Omni Baking Company

Gluten-free trend growing - even in midstate

DALLAS, Texas -- Susan O’Brien, founder of a Dallas-based company that makes gluten-free snacks and desserts, led an impromptu tour through her 13,000-square-foot operation to a production room where the air was heavy with the scent of cinnamon.

A small clutch of hair-netted workers, including her former nanny, busily turned lemons and buckwheat groats into tarts and granola.

These days, about 90 percent of the raw, vegan and gluten-free treats produced by Hail Merry LLC end up in shopping baskets at grocers including Whole Foods and Central Market.

But that’s changing.

Launched in 2006 in a poolside cabana at O’Brien’s home, Hail Merry today is finding an increased appetite for gluten-free products among restaurant and hotel operators, including Subway and Omni Hotels & Resorts.

“We believe restaurants are a vital part of the market; they influence early adoption,” said Sarah Palisi Chapin, an investor who is also the chief executive of Hail Merry. “That helps us gain market share and makes it easier for restaurants and hotels to meet guests’ needs.”

In the midstate

Gluten-free has been a hit at Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurants.

“People see our (gluten-free) ad and they’re coming out the woodwork,” said Sarah Evans, a manager at Mellow Mushroom on Lake Joy Road in Warner Robins.

Evans said Mellow Mushroom started offing gluten-free pizza and other options about a year ago.

“We were told about celiac disease and gluten allergies ... everyone’s really satisfied. We’re getting a lot of good feedback about the taste.

“Last week, we introduced our gluten-free barbecue sauce,” Evans said. “We have a pizza that’s barbecue chicken, cheddar cheese, onions and bacon. Now the entire thing can be gluten-free.”

Mellow Mushroom also has a restaurant on Bowman Road in Macon.

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in grains such as wheat, rye and barley. For the estimated 250,000 Americans who have been diagnosed with an inherited autoimmune disorder called celiac disease, eating even small amounts of food with gluten damages part of the small intestine.

Beyond those diagnosed with the disorder, the California-based Celiac Disease Foundation estimates that up to 18 percent of the U.S. population, or more than 50 million Americans, is sensitive or intolerant to gluten.

PhillyDeals: Wawa hoagie rolls now from Vineland - Philly.com

Wawa sells 70 million hoagies a year.

"If you know anyone who makes more, I'd like to meet them," says Philadelphia bread-factory owner Leonard Amoroso Jr.

Wawa does big business in Cokes, smokes and gasoline. But what sets it apart from 7-Eleven, Sunoco's Atlantic mini-marts, or the Pantry 1 chain that occupies discarded Wawa stores is the labor-intensive fresh-hoagie counter. Which depends on hoagie rolls.

Until recently, most Wawa hoagies were served on rolls made by Amoroso's Baking Co. at its 55th Street plant in Southwest Philadelphia. Both are century-old family firms.

But earlier this year, Wawa quietly switched production to a new factory in a tax-break zone in Vineland - just in time for the company's hippie-themed summer Hoagiefest promotion, with sandwiches starting at $2.99.

The Vineland bakery, Omni Baking Co., is co-owned by Leonard Amoroso and his cousin Daniel Amoroso, in partnership with members of the Mulloy family, who own Ginsburg Bakery Inc. in Atlantic City.

Philadelphia's loss has been Vineland's gain. In January, as the Wawa contract with Amoroso's was running out, Amoroso's told the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry that it was cutting 115 of its nearly 400 Philadelphia workers. Since then, "we laid off about 70," Amoroso said.

In February, Omni told New Jersey it would hire at least 140 workers to prepare the plant to make 28,000 dozen rolls a day for its new customer.

"We're up to about 350 [employees] from 180 a year ago," said Omni co-owner Dan Mulloy. Amoroso's handled about three-quarters of Wawa's rolls; Omni does all of them. Omni's other clients include New York Frozen Foods Inc.

New Jersey taxpayers helped make this possible, with state and local tax breaks and $14 million in cut-rate financing for Omni's expansion.

The bakery owners say it was Wawa that wanted the switch. "It's a project we've been working on for a while. It's all directed by Wawa," Mulloy said.

"For years, they've been looking for ways to eliminate all the trucks going to their stores," Amoroso said. "There's too many trucks in the driveway. Us. The Inquirer. Stroehmann's. Herr's. Tastykake."

Now there's no more Amoroso trucks at Wawa. Instead, Wawa has the Vineland bread hauled to its commissary center near Swedesboro and puts it on Penske trailers that bring it to stores with pretzels, doughnuts, muffins and bagels from Pennsauken-based J&J Snack Foods.

Lexis Nexis corporate affiliations

New Jersey economic indicators

D & B million dollar directory

Antitrust law developments (sixth)

Blumberg on corporate groups