Daughter’s Diagnosis Inspires Local Dad to Open Gluten-Free Bakery

When Jeff Robbins first learned his youngest daughter had Celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine caused by a reaction to gluten, the longtime consumer markets researcher aggressively began testing the available products for a gluten-free diet and reading up on her condition. He and his wife found most of the food lacking in taste and quality.

"There are taste differences, especially with baked goods. We became frustrated. I started poking around and thought how we might take on this challenge,” said Robbins.

Gluten is the protein that appears in foods made with flour, wheat, barley and rye. Robbins and his wife bought virtually everything from stores that fit within the gluten-free diet for their daughter Laynie to try. But they found the transition trying, particularly for an 11-year-old kid.

“It's a big adjustment to go to a gluten-free diet, especially for a kid who goes to birthday parties and sees his or her friends eating pizza and cake,” Robbins said.

So the Franklin Lakes father of three did what any good dad would do – he put the wheels in motion to open a gluten-free bakery that would give his then 11-year-old daughter – and the hundreds of other gluten-intolerant or gluten sensitive people in the region – a cookie that tastes like any other cookie.

Robbins attended local baking classes, tried products and did extensive research. Then he approached his longtime friend who has a background in hospitality management and wholesale distribution, Peter Mykrantz. The two recruited Bill Doyle, a 30-year veteran of the food service industry, to inject his vast culinary expertise into gluten-free recipes.

In January 2011, the partners officially fired up Get Fresh Bakehouse in Fairfield. From the onset, the goal of the bakery was clear.

"The standard was not to bake good gluten-free products, the standard was to bake good products in general. The goal is to make a good cookie, not just a good gluten-free cookie," said Robbins, founder of Get Fresh Bakehouse. "If someone can't tell the difference between our chocolate chip cookie and a regular wheat-based chocolate chip cookie, we know we're meeting that goal.”

In order to accomplish that objective, Robbins and Mykrantz knew they had to bring a seasoned industry professional like Doyle on board. That’s the primary difference between his bakery and other small gluten-free outlets, Robbins said.

"I decided early on no one would ever buy anything that I baked. Me baking was out. I’m not a professional. If you want to do it right, you find someone with a lot of experience in baking,” said Robbins. “If you look at a lot of smaller companies, it's people who have baking experience and try to tackle it themselves as opposed to bringing someone in who comes from outside the gluten-free world.”

Robbins inked initial deals with distributors in April. Now, just two months after its products hit the market, the bakery already counts 16 local cafes and stores, including Bloomingdale’s bakery in Short Hills and Corrado’s Market in Wayne, among its clients. And the list is growing rapidly.   

"People like [the products], that's the good news," Robbins said. "Pretty much everywhere we've been able to bring samples to, they wanted to see how it would sell."

As awareness of conditions like Celiac disease has increased, the gluten-free market has exploded. It’s now one of the fastest growing segments of the food market, says Doyle. The sheer numbers speak for themselves: Sales of gluten-free products surged 74 percent from 2004 to 2009 and are projected to grow up to 25 percent a year, according to the Nielson Company. By 2012, the gluten-free market is expected to hit about $2.6 billion in sales.

Robbins and his partners built a dedicated gluten-free facility in Fairfield and make all the products, which range from various types of delectable cookies to brownies, blondies and hamburger rolls, on site. They do not allow gluten into the production facility and require certifications from all the suppliers of their ingredients to ensure everything is gluten-free.       

"We do some testing on a random basis on finished products to make sure that no one gave us wrong information and so far so good," Robbins added.

Consumer feedback has been positive as well. Robbins has held several sampling demos in the stores that sell his goods. Many shoppers don’t even know what a gluten-free diet entails. Often, the feedback is simply, "Oh, that's just a good cookie," he said.

And that’s the point.

"It's tough being different and we want to make it as not different as usual. We want a chocolate chip cookie to taste like a good chocolate chip cookie,” Robbins explained. “We don't want to scream in people's faces that it's gluten-free."

It’s not only smaller bakeries and businesses that are focusing on the gluten-free market. Big consumer products companies are aggressively getting in the game as well.

"As you see when you walk through supermarket aisles, a lot of major consumer products companies are making concerted efforts to promote the fact their products are gluten-free," Robbins said. "In many cases, they're actually making changes to the product."

Still, the gluten-intolerant market is not the only target market for these big consumer companies, nor is it the only target market for Robbins and his partners. 

Though it’s never been proved, many people believe gluten-free foods are healthier overall.

"There are certainly a lot of people who are looking at gluten-free products for a variety of reasons, maybe more perceived than proven scientific. There are people who believe we'd all be better off if we removed at least some gluten from our diet,” said Robbins.

But gluten-free products still have fat. They still have sugar. So does the sheer elimination of the gluten protein make one chocolate chip cookie better for you than another?

“On a grand scale, probably not,” said Robbins, “but if you look at the biology of it, is there something to the fact that human beings in general may have a problem dealing with the gluten protein?”

Just ask Novak Djokovic, the world’s number one tennis player. Djokovic made headlines recently when he attributed his best-in-the-world ranking to a gluten-free diet. He doesn’t have Celiac disease. But his nutritionist found he does have an allergy to gluten.

The number of people diagnosed with Celiac disease or some level of gluten sensitivity has been rising as diagnostic measures improve. Only about 1 percent of Americans– or 1 in 133 people – have Celiac disease, official numbers indicate. But 7 percent have shown some level of sensitivity to the protein. There’s much to learn about where that group falls, says Robbins.

There's also science behind going on a gluten-free diet for other conditions. It's shown particularly beneficial for children with autism, for example, Robbins said. 

Following a gluten-free diet heals the damage to the intestines caused by Celiac disease and prevents further complications. The person with the condition is virtually cured in anywhere from six months to three years, depending on age, after switching to a gluten-free diet.

Robbins said the change in his own daughter was remarkable.

Now 15 years old, Laynie is healthy and vibrant. She shot up in height and gained some weight once switching to a gluten-free diet and now has virtually full access to all of the gluten-free baked goods she desires, which her father fondly notes is a double-edged sword.

At this point, Get Fresh Bakehouse is still a young enterprise and Robbins said he and his partner aren’t exactly sure of their plans for the future. Right now, though, they intend to keep charging forward.

"We just want to get it in the hands of as many people who want to eat gluten-free as possible," Robbins said. "Making people happy who might not have had a really high quality gluten-free cookie in the past is a good thing. It feels good to do this."

For more on Get Fresh Bakehouse, check out the website.