Cover image courtesy of Ethel's Baking Co.

Good things often start out small. While Ethel’s Baking Co. started whipping up its gluten-free dessert bars in a tiny rented church kitchen, the Michigan-based outfit now crafts its signature Pecan Dandy Bars and other treats in a much larger facility, shipping them to retailers across the country. As it has grown from its humble beginnings 14 years ago to the national presence it has today, the company has maintained its quality standards and remained a family-led operation.

Starting off
Fifteen years ago, Jill Bommarito, the company’s founder and CEO, was working in the real estate industry. Unfortunately, the recession of 2007-09 negatively impacted her career, and economic woes instilled her husband, a General Motors engineer, with the fear of being laid off. She and her other half began considering other opportunities to bring money into the household.

As it turns out, Bommarito’s family has a 45-year history of celiac disease; the condition requires a gluten-free diet which can be difficult to cook and shop for.

“Celiac disease [is what] inspired me to start Ethel’s. I saw how food intolerances made everyone feel like an outsider at meals, when food is what so often brings us together. I wanted to help create something special,” she shares. “No one had heard of [celiac disease] when my aunt was the first to be diagnosed here in Detroit at Henry Ford [Hospital]."

After attending many celebrations that offered no gluten-free options, Bommarito decided that something needed to change. She started the company with the intention of making desserts that would “lead the category and also lead in safety for those with celiac disease,” she says. “This had not been done before.” At the time, gluten-free options were not plentiful like they are today.

Starting when she was four, Bommarito’s Grandma Ethel taught her to bake and nourished her passion for learning.

“Walking in Grandma Ethel’s back door, I would immediately smell the fresh baked cookies, her famous pies (now our dessert-pie bars), fresh bread, rolls, and so much more. I felt everyone should be able to experience that anticipation of eating something delicious and special that makes you feel cared for,” Bommarito muses.

Ethel’s started off making its signature Pecan Dandy bars, blondies, brownies, and vanilla and red velvet cupcakes. The company was selling its gluten-free treats wholesale in April 2011, and specialty natural food stores attended events where they sold its products. In March 2012, Jill received a voicemail on her cell phone; it was from Whole Foods Market.

“I had a business number forwarded to my [personal] cell phone, and we had no reception at the church [kitchen]. It was a message from Whole Foods saying, ‘We found your Pecan Dandy, and would [like to] supply the Midwest with it,’ and I said, ‘Okay, this must be a sign,’” she shares.

That same year, the company moved to a 2,600-square-foot space in St. Clair Shores, MI, and Whole Foods started selling its Pecan Dandy bars in 2014. Ethel’s new location was fine for a while. Then, in 2019, the team realized it needed more space, as it was “busting at the seams,” Jill says.

To accommodate demand, in 2020 the company once again expanded its production footprint, moving to a bigger location in Shelby Township, MI. Despite the timing—the arrival of COVID-19 severely impacted manufacturing, including bakery—Ethel’s continued to thrive. Jill credits in part the new 20,000-square-foot location (with its all-new equipment and automated features) as helping their success.

“We have what it takes to meet the demand of all key retailers with premium quality and exemplary safety,” she notes. The company launched its products in Meijer in 2020, with Pecan Dandy bars remaining its top seller (representing 35% of its revenue).

“Meijer was a big one. We were really excited. We launched with Meijer chain-wide in May of 2020, during COVID, and we were their last launch of that year. [We were] very lucky, and they're a great partner to this day,” shares Jill.

While the Pecan Dandy gave the company its start, Ethel’s Turtle Dandy and Raspberry Crumble bars are close after in popularity, she says, noting that all the products require a keen attention to quality.

“We don’t use any syrups, meaning that [we use] real caramel, plus butter, cane sugar, honey, and vanilla,” she shares. “It's all made by hand, so there's nothing fast about what we do. It's about having that amazing taste and quality every time. To do it the cheaper way, we'd have to toughen the crust and would have to make the caramel less sticky. If you imagine some of the bigger, mass-produced products—we could create that format, but it wouldn't be that same taste and texture and amazingness. It would be good, but it wouldn’t be great.”

Family affair
While one of the key reasons Michigan remains Ethel’s home is family (Jill and the rest of the clan all live in the area), the Mitten State offers other appealing traits.

“When we started in 2011…we made a decision that we were going to stay in the state—we thought, ‘Should we move somewhere else, where there's more opportunity?’”’

Ultimately, they decided to stay in Michigan.

“We’ve found Michigan to be a great place as it is home to manufacturing, especially Macomb County. The resources, expertise, and mindset have all been beneficial to our success,” explains Jill. “[We wanted to] create jobs and [be] part of an initiative to grow manufacturing and increase trade, meaning [supplying] trade jobs.”

“Furthermore, we are so fortunate to be in the midst of these resources along with just great people. It’s a ‘help each other succeed’ mentality in Michigan. Others with the experience in the industry have always answered our call to assist. We do the same,” she notes.

While family contributed to the decision to keep Ethel’s in Michigan, the business also is a family operation. Jill’s daughter, Lily Bommarito, serves as the company’s senior director of sales and marketing. When discussing her daughter’s contributions, Jill takes on the tone of a delighted executive, and a proud parent.

“Lily knows our organization [from the] bottom up, since she’s been with Ethel’s since inception in 2011 in various roles,” she says. “Since taking over sales leadership, Ethel’s has made tremendous strides in growth with both current and new key customers.”

