It has been a touch over 4 years since Goodman Food Products LLC, aka Goodman Gluten Free came into existence. This past Sunday (April 29) we participated as a vendor at the Gluten Free New England Expo and I was reminded of one of the primary reasons we went into business. It was never about money or finding something to do as we had enough of the former and didn’t lack for the latter. I had retired from professional life having sold my business and continued a 10 yr career until 2014.
My good friend and our medical advisor Dr Myron Brand, a noted gastroenterologist would constantly implore me to use my resources to locate good tasting gluten and dairy free products for his patients who suffer from chronic digestive disorders such as Crohn’s, Celiac or other gluten and/or dairy issues. Locating the recipes for bread, cupcakes ,cookies, muffins ,bagels and other products wasn’t hard but finding DELICIOUS products was a challenge. As it happens, I literally stumbled on the basic recipes through a consulting job I was working on.
Extensive testing ensued so was born Goodman Gluten Free. We are now in over 4000 markets from Maine to Florida and West to Minnesota. WHY? I am no marketing genius. It’s because the products taste DELICIOUS.
Back to the trade show. When I was a youngster the thought of these life changing illnesses never came to mind. Why now? Many theories abound and I am not going into them here. What I am going to expound on is how todays parents, particularly Mother’s are extremely cognizant of their children’s diets. We had countless mothers come to us with thanks for providing good tasting bread and other bakery products for their children. We had young children and teens coming to our exhibit to personally tell us that Goodman’s changed their lives and they could eat a normal meal and have a tasty snack or dessert. We receive many Facebook or Twitter comments on our products. GOOD TASTE is important to the mothers taking care of their family members who suffer from intestinal disease or sensitivity. The entire family can enjoy Goodman products so there is no need to buy similar products for the rest of the family.
So, to all the mothers (and fathers) on Mother’s Day I say thank you for taking care of your families by providing delicious products for those in need. And by the way a Happy Mothers Day to my wife Mona who is the primary product taster, trade show demonstrator and all around support system for what we do. To Dr. Brand who said “this product is terrific I need it for my patients, to Nick Scavo chief recipe developer and Pete DePasquale who said “people buy from people, your name goes on the package.” Who would have thought in retirement I could help so many people just by doing what I’ve done for 40 years…provide delicious baked goods (with a twist).
Warmest Mother’s Day regards,
Bob