Launching my business

Like many small businesses, mine was born out of my own frustrating experience. I’m one of the 7 million Americans with food allergies or intolerances. There are a growing number of food products for us, but it’s still difficult for people with allergies or intolerances to more than one food to find things to cook or eat. I founded my website, www.EasyAsPieRecipes.com, to help make the meal planning process for people avoiding specific foods as easy as, well, pie.

I battled a whole range of seemingly disconnected health problems from fatigue to joint pain for years. After realizing that naps at stoplights aren’t normal, I spent a lot of time in doctors’ offices before one of them figured out the problem—food intolerance. A month and a blood test later, I’d cut wheat, dairy, eggs, sugar out of my diet. I missed bread and omelets, but I’d never felt better!

I’d also never been hungrier. I roamed health foods stores and haunted the internet with a rumbling stomach, reading ingredient labels and browsing forums like a gluten-free ghost. It was almost impossible to find something I could eat! Though there are a lot of products and recipes for people who can’t eat one food, multiple allergies are another story. I’ve seen many end-of-the rope posts on online forums from moms asking, “But my kid doesn’t just avoid peanuts, he’s allergic to (tomatoes, rhubarb, cheesy weasel on a stick, you name it).” My website will enable users to set up a profile that eliminates recipes containing any food they want to avoid from their search.

One of the biggest difficulties I’ve had is finding recipes that won’t turn out to be a pile of unappetizing goo. Just ask my husband about the egg, wheat, dairy, and sugar-free “cake” I made. It was flat, burnt, and tasted like chocolate sand! The web is full of stories from people who don't want to eat allergen-free food because it’s just downright unappetizing, or who have difficulty finding the specialty ingredients for the recipes they can eat. My site uses simple recipes with basic ingredients that can be found at most grocery stores. No primordial goo here. Just dinner! Not only that, but the website will even generate a printable grocery list. Just log in, click a button, print the list, and you’re on your way to the “normal” grocery store. Putting this tool together has certainly helped me with my own meal planning. If the enthusiasm from those I’ve already told about my site is any indication, Easy as Pie will be a hit.

Advice for others

The best advice I’ve gotten is to focus on the benefits my customer will get from my product more than the product itself. You could say my business is about food, but it’s actually more about saving people time and effort. They will use my service because it gives them time groom their dogs or climb the mountains instead of looking for food they can eat. Keeping my eye on what my customers get out of the product helps me keep my focus on what is most important about the service I’m developing.