Odd Bagel Needs You: Help support the best gluten free bagel

Please help support Odd Bagel, my independent, gluten-free bagel small business.

Abruptly, I have lost the lease on my long-term production facility. The situation I find myself in is that I must move to a new facility or stop making Odd Bagels. In addition to all the costs that come with the move, I will need equipment that I have not had to own until now.

I am a small business that has consisted mostly of a staff of one: myself. I have been making these bagels for almost 12 years now, delivering a high-quality product while maintaining a reasonable price for customers. High prices for gluten-free products have always been a concern for me as I have attempted to keep my product accessible for everyone. Comparable gluten-free bagel brands currently sell their product at about 30-40% more than what I charge, and for mail orders, I subsidize shipping to the entire United States in ways that these other brands do not. While the choice to do this has limited the rate at which I have been able to grow, it is important to me that all members of the gluten-free community be able to afford my product.

Food is comfort, food is healing, and I have seen this in the community I serve. Some of the most powerful experiences I have had were at trade shows where immunocompromised children, who often have the most restrictive diets, realize that they are able to eat my bagel.

It has been amazing to watch the reaction of a child who is most often told, “No, you can’t eat that!” see that Odd Bagels are a “Yes!” for them. I regularly receive emails and comments on social media telling me how good my bagels are, how important they are to people as part of their diet, and how it brings them joy. This is what has driven me all of these years, even when the immediate financial rewards have not been there.

Yes, I have not taken a paycheck or received a distribution from the company during this entire time. For at least eight years now, I have regularly worked seven days a week, often between 10-14 hours a day. This has limited my time with friends and family as well as taken a toll on my physical health. While my business is not a non-profit, to date, it has been a no-profit for me.

At this time, the company cannot take on more debt.

I am absolutely the last one to ask for a handout or help; you can ask my wife. But, at this point, I need support to continue delivering the bagels that many of you have come to regularly enjoy. If you believe in small businesses, are gluten-free/Celiac/wheat allergy/immunocompromised, and you want the continued ability to buy a superior gluten-free bagel, I ask that you consider supporting me and helping me to continue Odd Bagel.

Funding Needs

My needs are fairly straightforward: I will have to purchase and install both an oven and a freezer for the new space.

Ovens range in price from $12,000 for a used unit to $70,000 for a top-of-the-line, new unit.

Walk-in freezers of the size I will require range from $10,000 to $30,000.

There are installation costs for these pieces of equipment. Based on the estimates that I have seen, I am setting a fundraising goal of $50,000.

As is said regularly on these fundraisers, every donation counts, every dollar makes a difference. Every person who contributes pushes us that much closer to the goal and I appreciate everyone’s participation.