We have several amazing bakeries in my neighborhood, but unfortunately none of them are nut-free.
For a while many of us were under the impression that one of the more popular bakeries was nut-free. Not quite. After having a casual conversation with the owner I discovered that he and I had very different definitions of exactly what “nut-free” means.
To me, “nut-free” means that his bakery would be free of all nuts, including any ingredients that “may contain” or are “made on the same facility” as peanuts or tree nuts. He, on the other hand, was satisfied with the fact that he didn’t use any actual peanut or tree nut ingredients and is in fact using ingredients that “may contain” or are “made on the same facility”.
Oh, did I forget to mention that he also uses sesame seeds.
So instead the closest “real” nut-free bakery is 30 minutes away. It has me wondering if I should consider opening a local nut-free bakery so that my wife and I and other food allergy parents have a local shop to purchase bakery items for our food allergic kids. I can only imagine seeing the look on the faces of my kids when I tell them their dad is opening a bakery and all the goodies will be safe for them to eat!
Reasons to open a local nut-free bakery:
- We really need one
- Zero local competition
- (Unfortunately) a growing market, as a higher and higher percentages of kids are getting food allergies
- Large local food-allergy aware market including many local private schools
Reasons not to open a local nut-free bakery:
- How do you open a bakery?
- Are bakeries even profitable?
- I don’t know how to bake (or cook).
I’m torn, but I feel like I have to at least explore the idea.
Not sure exactly where to start. Anyone out there have an opinion/suggestion? Please share!
I’d love your feedback. I’ll repost some of your thoughts.
You can also email me at aweissman@AllerGuarder.com.
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