Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/116674
Q&A; Born to Bake BY DENISE SHOUKAS P amela Giusto-Sorrells was born into a family of natural foods entrepreneurs. Her grandparents bought a health-food store in San Francisco in 1940, which eventually became Giusto Specialty Foods. After college, Giusto-Sorrells decided to start her own venture, Pamela's Products, to do what no one was doing in 1988—making wheat-free and glutenfree foods that taste great. Today, Pamela's recently moved to a new 76,000-square-foot facility in Ukiah, Calif., and remains a leader in gluten-free products. Here, she talks about the changes in the natural food industry and her secret to creating delicious gluten-free foods. Q You don't have celiac disease or gluten intolerance. What was your motivation for starting a gluten-free company? My motivation to start Pamela's was based on the awful gluten-free foods available in the '80s, some of which were from my family's own natural food bakery. I didn't think there were many people with gluten intolerance, but even if there was one kid, I wanted to change things because it wasn't fair. How has the natural foods segment changed over the past 25 years? In the '80s most stores were small, dark and smelled of vitamins. Packaging was unappealing, baked goods were whole wheat, heavy and dry. Vitamins were a large amount of the inventory. Cookies were made with oil, not butter. Fruit juice was the sweetener, not sugar. There was no chocolate, we used carob. Today with the success of the Whole Foods effect, natural foods markets have changed how Americans shop, what we eat and how we live. company and our products sold on taste alone. With the market trend being about gluten-free foods, we've found ourselves in the right place at the right time. How have your responsibilities changed over the years? In the early days, business was far less sophisticated and I used to do everything. I made cookies and sold them. Today I have intelligent and talented staff who understand the changes in the marketplace and have the aptitude to deal with them. I can now sit back and concentrate on what I do best—being the creative one. If you knew you were having your last meal, what would you choose to eat? My last meal? My chocolate cake with my chocolate frosting, and ice cold milk. Seriously! |SFM| Denise Shoukas is a contributing editor to Specialty Food Magazine. What is the key to creating delicious gluten-free items? Pamela's has always been a company focused on making greattasting food that also happens to be gluten-free. I believe in using quality ingredients. For years we were known as a great food 60 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com GIUSTO-S PA MEL A PHOTO: Ironically, it's one of my first products, Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix. It's a wonderful, versatile mix that you can use to make great pancakes and waffles but also a huge variety of baked goods. It was one of the first gluten-free products on the market readily available for many years. My long-time consumers actually created many of the recipes you can make with our pancake mix. ORRELLS What is your best-selling product today?