Food for Good Thought, which sells gluten-free muffins, bread, cookies and pizza, opened a retail bakery at 4185 N. High St. in Clintonville on Saturday.
It is more than just a shop catering to folks with food allergies. It's also an occupational training center for teens and adults with autism. And some of the bakery's profits will be donated to the Connections Center in Houston, a clinic that provides programs and training for families of children with autism.
The bakery is owned by Audrey Todd, a clinical psychologist, and her husband, Scott Bogner, a nuclear physicist. "It has given us great personal meaning," Todd said.
Food for Good Thought sprang from their desire to help their son, now and later in life. Six-year-old Liam was diagnosed with autism several years ago.
Although there is no hard evidence linking gluten to autism, Todd said Liam's life has improved dramatically since they put him on a gluten- and casein-free diet. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. The National Institutes of Health estimates that 1 in 133 Americans is allergic to gluten. Casein is a milk protein found in dairy products.
Eliminating gluten and casein, she said, has helped him focus, addressed many of his digestive problems and improved some of his more-unusual autism-related behaviors.
Food for Good Thought sells baked goods based on the allergen-free recipes that Todd developed for her son. Prices range from about $3 each for an apple-cinnamon or chocolate-chip muffin to about $5 for a smoked-
salmon sandwich, and $15 for a 12-inch pizza. The bakery also makes special-order gluten-free birthday and wedding cakes.
The bakery is a labor of love, but it has required a lot of actual labor. Todd and Bogner bought the building at 4185 N. High St. in February and spent the past several months outfitting it with a commercial kitchen, seating areas and an occupational training space.
The former home of Beechwold Natural Foods seats eight inside and 10 on the porch.
"I didn't want to do something in a strip mall somewhere, because there will be people with impairments working here," Todd said.
The bakery already has a niche in the commercial community.
The Raisin Rack and the Clintonville Community Market have been selling Food for Good Thought baked goods for about a year, and the bakery has just signed a contract to supply gluten-free pizzas to Kent State University.
Until recently, the bakery made all its goods at the Food Industries Center at Ohio State University. The center allows entrepreneurs to rent space in its commercial-quality kitchens.
But opening a stand-alone bakery has always been the goal.
"My son benefited so much from a gluten-free diet; I wanted to share that, and at the same time I wanted to create a vocational rehab center," Todd said. "We needed to do this because the employment prospects for people with autism are so grim."
The U.S. unemployment rate for autistic adults averages 90 percent, according to the nonprofit Autism Society. Todd said that is her main reason for opening the bakery.
She wants her son, and others with autism, to have the chance to lead a productive life and to be able to reap the benefits of employment.
"Work is so important," Todd said. "My brain is so different now than it was at 21, mostly because of my work and life experiences. Why not give people with autism the same opportunity for meaningful employment?"
The bakery employs two teens with autism, and Todd hopes it can grow enough to accommodate more.
Food for Good Thought is open every day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
On Restaurants
Bakery and more
Gluten-free Food for Good Thought now has store that is occupational training center for autistic people
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 02:51 AM
By Denise Trowbridge
FOR THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Ed Matthews | Dispatch photo
