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Two Moms Baked Goods and Safe Snacks Nut Free

June 23, 2009 · Posted in Peanut-Free, Tree-Nut-Free

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This week, I had the pleasure of meeting Caroline Davis, the co-owner of Two Moms Baked Goods.

She is incredibly passionate about her business and shares her love of baking through her kids cooking classes. After our interview, Caroline invited me back to see her in action. There’s no question the young bakers getting messy in the kitchen (chocolate was everywhere!) and they were having a great time. Read on for my interview with Caroline and learn about her nut-free bakery.

How did you get started?

I am definitely a baker by trade, baker by passion. After Sabrina’s law was passed, I started getting notes home from school saying that all products sent to school must be labeled as nut free. Not that I would ever send products with nuts, but everything now needed to be labeled.

I have a healthy background and understand the nutrition and healthy side of baking. I didn’t want to send processed food but wanted to send delicious treats. I began writing recipes. I teach baking and cooking in private schools and doing workshops with the kids. I was able to test products on them and I grew from there.

Do you have allergies yourself?

Yes, I am anaphylactic to shell. I feel as an adult, that I really understand these kids with nut allergies and what is like to have an allergy. I was young when I experienced my first reaction, maybe I was 8. I went to summer camp in Maine. My parents took me for lobster and I felt my tongue being fuzzy. I kept eating and had full blown anaphylaxis. In that day and age, no one talked about food allergies. So I was very lax about it. I became minorly allergic to other fish. I know I am very sensitive to allergies b/c I live with it on a daily basis.

How do you ensure you are truly a nut-free facility?

I understand the diligence and importance of when you say you are nut free, its not just in passing. Everything that happens in this facility or any of my baking classes, I source each ingredient. Truthfully, this is what I do and it has to be done properly.

Once you go to the lengths of calling something nut free, there is just that one more step to call the suppliers. I deal with Olympic Wholesale and all of their suppliers are asked for allergen information. Every product is documented as being allergen free.

My suppliers now know that I need kosher and nut free products. They have to do the due dilligence.

I am confident to say that anything that comes in here is safe and I feel safe. As a teacher or parent, you never want to give a child anything that is potentially dangerous.

Have you looked into getting another company to co-pack for you?

We couldn’t find a facility to co-pack that met with my high standards for food safety. We heard companies say things like “we’ll co pack for you and on the days when we are not also making nut products in the facility” which didn’t sit well for me. I wanted only a facility that had no nuts at all regardless of what day it was.

As a result, we opened this facility which offered the best of both worlds. I have the space to do what I love to do which is teaching, and my creating in the kitchen and it affords me the ability to do small personal orders, eg. 24 ice cream sandwiches for a Father’s Day brunch.

You say ‘we’. Do you have a partner?

My motivation behind this place was to provide a location where kids with food allergies could feel safe so I paired up with Amy Rocket whose nieces are allergic. She has a great business/sales background which I know nothing about. I’m the baker. The intention was to produce healthy, home made products.

How long have you and your partner been working together?

3 years in the fall. Coming to this place has brewing for years. It doesn’t happen overnight as any new business owner will tell you, it’s a long process. Then, finally the right time, place and opportunity arose. I wanted something centrally located in city. Kids can come in and bake in a safe, nut free environment.

Has it always been a dream of yours to open a bakery?

It was always at the back of my mind to have a facility, but I didn’t know the first thing about manufacturing. I’m learning quickly though. It was challenging and to this day it’s my biggest learning curve. The teaching and baking come easy to me, it’s managing a big place that is difficult. Maybe eventually I will do retail, once I master doing orders, birthday parties, cooking classes, PD Day camps. Any way I can get kids involved in the kitchen in a safe environment.

What do you love most about the kids programs?

Cakes Being Created at the Kids Baking Class

The best is watching kids coming in – and combining baking and drama. Today the birthday party class is making a cake with sprinkles and ice cream. I brought someone in to do drama so that the kids can have an opportunity for baking and playing. It’s a great time that allows kids to experience things they may or may not at home. In each class 1-2 kids are anaphylactic to nuts. The nice thing about this program is that I can allow these children the opportunity to do things they wouldn’t be able to do. They walk in here with no fear.

For the kids camps do you prep materials ahead of time?

Depends on the age. Today they are 4-6 so everything is pre-measured. For the 9 year olds, they can do it on their own. We are prepping in the kitchen now. They start with measured sugar, eggs, flour and make their own creation.

Pre-measured ingredients for kids baking class

And you are kosher too?

Yes, as of June 1, 2009. The facility is checked each morning.

What kinds of cookies do you make?

We have 4 kinds: oatmeal, double chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and oatmeal chocolate chip. We use an oatmeal and flax base which is high fibre, low fat, low sugar. My kids love them and they are a tasty snack. Each cookie is about 40 grams, 120 calories, 3g fat, 3g fibre.

