Most parents are well acquainted with the word no. But for parents of children with dietary allergies and restrictions, saying no can be a daily reminder of missing out on the fun, especially when it comes to fair and festival season.
“For a kid with food allergies, every meal is a reminder that you can’t eat that. And so walking around the fair or fun festival, you see all these things that people are eating and you can’t have them,” says Rachel Fizel whose daughter has a strict dietary restriction against consuming gluten and dairy due to her diagnosis with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at age 3.
This disappointment and lack of food options at fairs and festivals motivated Rachel and her husband Brian, who is also gluten and dairy-free, to start a mobile food business that offers something her family and others with allergies can enjoy.
The result is a cinnamon sugar mini-donut recipe that is based on rice flour and potato starch. “So many people who have one allergy have two, so we decided to create a recipe eliminating the top eight allergens: gluten, dairy, egg, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish,” Fizel says.
In May 2013, they were accepted as a vendor at the Dakota County Fair, and Free Indeed Food was born. Last season, Free Indeed Food offered their treats at 25 dates of fairs and festivals throughout Minnesota. “We had a family that followed us; they came to every event so they could have donuts once a week,” says Fizel.
Free Indeed Food is sold out of a mobile tent, a process which requires a two-hour set-up and a strict protocol to ensure zero cross contamination. After working with a food scientist who helped scale their recipe to bulk, Free Indeed’s mix is now made in a mill, which is also certified gluten-free.
“My daughter who is gluten-free loves having the donuts, but my daughter who is not gluten-free loves them, too,” says parent Barb Hegewald, who purchased the product at the Dakota County Fair. “It’s also a benefit to me as a parent to only have to go to one place.”
So far the counter on their mini-donut machine says it has cranked out 129,268 mini-donuts, which are sold at $6 for a baker’s dozen. They also sell lemonade and smoothies. In addition, Free Indeed has also packaged their gluten-free all-purpose flour and sells it locally at Tailor Made Nutrition in Woodbury, at Kowalski’s Market, and online for $20 for a 5-lb. bag.
“It’s hard to find a gluten-free flour that isn’t grainy or doesn’t have a beany aftertaste; this has a nice smooth blend. I am having the best luck with my grandma’s recipes; I just substitute it cup for cup,” adds Fizel, who says she shares recipes often on Free Indeed Food’s website.
In the future, Free Indeed Food hopes to upgrade from a tent to a truck and expand their line of food to include corn dogs. Fizel and her family are using the business as an opportunity to work as a family and to raise money to pay for their children’s college education.
“It’s a very rewarding business, because there are people who could literally not have anything at the fair,” Fizel says. “It’s pretty cool when they find us.”
Free Indeed Food Events
Grand Old Day, June 5
Dakota County Fair, August 8-14
The couple plans to attend several local food truck fairs this summer.
