Triann Benson came to one undeniable conclusion as she struggled to work around her family’s assortment of food allergies: Hers wasn’t the only family dealing with this.
Her husband, Eric, has celiac disease and can’t have gluten. He’s also allergic to dairy and soy. Her son has problems with gluten, dairy, eggs and soy. Her daughter has problems with gluten and corn. And Benson herself can’t eat shellfish, gluten, dairy or eggs.
But, of course, all of them love cookies, muffins, pancakes and other baked goods.
So what’s a Vancouver mom to do? When the world gave her family allergies, she came up with her own baking mix.
“There wasn’t much on the market that fit all our allergies, and we knew there were many other families out there in the same boat,” she said. “So I tried a variety of flour blends and tested out dozens of recipes using trial and error. And I found some combinations that work great.”
The result is a product that’s free of gluten, dairy, soy, egg, nuts, corn and rice.
“Some people say the market is too narrow to have so many things that aren’t in it, but I think it’s just the opposite,” Benson said. “It tastes good, and that means more people can have it without worrying about allergies.”
Her first commercial baking mixes are made with sorghum flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, millet flour, organic cane sugar, baking powder, natural sea salt, ground organic chia seed, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla powder.
And the results of her experimentation have led to a new business, called Triann’s Pantry, which successfully hit its target goal of $5,000 in startup money from Kickstarter this month. The funding will help pay for Benson to set up a dedicated allergy-free workspace and food-handling area, equipment and raw materials.
As the Kickstarter effort continues to raise money through Nov. 4, it will help Benson add more goodies to her lineup once the business launches later in November.
Funding Triann’s Pantry through Kickstarter was Benson’s husband’s idea. He had used the online crowd-funding site before and saw it as a great way to start a small business on a cash basis, Benson said.
But surprisingly, it also led to a great deal of useful input from families just like hers all over the country, she said.
“The response has been really great,” Benson said. “We’ve had feedback from all over, suggestions for different products. One thing we’re looking at adding now is making it kosher. We also may make an oat flour line thanks to the suggestions.”
Beyond that she wants to add a line of savory products that are allergen free, such as bread mixes.
The business will start out as mail order, but she also hopes to get mixes into some local Vancouver stores soon, too.
“That’s part of our 80-step plan, but we want to make sure we’ll be able to handle the volume first,” Benson said. “The first few months we want to make sure the packaging works well and the work flow is efficient.”
For more information, visit the Kickstarter site at www.kickstarter.com/projects/1211467110/trianns-pantry-simple-and-delicious-allergy-free-m. Triann’s Pantry is also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/triannspantry.
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