Where are your cookies sold?

Right now we are very localized at Summerhill market, Toytown, Pusateri’s, What a bagel, handful of smaller places.

We are doing a test at Cineplex in Mississauga and in Oakville. We also supply to variety of school functions, open houses and fundraisers.

How do you ensure your products are not exposed to nuts?

All products are packaged onsite. Every single cookie is individually wrapped and the reason I can ensure everything here is safe but once it leaves here I cannot guarantee after that it is safe. This is how I feel safe. If there was a more environmental solution, I would do it but for now I need to wrap individually for safety. The bags of 10 or individually – standard bag of 10 comes with each cookie individually wrapped. Custom orders are not wrapped. The idea is that even in a package of 10, parents can feel safe sending the cookies to school and knowing that they are safe.

Individually wrapped package of 10 cookies

Who are your competitors?

There are no real premium nut free products out there. There is a tremendous need for this product. Quaker, Dare are not who I am and not where I want to be. I want to be the Mrs. Fields of nut free and maintain the homemade healthy premium standard. I have a healthy mandate. I can barely think of non-nut free companies that are focused on healthy snacks for kids.

Not Quaker, Treasure mills – standard chocolate chip cookies, basic. There are snacks just not healthy. I don’t know, maybe fruits and vegetables?

How long have you been packaging out of this facility?

Kosher as of June 1, moved in middle of April.

How are you promoting yourself?

Thankfully my classes gave me enough of a boost. I taught about 100 kids/week and developed a following. My kitchen has always been nut free and while we were ramping up I did test runs in my house. I donated to various charities and got a bit of a following.

Amy does the corporate work. She’ll set up meeting with larger companies. This facility I run on my own. She does all of the sales and she’s great at what she does.

Do you have downtime?

No. I’m here everyday and up until 2 am every morning. I have a few people now working here. I teach every afternoon, I’m very busy. Plus, I’m a single mom with 3 kids, 7 and under. It’s a challenge, I wear many hats. I work like a manic all day am with my kids at night until 9-9.30 when they go to bed. Then, I eat my dinner and start working again doing paperwork.

Who else works at this location?

I have one full time helper in the kitchen and another woman who comes in who is also a single mom and she manages the facility. She does all of the decorating. She has a daughter who has a nut allergy so she totally gets it. One of us is always here. We are not exclusively cookies. We do any kind of baked goods including Banana loaf, all kinds of cakes and any other baked goods.

We will make anything that you can dream up including butter tarts, brownies, blondies, desert platters, all based on needs of customer. We will tailor any order to suit their needs. All orders are made fresh. We have the luxury of creating for personalized consumption so we can turn around in 24 hours.

Do you read?

I used to have lots of hobbies including reading. Now I have not time except to read cookbooks. I’m a crazy foodie. I appreciate going into a restaurant and seeing a chef’s interpretation of their vision on a menu. I love what they can do. I like when someone is honest with their food and vision. To me that’s the best. I’ve transformed my kids into foodies too. I do read grade 1 books to my kids if that counts.

What advice would you give to others who are thinking about starting their own business?

Do it. You have to try it and give it your all. What’s the worst thing that can happen? You just have to give it your all. Food has always been my passion.

Seeing 16 kids with eggs and sugar touching things, it is the most amazing thing. Clean up is easy, not a big deal. You have to do what you love to do. It’s fulfilling and anything that can let you stay up until 2 am, my son wakes up at 5.30 and I think I found my calling. I love what I do and anyone considering going into business needs to love what they do.

What about expansion? How do you see the company growing?

The cookies have a stable shelf life of 60 days. The expiry date stamped if going to retail. There are no preservatives. We can definitely ship across the country for retail sales and will be expanding to Montreal shortly. We have looked at private label. I love the idea of creating a brand and creating a buzz. We love the name safe snack. I have the capacity grow easily as we recently purchased a machine that can produce 1200 dozen cookies/hr.

Any last words?

Come by to see a cooking class in action. Kids have a great time in this fun and interactive environment. Today they will all walk away with a large cake. We are doing recipe from scratch. It is amazing, fun, memorable. I have parents come up to me whose kids did a class 3 or 4 years ago and tell me that their child still talks about the class and what they created. I can put my name behind the fact I operate a great, fun business and whether kids are allergic or not, I know they will be safe here.

Thank you Caroline for welcoming me to your facility, and by the way, the cookies are amazing. I ate two after our interview and sent two in my kids lunches. When they came home and I asked about the cookies, my oldest daughter said they were “outstanding” and my younger one said “two thumbs up”. You can’t beat ratings like that!

To contact Two Moms Baked Good and Safe Snacks call (416) 783-7200. The bakery is located at 3323 Bathurst St., Toronto.