“We started Guncles 14 months ago in a small kitchen in Spanish Fort and sold our products at farmer’s markets and with retail partners from Schillinger’s Road to Pensacola. This is our first day in our first storefront. I can’t believe it is here. We both grew up in Mobile and talked about opening a bakery in 1993 when we first met. We even looked at locations, but it wasn’t the right time. We moved to San Francisco in 2001 and sold real estate with Sotheby’s and Christie’s. My father started having strokes and heart attacks, so we started living part-time in both cities. Then it became no question it was time to move to Mobile to be with our family. The city has changed so much and come so far in the 18 years that we have been away.”
I have a master’s in social work. I had dreamed of doing something internationally, but after school I came back to Mobile to help take care of my family. I went out one night for a break and met Demetrius and my life changed. In San Francisco, I had a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction and it is a miracle I am standing here today. I am here for a purpose and that is always in the back of my mind. I realized a gluten allergy was causing the reactions and have been gluten-free for about nine years. I could no longer eat the foods I loved and the few gluten-free baked goods in grocery stores weren’t good. Demetrius and I learned new ways to cook at home. I studied with a gluten-free pastry chef in San Francisco and thought of opening a gluten-free bakery there to help others like me enjoy baked goods again, but life brought us back to Mobile. A few years later, we realized it was time to open a bakery here. It has been so rewarding to see the response and to offer moist, flavorful, creative products to people who are allergic to gluten. I have been amazed at how many of us are out there.
All of the recipes have stories. Our first product was my mother’s Fig Spice Cake with Praline Sauce on it. I used to love to bake with her. My mother passed away, but she is very much a part of our lives and our bakery. The Chocolate Ganache Bundt Cake was my favorite cake and I thought it could not be perfected, but an eight-year-old boy asked me to put vanilla buttercream icing on it and I like that even better. Our ingredients are carefully selected and as local as possible. We are excited about adding gluten-free biscuits and breads and expanding our menu as we grow. Demetrius makes an amazing gluten-free gumbo that we hope to bring in. We are the only gluten-free facility on the Gulf Coast and we partner with people who are passionate about what they do and give attention to detail. Our coffees and teas are coming soon and they are from small family farms.
We saw this building on Government Street when we were driving to the airport to go to Las Vegas for a food show. We knew it was meant to be. We love food and cooking together at home. We also love people and making them happy. Starting today, we have everything we love right here in our bakery in Mobile. We want to help create community and give people a place to be together over good food that is good for them. There is so much more we want to give back to our hometown.”
Congratulations! I’m looking forward to visiting when I am next in Mobile.
What is the storefront address?
Congratulations guys. I’ll need to stop by the next venture back to Mobile.
I will definitely be by to check things out!!! Best of luck and congrats.
We’ve always loved your products at the Pillars Market, and every time we spend more with y’all than anybody there. We don’t have gluten allergies, but we still buy your baked goods because they are simply delicious. Best of luck in the new place, and we will be by soon.