everything on the menu and get your food for free.
- I think it's time that we do everything on the menu.
[TrueMan gasps] [Luke laughs] I mean, this is PBS after all.
- This is PBS.
- This isn't, like, big budget television.
[laughs] - Yes.
- 20 pushups.
- Do you feel any food starting to come up?
- No, I'm good so far.
- Okay.
- 13.
[both clap] [shoes squeak] Here we go, I'm taking a selfie quick.
[shutter clicks] I like it.
- Yes.
Beat a cashier at Rock-Paper-Scissors.
We have Bella there.
She's undefeated.
She hasn't lost today.
- One, two, three, shoot.
[hand claps] - Oh.
- I got you!
- Dang it.
- Oh, man you get your flex on, you get your food fix on.
You come down to the Sherman Phoenix and feel what community really feels like.
Come grow with us because this is where it's at.
This is where it's happening.
You can get good food, good conversation, you can even earn a little bit of your meal.
- TrueMan: Get a good workout.
- Luke: Yeah, seriously.
[groovy music] - Since the last time you guys came here to Funky Fresh Spring Rolls, it's been a lot that's happened.
The substantial thing that have happened was our partnership with Palermo Villa.
We've partnered to expand our frozen line.
They're gonna be helping us with our manufacturing, with our distribution, and the marketing of it, and we are gonna be able to get our product out into more grocery stores around the country hopefully.
For a small business like us, to literally start out of our home to partner with a giant in the food industry, it means the world.
I've literally dreamed of this moment, I've thought about it, I envisioned it, and now that it's here... For one, able to see a dream be fulfilled, but also, it's inspiring to other entrepreneurs who are small, who start at farmer's markets, start at festivals and just local markets, that they can partner with a bigger company and help their business expand.
[groovy music] Yep, so we're heading to Palermo Villa.
And I'm gonna meet with the CEO, the big boss, Giacomo and with Jasper.
Jasper's been working side by side with me on this Funky Fresh Project, and they've been just nothing but great, as far as helping manufacture recipes and getting the packaging together.
So now we're gonna look at some finished packaging, and this is gonna be a product that's gonna be out on shelves really soon.
I'm really excited about it.
The first chicken flavor we created, and I knew that this would be a hit because... - So, I'm Giacomo Fallucca.
I am the chairman and CEO of Palermo Villa, Inc.
Some would say that we unite and serve.
Others would say that we're in the pizza business.
So, we do both.
We are a frozen pizza manufacturer.
And we manufacture 300, 400 different varieties of pizza.
I am humbled by the food scene in Milwaukee.
Restaurants, bars, food manufacturers.
When I see the creativity and the genius in the food that's produced here, I'm like, "That is so amazing."
I was an early investor in one of the businesses at the Sherman Phoenix.
Providing them equipment to start up a pizza, Sauce & Spice.
And they began at Sherman Phoenix and we helped them develop that pizza.
It was phenomenal.
Just phenomenal pizza.
But what I noticed at the Sherman Phoenix was meeting folks like True and see what he is doing.
And I would go down to his kitchen and I would see how he was mixing his combinations to put into his Funky Fresh Spring Rolls.
I was blown away by that.
[feet tapping] - Mmm, so good.
- So, my name's Jasper Fallucca.
I am the Director of Business Development.
Really what I look at are different companies that we can invest in or acquire.
And then once we either invest or acquire in them, it's my job to, kind of, be the liaison between our parent company and the new company and try to merge and then launch the brand.
- What I love most is each package has our story on the back, you know.
Literally living with my parents.
Just, kind of, watching this is, like, man, this is amazing.
To go from there to where we're at right now.
- For us, we're able to take a company that we can scale up quickly.
And for TrueMan, you know, a lot of the headaches that go into manufacturing, or trying to raise capital, and do a startup and figure out, okay, how do you find a co-packer?
How do you find someone to make your packaging?
How do you find someone to do a quality assessment of your ingredients?
Those are all things that we do on a daily basis.
So for him, and what we always said was, you know, "You do the marketing, you come up with the flavors.
"That is what you are so good at.
"And that is why Funky Fresh is the way it is.
"Let us handle all the stuff behind the scenes.
That is distributing, getting you in front of a retailer."
'Cause I know, as soon as we get TrueMan in front of a retailer, they're gonna buy it.
- I'm with it.
[laughs] In a good way.
[groovy music] - We're on our way to Palermo's Pizza in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Palermo's is a third-generation frozen pizza manufacturer.
And in fact, is one of the largest in the world.
That would be story enough alone for us to follow, but curiously, they acquired TrueMan's Funky Fresh Spring Rolls, the frozen product line only.
And I love stories of food and community and how it kind of all comes together to make one stronger and more united Wisconsin.
- Nick: All right, welcome to Palermo's.
- Luke: Thank you.
- Yeah, it's your first time in a pizza factory?
- It is my first time in a pizza factory.
I feel like Charlie going into the chocolate factory.
- Pretty much; except we hope you don't fall into a giant river of sauce.
We are about 250,000 square feet.
Between 800 and 1,000 employees.
- Luke: That's a lot.
- Nick: A lot.
We make upwards of 500-1,000 pizzas per day.
- I love pizza.
Most Americans do, but, like, to see this in the process.
You know, I'm watching these dough ingredients get mixed over here, being conveyored up, being run out, and then they're balled right over here?
