Westye F. Bakke was a simple man from modest roots, yet without him, the modern home refrigerator might not exist. He was one of 11 children of Norwegian immigrants in northern Wisconsin. When they reached the eighth grade, that was the limit of their education. Westye had a passion for reading and tinkering with mechanical devices. He worked for refrigeration companies, often dismantling and reassembling each new model to see how it worked, and soon began taking on refrigeration contracts of his own. He was one of the few people who could consistently hold temperatures below zero, which is why he named his company Sub-Zero.
As the company grew, it wasn’t long before Westye’s son, Bud, joined him. He attended college for a few years and then began working for Westye in 1945.
The company’s focus was strictly commercial work until the 50s, when a wealthy family approached Bud with a dilemma. They didn’t like conventional refrigeration at the time, which consisted of large chest freezers and similar appliances.
“So they contacted my dad and said, ‘You know, we have a closet here that would be a great place to store our refrigerated items.’ So my dad developed a system that went into this closet”.
James Bakke, President and CEO, Sub-Zero Group, Inc.
In the 1950s, a wealthy family dissatisfied with conventional appliances approached Bud for a solution. This request spurred Sub-Zero’s entry into built-in refrigeration. After Westye’s retirement in the mid-1960s, Bud took over, believing in the potential of residential refrigeration.
By the mid-1980s, however, competition increased when other companies entered the market. During a Builder Show, a potential buyer threatened James Bakke, Westye’s grandson, to sell the company or face being put out of business.
They did not sell, but instead redesigned their current line, adopting a more contemporary look and introducing their designer series. A new approach to kitchen refrigeration has emerged.
For years, Sub-Zero had primarily been focused on refrigeration and freezer products. When Jim Bakke came on board over 25 years ago, they significantly expanded their offerings. In 2000, he acquired the Wolf brand, enabling Sub-Zero to provide a complete range of high-performance cooking products.
Today, Sub-Zero Wolf is celebrated for its exceptional refrigeration and cooking capabilities, with a clear goal for the future: Sub-Zero becomes the refrigeration expert, while Wolf leads in cooking innovations.
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