Life Breads Bakery: ‘It’s finally here’

Opening a storefront bakery that specializes in gluten-free baked goods was a dream of local baker Catherine “Cat” Herzog. That dream was taking shape last August when Ms. Herzog died unexpectedly. The tragedy caused the dream to be delayed, but not denied. Life Breads Gluten-Free Bakery, 1509 N. Harrison St., Davenport, had a soft opening […]

Opening a storefront bakery that specializes in gluten-free baked goods was a dream of local baker Catherine “Cat” Herzog. That dream was taking shape last August when Ms. Herzog died unexpectedly. The tragedy caused the dream to be delayed, but not denied. Life Breads Gluten-Free Bakery, 1509 N. Harrison St., Davenport, had a soft opening for area business owners and managers on Saturday, April 22. (A public grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 29.)

After opening day, the store hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. The bakery, which is located in the heart of Davenport’s Hilltop Campus Village, will be closed on Sundays. “It’s everything my mom would have wanted. In my head, I can hear her giggling,” Meg Reed, the bakery’s general manager and one of Ms. Herzog’s daughters, said as she looked over the new bakery. The Saturday soft opening’s goal was to bring in business people – such as restaurant owners and managers, grocery store managers and others – to show off Life Breads’ baked goods and to hopefully get the bakery’s gluten-free items into other local businesses.

Some of the baked goods on display included blueberry muffins, pound cake, cinnamon rolls, loaves of bread and much more. In fact, Todd Herzog, the baker and owner of Life Breads, marked an important milestone at 1:10 p.m. Saturday when he took the first loaf of bread that was baked during the soft opening out of the oven. It was a loaf of white bread the bakery calls its “Happy Accident” bread. “I’m really excited. It’s finally open,” said Mr. Herzog, the husband of the late Ms. Herzog. “This is a great location. I hope people show up.” He added that the bakery has been getting great support from the community during preparations for the opening. For instance, some of the workers who helped to transform the storefront into a bakery in the past several months commented that they have family members who need gluten-free food.

Some of that community support was on display Saturday as several people from the central city neighborhood and local businesses came in to look over the new bakery. “I like it. It’s very attractive,” Tony Fuhs, owner of The Brewed Book at 1524 Harrison St., said as he looked over the display cases filled with baked goods. Ms. Reed said one of the event’s goals was to connect with business owners and managers to make gluten free items more widely available in the Quad Cities as well as to “normalize these options.”  It is estimated that almost 20 million Americans have some form of gluten allergy or intolerance, while an additional 3 million are diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Life Breads’ mission of making gluten-free baked goods also was on display with a sign on a display case that stated that the products used in their flour included sorghum, millet, rice and tapioca. “What we don’t use: GMO corn, cane sugar and eggs; conventionally grown fruit, hydrogenated oils, non-organic milk, soy,” the sign also read. But most of the signs at Life Breads seemed to center on Ms. Herzog and her influence in launching the bakery. They included: “If you met my mom, you would understand” and “We know you’d be here today if heaven weren’t so far away.” There’s also a section of the bakery called “Cat’s Corner” with a photo of Ms. Herzog and the words “Courage above fears.”  Ms. Reed called the soft opening a great success and a great start to the new business. “I’m really happy to know what it looks like. It’s been so conceptual until now,” she added.