The lack of gluten free baking
The idea for The Allergen Baker and my bakery was sparked by three things; my Celiac Disease and two separate incidents that both happened in a span of a few weeks. The first incident was in 2001. I visited a local bakery and was asked by the baker to try a new product. Unfortunately, because of my Celiac disease I had to decline his offer. Celiac disease is a disorder triggered by gluten, causing inflammation and damage to the small intestine. Unfamiliar with the disease and gluten-free alternatives, the baker stated that humans “can’t live without gluten” and that baking without gluten is borderline impossible. A few seconds later I pulled out a gluten-free homemade biscuit from my bag and challenged him to try it.
After his trial, he offered to buy the recipe from me. After which I offered to rather supply him with my products instead. He declined my proposal.
Demand for gluten free baked goods
The second incident happened shortly after my run-in with the baker. I was visiting my local Spar when I overheard a conversation between the manager and a frustrated customer. She was looking for, but evidently not finding, any gluten-free products on the shelves. It turned out that her husband had Celiac Disease.
To me this demonstrated that there were people out there with similar needs for gluten-free products. That’s when I realised there is a gap in the market. I approached the Spar manager about my gluten free biscuits. A few days later, 6 packets of my biscuits where on their shelves and my business was born.
Stepping up to the challenge
Over the next few months the business steadily grew. Until the building owners of our little bakery premises abruptly decided to develop the property. This meant closing down our operations and subsequently my business. Until I could find an alternate premise, I had to stop baking and slowly The Allergen Baker stock in the shops ran out, leaving my customers hungry for more. The shops requested that I create more as they were getting complaints about the decrease in stock.
Inspired and grateful for my supporters, I quickly started baking small batches from my own kitchen. A short three months later, Pick n Pay phoned and wanted to stock my products. I was elated. To keep up with the growing demand for gluten-free products, we transformed our home into our very own little baking headquarters. For five years, we produced products from there, until we outgrew the space and could finally afford to find a new, certified manufacturing space.
Not only did we have to find a facility that meets all the auditing requirements, but we also had to re-certify our business for food safety, which came with its own challenges. I decided to apply for an international FSSC 22000 certification through Bureau Vertis and was certified within five months–becoming the smallest company to have received this certification is such a short amount of time. This certification means that The Allergen Baker products can now be sold by all retailers. Opening up doors to endless opportunities.
New opportunities
One of the opportunities that came about recently is my involvement with Synercore. For the past few months I have been working closely with one of their Directors, Darryl Clayton who is a baking and process technology specialist. He has been my right-hand man teaching me the technicalities of baking, how to perfect my recipes and how to compete with the best gluten products on the market. The Synercore team has introduced me to a wealth of ingredient knowledge, from the variety of gluten-free flours available, to adding enzymes to our sourdough making it allergen-free and unique to the South African market. We also no longer add eggs or oil to our bread, which appeals to our vegan audience.
Working with Synercore has allowed us to push the boundaries with our products and expand our gluten-free menu to puff pastry, vegan ice cream cones and hot cross buns. Proving that you can in fact live gluten-free and enjoy it too.