Grosse Pointer Serves Up Gluten-Free Goodies in New Business Venture

Jill Bommarito doesn’t want to sell gluten-free food. She wants to sell food you would never know was gluten-free.

The City of Grosse Pointe resident is doing just that with Ethel’s Edibles, a fledgling business focused on meeting the needs of foodies with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition in which gluten consumption causes a toxin reaction that damages the small intestine and inhibits food absorption.

Most gluten-free food on the market is “hard like a hockey puck—you can throw it at the wall and it crumbles,” said Bommarito. Even when paying high prices to eat at niche gluten-free restaurants, celiac sufferers have come to expect merely adequate fare, she added.

Bommarito, who has an aunt and several friends with the condition, is determined to change that. She’s entered the local market with just two products—Hot Blondies and Pecan Dandys—which can be purchased at in Grosse Pointe Woods and by direct order at her website.

She has perfected and test-marketed these two desserts with a focus group and with feedback at events like U of M Dearborn’s Annual Food Allergy 5K, the Making Tracks For Celiacs race at the , and the Tri County Celiac Support Group annual food fair.

Beginning in July, the two products, which Bommarito cooks in the commercial kitchen of a Grosse Pointe church, will be sold at Detroit’s Eastern Market. Bommarito is in talks with three grocery chains that are interested in carrying the product.

Her plan is to “build relationships with markets and customers, grow the product line, pick those that make an impact, and then expand the company” to offer a full menu of gluten-free meals out of an established storefront.

Meanwhile, Ethel’s Edibles is working on receiving the Celiac Sprue Association Recognition Seal, which denotes products that are completely free of wheat, barley, rye, oats, their crosses and derivatives in product, processing and packaging.

A former real estate agent, Bommarito said she has prepared gluten-free meals at family events to accommodate her aunt’s condition for years. These dishes are so comparable in flavor and texture to conventional dishes that she realized they could appeal to those with and without gluten intolerance.

Indeed, many of her customers buy her baked goods—particularly the pecan dandy with its shortbread crust and homemade caramel–for the flavor and not because of dietary necessity.

“My goal is to make gluten-free products that surpass traditional products,” said Bommarito, who named her company after her maternal grandmother, Ethel, who began teaching her to bake when she was only 4 years old. Given the growing prevalence of the condition—some estimates place the rate of the disease at one in 133 people—Bommarito believes it's time gluten-free offerings become both more abundant and more sophisticated.

Bommarito, who has the assistance of three bakers, said she is profoundly grateful to Michigan State University for helping her get her business off the ground. The University offers free expert assistance to Michigan food entrepreneurs, Bommarito said.

She also praises the growing body of food upstarts in Southeast Michigan, saying there is an incredible freemasonry among them that has led many to offer her advice on marketing, packaging, networking and other small-business concerns.