Monthly Archives: April 2009
Business Concepts – Cross Post
I am cross posting this to my secondary blog as well. Life and Times of an Irish Mother, my family and brain stuff. Why? because this is important. Living with a restrictive diet is CHALLENGING. Living it FOR LIFE can be challenging on HOPE.
Running a business that caters to this is even harder.
Wheat Free Businesses are going under left right and center.
WHY?
When the percentage of individuals in our North American society who can’t eat Grains is up 29%? When public awareness is growing and the understanding of the difference Wheat Free Lifestyles has on medical challenges such as Autism, fibromyalsia, ADHD and depression is finally getting recognition?
Because it is expensive. A loaf of Wheat Free bread sells for $6 – 9 per loaf, a half dozen buns $9 – 12 and a box of "oreo-esk" cookies about $6 – 8 per box. With household budgets cutting back any area they can pinch, this leaves it hard for businesses to be selling large quantities in Happy Meal fashion! This is an " exotic food" catagory, regretably.
Because it is hard to find. While awareness that this food must be out there is growing, actually finding the retailers is a challenge and, pardon my laziness, a run around! One store carries 4 or five items, another store carries a different 3 or 4 items and so on. Such companies as Kinnikinnick , Gluteno, Celimix have been a godsend for supplying basic mixes and items into pantries again BUT stores are selective as to what to bring in and in what quantity. Again, profit base drives the supply.
Risky and Expensive Taste Testing! When you are about to spend $9 on a farmer’s market sized loaf of bread, you want to know it’s going to taste GOOD and not like a piece of bristle board! Tie in the budget issues, and it makes for a long moment of hesitation when your hand reaches for that new Cheese Bread on the shelf.
Solutions?
Here is what I am working on in my brain so far.
Advertising – We need to get it out there. Homebased business don’t have time to ‘network’ and make their product. One of the key reasons business close in their first year of opperation.
Information – The Community as a whole doesn’t know what is available and is often COMPLETELY overwhelmed at the magnitude of this Food-style they are now being pushed to adopt for their " own good". Battling medical communities, friends and families and still having the energy to find replacement foods for all their " old favorites" is a challenge that often ends in a big piece of chocolate cake!
Teamwork - How does one foster teamwork between companies in a competitive environment?
A Calgary News Letter – Not your leaflet but a fun and informative resource. Found in those racks outside groceries stores and libraries beside the Homes and Real Estate books…. (Maybe it’s time I got off my arse and finnished those Wheat Free Comics I have started)
Now time to get started.
Wheat Flour Alternative
This is my STAPLE.
2 Parts - White Rice Flour
2/3 Parts - Potato Starch ( Not Potato FLOUR which is the equivalent to instant mashed potatoes!)
1/3 Part - Tapioca Starch
Use this as 1 = 1 replacement ratio in baking!
Wheat Free Banana Bread at Weeds Cafe!!!!
Dear Owner of SUGAR AND SPICE – Allergy Free Cuisine,
Yesterday I was stunned and THRILLED to enter Weeds Cafe and find an entire basket of foods I could eat! I understand this is YOUR doing! THANK YOU!
In a world where Wheat is NOT my Friend, and yes is everywhere, even outings such as going for coffee have become… "less". Friends do their best to find locations that are Wheat Free Friendly but they are few and far between. I have come to resign myself to just a nice cup of coffee and skipping the snack.
But there… in a halo of golden light.. was Banana Bread with an amazing sign above it saying " Gluten Free". Really? It wasn’t a joke? The gentleman behind the counter said "Yes, rice flour." I literally clapped my hands and grabbed a piece. It was at that point he commented though " But possibly not for long…." I was horrified. The rest of his words were lost in the hiss of the espresso machine and I whipped to my lap top to find your company and figure out the truth.
I understand the difficulty of this expensive but much needed market. If there is a way for businesses to work together I would love to brainstorm. Restaurants such as Tasty Menu on 17th, your Sugar and Spice and Lakeview Bakery where each business can specialize in their custom area of this challenging food limitations and yet thrive and reach new individuals who are GREATLY in need of the liberating options of eating in public again! Heck… EATING again!
All that aside, Thank you for making my Saturday Afternoon AMAZING. My coffee was average but the ability to indulge in such a wonderful treat was FANTASTIC. You made me not only smile but beam!!!
Sincerely,
Wheat free menu planning
I am on a mission. I have drafted a six week menu plan and am putting it into place. Breakfasts, lunches and snacks don’t seem to be key on my list but are there. Mainly I am aiming at Suppers.
In the past month or so we have mastered Home Made Perogies. I am eager to do another day of making those to freeze and have on hand.
We have made it a point to shop at Lakeview Bakery ( Calgary) every two weeks and make that about half of our budget. There I can purchase all the flours and baked goods I need. Even so far as "oreo-esk" cookies, vanilla glazed donuts, and Walnut and Pecan pie.
So there is some fun and hope in all this. A wonderful thing to have in a tight food restrictions!
WTF is Quinoa and is it "Wheat"?
Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) has been grown and used as food for centuries by inhabitants of the Andes region of South America. Botanically quinoa is not a cereal but the fruit of the plant Chenopodium quinoa which resembles lamb’s quarters and pigweed. It is a member of the goose-foot family Chenopodiaceae, so called because of the shape of the leaf. There are no data to indicate that gluten occurs in plants of this family. There is therefore, no basis for concern about the use of quinoa by persons with celiac disease. An undocumented report indicates that quinoa has been given over a period of several months to a number of persons with Celiac disease with no “untoward” effects.
Quinoa is a very nutritious grain and therefore a very useful alternative to wheat, rye, barley and commercial oats in the diet of celiacs. It is markedly higher in protein, fat, fibre, calcium and iron than most cereals. Its relatively high content of lysine and sulphuramino acids makes it a good supplement to rice and corn as well as to soybeans. Quinoa is reported as having a nutty flavour somewhat like wild rice.
well… worth a try.
What others have to say!