After several delays, the new Life Breads Gluten-Free Bakery is almost ready to open.
The bakery, located in a storefront at 1509 Harrison St., Davenport, will open to the public Saturday, April 29. The bakery will be open that day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled at 10 a.m. The ribbon-cutting events will benefit the Byzantine Catholic Outreach of Iowa.
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 will be closed on Sundays.
“We are so very grateful for all of our customers who have stuck with us during delay after delay. We are so excited to welcome the community into our store,” said Meg Reed, general manager of the bakery located in Davenport’s Hilltop Campus Village.
Before the grand opening day, the bakery will host a “soft opening” event on Saturday, April 22. (The time of that event has yet to be determined.) That event, which will be for owners and general managers from area businesses, will include a sampling of products and information on how to create safer places for those with gluten sensitivity, intolerance, or autoimmune reactions, as well as an opportunity to network.
Ms. Reed said one of the goals of the soft opening is 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.
Plans for the Davenport storefront bakery began to unfold last summer. Setting up the business was a “lifelong dream” of Catherine “Cat” Herzog, said Ms. Reed, one of her daughters.
Ms. Herzog was busy expanding and transforming the business into a storefront bakery in early August when she died unexpectedly. Later in August, Ms. Reed said the family was still committed to getting the bakery open, but plans had been delayed by the family tragedy.
Even though the bakery is not open yet, Life Breads continues to sell baked goods through its website.
The bakery will be a dedicated gluten-free space in order to minimize the risk of accidental contamination of gluten, allowing patrons with sensitivities to breathe and eat with easy, Ms. Reed said.
For more information, people can visit QCLifeBreads.com, send an email to info@QCLifeBreads.com or call the store at (563) 200-1838.
