When 黑马磁力 couple Angela and Lane Albright began selling gluten-free pizza crusts three years ago, everything was made by hand.
Using his arm power and a round, flat pan, Lane could press a pizza shell in just two minutes and 38 seconds.
鈥淚 once put in a 20-hour day, went home and slept for six hours, then came back and worked another 17,鈥� Lane said, as he mopped the floors inside the Gluten Free Chef commercial kitchen in Surrey.
鈥淪ixteen-hour days are not uncommon. Very seldom do we work less than 12-hour days.鈥�
The gluten-free ingredients make their dough too sticky for commercial processing equipment, so the only option was to do it the old fashioned way.
鈥淎 lot of the industry was telling us, 鈥榳ell just change your dough,鈥欌�� Angela said.
鈥淎dd stuff to your dough, ingredients like additives, so you can use traditional equipment.
鈥淲e tried that, and it changed the quality of the product, and we were getting all of our success in people saying 鈥榯his is amazing鈥�.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to change that.鈥�
Angela and Lane knew exactly what kind of machine they needed, only problem was finding a company that sold it.
They decided to build it themselves instead.
After a couple bottles of wine one night, the couple sketched out their machine on a stack of paper napkins, then proceeded to find a manufacturer.
Three months ago they finally received their dream machine.
On a good day, Lane could hand-press up to 120 pizza doughs. Now, their machine can produce 3,000.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to make our machinery do what we need it to do to support the dough, not change the dough to support the machinery,鈥� Angela said.
鈥淲e came at it the other way.鈥�
Although neither Angela nor Lane is allergic to gluten, both avoid all food that contains the glue-like wheat-proteins.
Devotees to 鈥渟imple, natural鈥� foods, their passion began eight years ago when one of their twin daughters was diagnosed with a severe gluten allergy.
At that time, there were not many gluten-free products available on grocery store shelves, and even fewer that appealed to the taste buds of a three-year-old.
Lane said he would send his daughter to school with a sandwich, and everyday when she came back home, everything in her lunch would be gone but the sandwich. Sometimes she would eat the inside of it, but the bread was always left untouched.
鈥淲e bought probably seven to 10 different loaves, whatever was on the market,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e were buying every product that was out there. There was nothing that she would eat.鈥�
The couple spent thousands of dollars on custom-made menus and advice from nutritionists, but nothing was working.
Frustrated, they started testing their own recipes.
Beginning with gluten-free pizza shells, they soon realized they had a really good product.
They decided to take it to local restaurants to try, and the response was overwhelming.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had celiacs crying at our food booths before,鈥� Angela said. 鈥淪till, I get calls. I got two calls in the last two weeks. One was from a lady in Toronto who was out here visiting in a restaurant and ate a pizza. And the other one was from somebody in Kelowna who had tried the bread in another restaurant.
鈥淎nd because it was so good, they asked the servers, 鈥榳hat is the brand of this product?鈥�
鈥淎nd then they took that information and emailed us when they got home and said, 鈥榗an we find this product in our area?鈥�
鈥淚t really stands above the crowd in quality.鈥�
Angela and Lane now sell an array of products to restaurants, food service companies and select grocery stores, including Nature鈥檚 Fare Markets and Moreno鈥檚 Market and Deli in 黑马磁力.
Though they had never considered themselves chefs before 鈥� the Albrights used to own a publishing business 鈥� they are now very passionate foodies.
鈥淲e started doing research on why gluten-free was exploding so much, and what we quickly bumped into was genetic modification and pesticides and the level of chemicals used on our food,鈥� Angela said.
鈥淲hen we started looking into it for our own family, we started seeing that 鈥榳ow, if we鈥檙e not using organic rice and the rice is genetically modified, we鈥檙e still hurting people.
鈥淚t鈥檚 gluten-free, but they鈥檙e still eating stuff that has pesticides on the raw ingredients.
鈥淲e want to be committed to providing something that doesn鈥檛 hurt you, that鈥檚 actually a good alternative.鈥�
They are also committed to their local community.
The Albrights began a buy-one-feed-one campaign, where for every product sold in a grocery store, one is donated to a local food bank.
鈥淩est assured, if you鈥檙e gluten intolerant and you鈥檙e using the food bank, you can鈥檛 afford to buy gluten-free products,鈥� Lane said.
鈥淭hen those kids are having to not eat or having to eat food that makes them sick,鈥� Angela added.
鈥淚 had an accountant tell me, you guys can鈥檛 really afford to do that,鈥� she said.
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 what drives us, so how can you not do that? It鈥檚 about who we are. It鈥檚 the foundation of a community.鈥�
It鈥檚 a healthy shift Angela says many are beginning to make.
鈥淧eople are recognizing that when you have challenging times, it鈥檚 your community that supports your business,鈥� she said.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e going through tough times as a community, the only thing that鈥檚 going to make you survive is your community.
鈥淚 feel that there is a shift toward local that is beyond just marketing.鈥�
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