Life Breads Bakery closes storefront

Meg Reed and Todd Herzog are shown inside of Life Breads Gluten-Free Bakery at 1509 N. Harrison St., Davenport, on Saturday, April 22. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON

Life Breads Gluten-Free Bakery has permanently closed its storefront business at 1509 Harrison St., Davenport.

Its last day in business at the storefront was Tuesday, Dec. 24.

However, Life Breads will continue as a home-based business in Moline, and will be selling its bakery goods at area farmers markets in the near future. Customers may email the business at [email protected] for more information. They also can place orders at Life Breads website or on its Facebook page.

Meg Reed, general manager of Life Breads, said the decision to close the storefront came down to business. The overhead costs were expensive and the store was not getting the walk-in traffic that she and other family members had hoped for.

“For months, we were breaking even at the store and not much more. … And most of our orders were coming online,” Ms. Reed told the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal this week.

She added that her family might revisit the Life Breads business plan and may someday even reopen a storefront. But for the time being, the bakery will be doing business through online order and at various farmers markets.

Ms. Reed said Life Breads bakery goods are being sold at the Mississippi Valley Grows’ Association Farmers Markets. Those goods will likely be sold at other area markets in the future.

Some of the bakery goods featured on the Life Breads website include gluten-free pizza crust, bagels, desserts and many other goodies.

“We may be closing, but we are not gone. We must simply pivot our business to continue providing delicious gluten-free baked goods with uncompromising quality,” according to a letter posted on the bakery website announcing the storefront closure.

Life Breads opened its storefront with a grand opening ceremony on April 29, 2023. Ms. Reed was the store’s general manager, and her father, Todd Herzog, was the store’s owner.

The storefront business was a lifelong dream of Ms. Reed’s mother, Catherine “Cat” Herzog. That dream was taking shape in August of 2022 when Ms. Herzog unexpectedly died. Her death delayed the opening of the storefront, but family members rallied and opened Life Breads in 2023.

A year later, the business thanked the community and its customers by having a first-year-in-business celebration on April 29, 2024.

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