- Yeah, so just like any pizzeria, we start with our ingredients, pretty much everything you put in a regular pizza dough.
It gets made into the giant chunk of dough, and then instead of a person balling it by hand, we have an automatic dough baller that basically takes these dough chunks and, you know, balls them into perfect balls.
- Luke: That's amazing.
- Nick: Nice, soft dough ball.
- Luke: Yeah, that feels perfect.
She's springy.
- Nick: Springy.
- You push on it, you watch that thing bounce back.
- Oh, yeah.
- That's how you know that it's well-calibrated.
This is a good piece of dough, yeah.
- So after this, it's gonna go into our proofer up here.
You know, the dough is gonna rise even more and then we're gonna press the dough... - Luke: Sure.
- Nick: ...to make our rising crust.
- Luke: Why is Milwaukee a good home for this?
- Nick: I think Milwaukee is a great place for food production in general.
We have some of the best natural resources in the country between Lake Michigan, our farms.
We actually have the second most organic farms in the country.
- Yeah.
- You think of all of the big food companies in Wisconsin.
I mean, there are some major food companies that are headquartered or started in Wisconsin.
And then with frozen pizza, I mean a lot of the probably Italian heritage of people coming over to Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
But then again, just really great ingredients from your wheat, to your proteins, to the water, so.
- Luke: Midwest me, baby.
I love it, I love it.
- Nick: So next, they're gonna go through just a tunnel, which could either be an oven or it can just be a pass-through tunnel that's going right into the freezer.
- Okay.
- So pretty much after this, these crusts are gonna be flash frozen.
- And then they get topped and then frozen again?
- Nick: Correct.
So right here is where we do our sauce topping.
All of our sauce is made in-house.
And so we have little lasers that tell you where the pizza is and then it tells you exactly where the pump pumps down the sauce.
- Luke: The cheeser!
- Nick: This is what we call a waterfall machine.
Most of our cheese comes in block form, so our cheddars, our mozzarellas, our provolones, they come in blocks.
And then we freshly shred those blocks right onto the pizza.
So everything we do is freshly shredded.
- Luke: And what are we talking here, Nick?
How much cheese do we go through in a year of Palermo's production of, like, half a million pizzas a day?
- Nick: So we'll easily buy more than 30 million pounds of cheese per year.
- Luke: This is a whole economy, right here.
- Nick: It is.
- How often do you eat pizza?
- I eat pizza every single day.
- What?
- I'd probably say, like, a half a pizza a day.
- No way.
- Yeah, that's what I eat.
- Have you eaten pizza yet today?
- I have.
- Okay.
- This morning.
- Do you have any room for any more?
- I do.
- Sweet.
- So we'll go make some pizzas.
- Luke: You wanna make some pizzas?
- Nick: Let's make some pizzas.
We'll toss some dough.
- Luke: That sounds great.
I love it, I love it.
- Nick: Yeah.
- Giacomo: We have a pizzeria in our factory, serving wood-fired pizzas.
Hand-stretched dough.
Why not make Wisconsin a go-to place for food and beverage?
I call it the Silicon Valley of the Midwest, okay?
Because of the richness in organics, food that we have, but we have great manufacturers that want to give their best to their food products and beverage products.
Everything from employee retention to high-quality suppliers and equipment.
[gentle music] - Luke: Okay, what do we have here?
- Nick: All right, so we got a traditional sausage Margherita, so we got some delicious pizza aioli sauce, some BelGioioso fresh mozzarella, some fresh-made local Italian sausage, basil, and olive oil.
- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
- For taking time to, like, work with me today, walk me through this place, introduce me to your family.
- It's been an honor.
- And, you know, keep all those community roots, and those Wisconsin traditions that you guys embody through your work, and through the work of TrueMan, and others like him.
Stay true to that because man, oh, man, you guys are definitely a light to follow for the rest of us.
[gentle music] - Arthur: Let's get that high five, same enthusiasm, maybe higher.
[hands clapping] Okay, there we go.
- All right, my man!
- [gruff announcer voice] Here we are today.
- I wanna rock!
Whoo!
Okay, clear this croissant.
Are you gonna eat that?
- Yeah, actually.
[Luke laughs] This is really good.
[Luke laughs] Hey man, that's enough.
- Here we go, wait, I got you.
Oh, so close.
- Wisconsin Foodie came and wrecked the building today.
[Luke laughs] - Luke: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.
[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.
It's on everything we make.
- I'm going out to pasture with the cows this morning.
- Announcer: At Organic Valley, we're on a mission to save small family farms.
- Farmer: Tasting pretty good?
- Announcer: And you can join us.
- Farmer: [laughing] Girlfriend's on a mission.
- Announcer: Organic Valley.
- Twenty-minute commutes.
Weekends on the lake.
Warm welcomes and exciting career opportunities.
Not to mention all the great food!
There's a lot to look forward to in Wisconsin.
Learn more at InWisconsin.com.
- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.
Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swiss"consin and see where your beer's made.
- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.
Come for the adventure; stay for the memories.
Go wild in Wisconsin.
To build your adventure, visit DNR.WI.GOV.
- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.
From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.
The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.
- Luke: Additional support from the following underwriters: [relaxing music] Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you'll find past episodes and special segments just for you.
[whimsical music]