After negotiations, a Tempe-based bakery is looking for a new location to cater exclusively to gluten-intolerant customers.
Julia Lercsh, a December 2007 ASU graduate and ex-owner of Short N’ Sweet bakery in Tempe, said a disagreement with business partners led her to start the process of opening a new bakery that is entirely gluten free.
“Eighty percent of our business was coming from the gluten-free community, which I’m a part of being a Celiac [disease] person,” she said. People with Celiac disease can’t consume any food that contains gluten.
One of Lercsh’s former business partners is her stepmother, Debbie Beahm.
“There was no real dispute, the gluten-free aspect of the bakery was growing so much they wanted to have a location that was 100 percent gluten free,” Beahm said.
They wanted to keep the bakery as a traditional one because of a positive response from the community, she said.
“We’re family,” Beahm said. “Until they find another location, we were more than willing to have them share the bakery.”
After a long negotiation process, Beahm bought Lercsh’s portion of the bakery to keep the facility a traditional bakery.
“We’re going to have a different name and new location and be a dedicated location,” Lercsh said.
According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, Celiac disease is a digestive disorder that creates an immune-mediated toxic reaction that causes damage to the small intestine when gluten is consumed.
Gluten is the name of proteins in specific grains found in all wheat, barley, rye and triticale, according to the foundation.
Elaine Monarch, executive director and founder of the Celiac Disease Foundation, said the disease affects one percent of the U.S. population.
“One out of 133 people have the disease, 97 percent of which go undiagnosed,” she said.
With a following of loyal gluten-intolerant customers — Lercsh dubs them “gluten-free warriors” — she plans to satisfy ASU students who suffer from gluten intolerance and people with Celiac disease.
“I knew I had a service for people who had not yet been provided for,” she said. “Luckily I went for it and didn’t listen to the people who were against it.”
Darien Allen, a global health junior, thinks she has a gluten intolerance.
“One of my grandparents is a Celiac and the other has a gluten intolerance — it’s hereditary,” she said.
Allen discovered her illness through an elimination diet. During the diet’s process, she started out eating only turkey and rice and slowly began introducing different foods.
“When they added gluten, I got really, really sick,” she said.
Being 16 years old at the time, Allen said she found it very difficult because of her love of cake.
“I actually disregarded it for about six months and ate gluten anyway,” she said.
After eating gluten and getting continuously ill, Allen said it wasn’t worth it anymore.
“But now it’s easy — I don’t even think about it anymore,” she said, but it’s hard to find gluten-free food on campus.
“Gluten-free food can be expensive,” she said. “It would be nice to know what places on campus have gluten-free food.”
Reach the reporter at mmbarke1@asu.edu
