Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle and Malia Elijah.
When Malia was 10 years old, she decided that there needed to be a safe place where kids like her with severe food allergies to eggs, nuts and dairy could find freshly baked tasty treats. She created ENDless Bakery in late 2016 and with the help of her mom, started making and selling her cinnamon roll, banana muffin, cupcake and cookie recipes out of her house. She sold them around her neighborhood and at local festivals and they were a hit, even with people without food allergies. Only a couple months after, they started getting requests from customers who lived an hour away.
In early 2017, they needed a larger space to bake their goodies. They started looking for commercial kitchens and realized that there were none that could ensure they were allergy friendly. So they started their own brick and mortar commercial kitchen in Spring in late 2017. They started creating custom cakes and sugar cookies and catering to the local schools, organizations and weddings.
In summer 2018, they plan to conduct baking and decorating classes during some weekdays and open the bakery for counter service on the weekends. They also have a selection you can pre-order online through their website at www.endlessbakery.com.
The ENDless Bakery kitchen is dedicated free from 7 of the top 8 major food allergens. There are no eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, soy, shellfish and fish. They also have a product line that is made with rice flour instead of wheat flour and is gluten friendly. They call this their Top 8 Allergy Friendly product line. All products are Vegan. When possible, they try to use organic, non-GMO products.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not exactly. We were originally only egg, nut and dairy free. We had quite a few requests to cut out soy. So we changed our recipes quickly to use rice milk instead. Next, we realized that we had a large population looking for gluten-free.
We started a new product line with rice flour. Because we are focused on catering to allergies, we must take every precaution to ensure there is no cross-contact between the wheat products and non-wheat products. It’s a challenge and can create bottlenecks in the production. We can’t be producing both at the same time. It’s too risky. So we’ve had to modify our production processes and our business model.
ENDless Bakery – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
ENDless Bakery specializes in freshly-baked allergy-friendly treats. We’re known for our cinnamon roll. It’s what got us started. People are amazed when they find out it does not contain any milk, eggs, or soy and is also safe from any peanut or tree nut contamination. We even have a gluten friendly version of the cinnamon roll that is made from a rice flour instead of wheat.
We started to offer the rolls in a frozen take and bake option because people loved the idea of having a safe option for family members with food allergies at their holiday gatherings, or on a Sunday morning where they could have allergy-friendly rolls fresh from their oven in the morning. We’re one of the few allergy-friendly bakeries in Houston and the Texas area. Customers drive over an hour to stock up on goodies or pick up a cake from us.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Seeing kids and their parents with food allergies or dietary restrictions (Vegan) come in to select a treat and enjoy it. We had to close the counter service for a couple of months to revise our kitchen layout and production schedule to provide a safer environment.
It made us sad to do this and so many customers commented that they missed being able to come in to select a treat. We decided to reopen the counter service on the weekends and keep production behind closed doors on the weekdays.
Contact Info:
- Address: 8312 Louetta Rd. Suite C
- Website: www.endlessbakery.com
- Phone: 281-761-5002
- Email: michelle.elijah@endlessbakery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/endlessbakery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ENDlessbakery/
Image Credit:
Sarah Elijah
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