Jill also credits her daughter as being instrumental in helping establish Ethel’s reputation as “a lead innovator” in the gluten-free food field.

“Lily and the team have and are working closely with key retailers on innovation for flavors and products in a variety of channels,” reveals Jill.

Specialty channels
In Ethel’s early days, natural and specialty retailers were the best place for gluten-sensitive shoppers to find gluten-free offerings, says Jill, adding that Ethel’s may have been somewhat ahead of its time.

“When we started, gluten-free was on the rise but mainstream may not have been ready for it yet,” she relates. “Since 2020, [the category has] really seen an increase on people making decisions in their diet for a variety of reasons, to remove gluten, and we now see that it's a stronger initiative across the board in all channels.”

As Ethel’s grew, Jill says, the company was often the first ambient gluten-free bakery good producer to appear in a store’s bakery section, with others nestled in freezer cases. As more products joined Ethel’s wares, the company ended up serving as a “predictable, repeatable, trusted partner” stores across channels—conventional, club, convenience, and others—helping retailers increase their gluten-free wares. At the same time, forging those partnerships helped Ethel’s and achieve greater reach for its products.

“We are thankful to have a sound customer base to start that can help anchor these sets for retailers as they grow their better-for-you offerings,” Jill adds.

Gluten-free certified
All of Ethel’s products are certified gluten-free through the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO). According to Lily, GFCO has the most stringent certification requirements in the industry. To maintain GFCO Gluten-Free Certification for its products, the company reportedly adheres to the following:

1. Perform regular gluten testing on the ingredients it uses, and on its finished products. Both ingredients and finished products must test at less than 10 ppm for gluten, which is twice as strict as the FDA requirement for foods labeled “gluten-free.”
2. Complete gluten awareness training with the company’s employees upon hire, with an annual refresher each year, to ensure that all team members have a sound working knowledge of the what and the why behind its dedicated gluten-free baking facility.
3. Have a written “Gluten Program” that includes procedures for product traceability and recall, testing procedures, customer complaints, and other food safety policies related to maintaining its gluten-free certification status.
4. Undergo an annual on-site audit by the GFCO, wherein a third-party auditor comes to the company’s facility and does a full review of its written Gluten Program, tests random products, and observes our facility and processes to verify that it is abiding by the GFCO Standard.

Jill suggests Ethel’s “layers of flavor,” its commitment to taste and quality, and to be the “best” in the category of dessert bars, not the best for gluten-free, is what drives the company.

“To be loved by all is our commitment to those that do eat gluten-free, so they can be the rock star of the party, while being a trusted partner with retailers. Self-manufacturing has always [been] intentional and a key differentiator for us. We control quality, purchasing, timing, and safety while making a difference in our community and growing people,” she finishes.

Packaging
The whole team gets involved when it comes to packaging, Lily says, putting a great deal of thought into performance, presentation, and other aspects of their containers.

“How easily is [the packaging] coming off the tray? What the color consistency on the bottom? Are we having any breakage, any loss? Is it baking off differently in [different parts]?” she says. “[The team’s] feedback is really important.”

Also, Lily adds, the company holds weekly R&D meetings, commercialization gatherings, and regular sales meetings, to ensure excellence across the board, Lily notes. One key focus shared by team members is making each product taste great.

“We can help figure out how to make it amazing—so you're not just making something ‘good for gluten-free,’” she explains. “We’ve found that many of the national retailers are being driven by consumer demand to grow sets that have a better representation for gluten-free, better-for-you, premium ingredients, [with] cleaner ingredient labels, like Target, Meijer, and Whole Foods.”

Jill notes the company has pivoted its offerings in response to market demand. For example, she notes offering favorable serving sizes and an appealing price point have been objectives in the brand’s sights for the past 12 months. In response, the company discontinued its larger tubs after they were in the market for a decade, going instead for smaller packages that the market responded to well.

“[We launched] a brand new four-count tray for all flavors, retailers, distributors, brokers, etcetera … boy, was that a project!” she laughs. “We are so thankful for the buy-in of every retailer, but beholden to their resets. The focus on this new pack size, which took a village, was permissible snack size, the ability for the customer to visually taste the bars, to be easily merchandisable, and to reduce case count, lower the SRP, and extend the shelf-life. This was a collaborative effort with feedback we received from our buyers, distributors, and customers. The results are proving even better than we projected.”

What’s next
Jill teases that the industry should look for additional snacking innovation options from Ethel’s in 2025.

“We have some exciting new product lines and flavors on the horizon, as well as innovation in cookie offerings. We will continue to innovate in flavors, offerings, and channels, with the goal to be an ‘everyday name’ in the world of baking,” she reveals.

Jill also reveals adding team members likely will be key to future growth—adding to its sales force on both coasts, taking on convenience and foodservice.

“Our plans include adding additional key sales team members [in the] East and West, [and] channel directors for convenience and foodservice, along with growing leadership depth in our manufacturing and food safety teams. When time comes and we hit capacity here in Michigan, and we have a lot of capacity for baking efficiently, we plan to invest in a second facility in a Western location,” Jill shares.

Still, Jill says, Ethel’s size remains small enough that they can be nimble, and focus on what the company does best.

“You can be good at a lot, or you can be excellent at something; we are excellent at providing a different level of taste and quality in the gluten-free industry,” she states. “The gluten-free or gluten-intolerant consumer can proudly share us with all. The bakery department can confidently put us on the table and know others outside of the gluten-free community will ‘buy with their eyes.’ We become a household favorite once you try us.” SF&WB