Roughly eight and a half years ago, a new restaurant was opened in downtown Manitowoc. Wrap It Up offered a bit of a different experience, as they created high-quality wraps with different flavors of tortilla, as well as paninis and different coffee options.
We spoke with Owner, Randy Lueptow, said they have come a long way since he and his wife Barb took over.
“The scope back then was fairly small,” he explained. “It was just kind of a lunch counter place…So we started looking for gaps in the community. Where is there a need and how can we take this sub-optimized concept, because it was a great concept, and I think it had a lot more stretch than they were able to [achieve] in their lives..”
On top of slowly adding more items to the menu, and expanding their hours, Luetpow said the community has been a major part of their continued success.
“We have really been blessed,” he said. “There has been a lot of organic growth. The tourism has grown, and the Badger is phenomenal…We survived COVID thanks to this community. There was construction during COVID…It couldn’t have been a worse situation.”
Anyone who has seen Randy in action has seen first hand his love for his staff, and how he is able to remain calm in stressful situations. He said that is an important part of the culture he is trying to instill.
“You have to earn the trust and respect of people in order to have influence over them,” he expressed. “That influence turns into great customer service…which just comes right back around to us being successful so they can share in that success.”
And that philosophy is obviously working, because Lueptow said they are working on expanding into the neighboring unit. As a part of that Wrap It Up will be “taking down some walls and doubling in size, adding a kitchen, adding a bathroom, adding seating, and probably a six to eight stool bar.”
Randy is also giving back to the community through a promotion with Koeppel Concrete. They are giving away $2,000 worth of drinks to public service workers in the area. Simply show up, and let them know you are a police officer, paramedic, firefighter, or first responder, and claim your free coffee, tea, or other drink.
