Allergy-Friendly Treats You Can Trust
An estimated 1 in 13 children have food allergies, or roughly two in every classroom. About 30 percent of those children are allergic to more than one food. Estimates of food allergies in adults range from 4% to 10%. People with food allergies and other special diets want to enjoy snacks safely and deliciously along with everyone else. Sales of free-from items, including gluten free, grew to $32 billion in 2016.
Award Winning, Delicious, Allergy-Friendly Cookies
Homefree cookies are a unique combination of delicious, wholesome, and inclusive, so that everyone can enjoy treats together! We've received accolades from the likes of Today, Shape Magazine, and the Good Housekeeping Research Institute. All our cookies are allergy friendly and gluten free, as well as non-GMO, low-sodium, kosher, vegan, and 100% whole grain.
We’re Leaders in Allergen Related Safety
It’s legally acceptable to label your product as nut or dairy-free even if it’s made on a shared line with that allergen. That’s a lot of room for contamination. We take food safety so seriously that we not only have our own dedicated facility, we even source our ingredients carefully to avoid cross-contamination, and then to be extra sure, we test for traces of allergens. So when you eat our cookies, you know you’re safe.
Our Progress so Far
We’ve come a long way since Jill’s home kitchen. We’re now in stores like Wegmans, Sprouts, and ShopRite, and in foodservice such as hotels, hospitals, colleges, and corporate break rooms. And we’re distributed internationally across 5 countries in 3 continents. Your investment can help take us even further.
If we hit our minimum fundraise goal of $125K, we’ll use your investment for promos and marketing, hiring, and the 5% Wefunder fee. If we hit our max goal of $600K, we’ll also put your investment towards inventory software, employee benefits, a new forklift and equipment for new products.
Gak's Snacks
Started Gak’s Snacks in basement of founder’s home, for mostly mail order, with 2 flavors of large cookies.
Homefree Treats launches!
Moved to commercial facility with loading docks, where Homefree was launched.
Gluten-free
Became dedicated gluten free to be more fully inclusive and to be merchandised in gluten free sets.
Change in packaging
Refreshed package art, contributing to a 70% jump in sales YOY.
Homefree earns Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification!
Homefree earned SQF level 2 certification (and in 2017 SQF level 3 certification, the highest level) for outstanding standards in food quality and safety. This certification differentiates Homefree, and opened the door to national accounts.
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotels
The result of a more than 12 month process, the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotels selected and launched Homefree Chocolate Chip Mini Cookies as their nut-free cookie at reception.
Dot Foods
In part to meet DoubleTree’s distribution needs, Homefree was accepted into Dot Foods. By June, 2018, this was expanded to having all Homefree products available by special order to any account, and a good range of items stocked for easiest access, for open doors to foodservice distribution nationally.
Expansion
Positioned ourselves with the dependability and capacity to acquire and meet the needs of large accounts by getting up and running with a second mixer, second cookie making machine, and 2nd wrapping machine.
Help Us Make Allergy-Friendly Eating Easy
Dear Investors,
Most of you likely know someone with a special diet, and perhaps you have special dietary needs yourself. If so, you likely understand the experience of wanting to include everyone when serving food, and perhaps of wanting to be included yourself. This is especially the case at social gatherings, where sweet treats so often are part of the fun. Inclusion is valued by people with special diets wherever food is served, whether at a gathering, a store, a school, a hotel, or a corporate break room. We are happy to invite you to join us in our mission to make it easy for people with food allergies and other special dietary needs safely and comfortably to enjoy Homefree “treats you can trust” right along with everyone else, wherever treats are served.
I began this journey because of my son, who was allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, and more. Our son’s allergist advised never to give our child anything made in a facility containing nuts or peanuts because of the risk of potentially life-threatening cross-contamination. When I questioned him about the risk level, he showed us research showing 6.5% clinically significant peanut cross-contamination in shared facilities. That created quite a challenge because most baked treats are made in facilities with nuts or peanuts. As a mom, and as a clinical psychologist, I wanted my son safely to be able to be part of the group when treats were served. That is why I began the process, from novice to expert, of creating allergy-friendly baked goods, and at the highest possible safety standard. To meet the goal of inclusion, the treats had to taste so good that everyone would be happy to eat them together. I’m proud to say that Homefree cookies have won awards not only as special diet cookies but also simply as delicious, healthy cookies. This includes Best Snack Award from Shape Magazine and being featured on the Today show as a recommended snack because kids love them and because they are healthy.
We now are at an exciting moment in our history. We are growing steadily and are poised for continued rapid growth. Rather than the common practice of using co-packers to bake our products for us, we operate our own dedicated facility with full control over safety and dependability. We set industry-leading standards for allergen-related safety, and we have achieved the nationally and internationally recognized Safe Quality Food level 3 for outstanding practices with food quality and safety. We have moved gradually from our original 2-week shelf life to 9 months (without preservatives!). The free-from category has developed such that retail and foodservice buyers are seeking products such as ours that meet the needs of various populations. Response to our refreshed packaging was, and continues to be, enthusiastic. We have expanded our facility and added equipment for increased dependability, efficiency, and capacity. We have attained national distribution both at retail and in foodservice. Most exciting is our new relationship with Dot Foods, the country’s largest redistributor. This makes Homefree sourcing easy for almost any U.S. foodservice account and thereby opens the door to exponential growth.
With your help, we are ready to add to our team, grow our sales and marketing, expand our reach, and develop new products. We are happy to invite you to join us as part of the Homefree team. We hope you will share our passion, and that many of you will become ambassadors for Homefree “treats you can trust.”
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