Everything you need to know about the new Allergy Free Bakery in Shelby Township

The name isn't super exciting, but the premise of this new bakery is thrilling to those who have had to stay away from certain foods and places because of severe food allergies.

Allergy Free Bakery in Shelby Township makes from scratch cookies, scones, bagels, ice cream, cakes, cupcakes, pies, doughnuts, bread, coffee and more and everything they offer is completely free of what are known as the "big nine." That means the top most common food allergens: milk, eggs, shellfish, fish, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, soy and sesame.

Nothing in the store uses any of these. Every item is free of all nine allergens, which means Allergy Free Bakery is a totally vegan and gluten-free bakery, too. You can't even bring outside food or drink into the store when shopping to avoid the possibility of cross-contamination.

I don't know a lot of bakeries using shellfish anyway, but nuts, eggs and milk are staples at just about any bakery, cafe or coffee house. At this new Macomb County business, however, bakers get creative with other ingredients and vegan substitutes to offer warm, pretty and fresh baked goods that cause no danger to those with food allergies.

Here are some of the questions I had about Allergy Free Bakery, asked and answered for you:

What's the story behind this place?

I was not surprised at all to find that owners and founders Chris and Jessica Farraj have children with food allergies. Nothing is more motivating to a business owner or entrepreneur than to solve a problem or improve a situation for their family.

"My first son was born, and we quickly found out he was born with over 23 allergies, so it was kind of a quick reality check. The first thing was how can we make the best of it ... and make his life as normal as possible," said Chris Farraj, adding that he was really focused on not just protecting his son, but empowering him and building his confidence.

"We found ourselves avoiding a lot of parties. We would go to a birthday party and once the kids were done playing we'd pull him out the back door so he wouldn't see everybody singing 'Happy Birthday' and eating cake and that was probably, as a parent, one of the hardest feelings in the world."

The bakery's slogan, "we want everyone to enjoy the sweetest things in life," stems from Chris and Jessica's desire to want the best for all children, and even adults.

Can baked goods without milk, eggs and peanuts taste good?

I tried the cookies, breads, bagels and the large cinnamon bun, which came recommended, and I found that the bagels and the bun were the most delicious. While on the smaller side, the bagels had a spongy, chewy consistency and a great flavor. I'd get these over grocery store bagels any day.

The cream cheese, which has neither cream nor cheese, is very close in consistency to regular and has a good, mild flavor that can be punched up by getting the veggie or scallion version.

After the bagels, I found the cinnamon bun and its sweet, sugary frosting to be the best tasting. It's huge, and the leftovers were even better popped in the microwave for a few seconds. Same for the snickerdoodle cookie, which wasn't super soft, but had great flavor and benefited from a zap.

The iced chai latte was probably what I was most blown away with, however. Even though completely dairy-free, it was creamy and flavorful.

What are the prices like?

Somewhere between store-bought and high-end bakery, the prices here are pretty much on par with other boutique shops. Consider that the Farrajes also had to buy completely new and unused equipment and got no deals on used stuff, and also did a completely new build out to avoid any contamination.

Cookies and bagels are between $2-3 each and a small iced coffee drink was $5.

"Our price points are pretty competitive ... we don't charge a premium on our products," said Farraj, adding that one saving grace is that while they use high-end ingredients, they also use fewer ingredients than the average bakery. "We don't add preservatives, we don't add all the other things as much."

What about other allergies, like legumes or fruit?

For now, the top nine allergens are what Allergy Free Bakery is focused on, but they hope to be able to eliminate more ingredients in the future by special request. They're taking their time to get to that point to avoid cutting any corners; safety is the top priority.

A list of all ingredients in each product is available in the store, and soon that will also be viewable on the website for full transparency.

Isn't this a little too niche? How can a business like this survive?

According to the organization FARE (Food Allergy Research and Education), 32 million Americans are at risk of anaphylaxis due to a food protein, and one in four consumers buy products that don't contain those top nine allergens. It's big business. According to their consumer research, the compound annual growth rate for allergen-friendly food is 27%.

Since opening about three weeks ago, Farraj said they've had a huge influx of customers and even requests from people who want to invest or franchise. They're not there yet; this is a weeks-old business and quality control is of the utmost importance.

The plan going forward is to work with school districts to get more allergy-free sweets into the lunchrooms and other wholesale accounts.

Where is it and when it is open?

Allergy Free Bakery, 50421 Hayes in Shelby Township, is open 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Tues.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. and 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. Call (586) 900-CAKE or visit allergyfreebakery.com.

Melody Baetens is The Detroit News' restaurant critic

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