EP. 28: BeeFree Employs Autistic Adults
The heartbeat of the BeeFree gluten-free company isn’t just their focus on real ingredients and delicious tasting food, but it’s their mission to support the autistic community.
Jennifer Weise is an entrepreneur and mother of four sons. One of her sons received an autism diagnosis when he was eight and her motherly instincts took over. We’ve all been there…
Their whole family embarked on a gluten-free, grain-free journey, but transitioning to a gluten-free diet wasn't easy. That’s how she and her mother developed many of the BeeFree recipes!
Jennifer and her team also created ‘BeeFree Bakes’ which employs young adults with autism. They provide training and practice basic job and interpersonal skills, they work on building confidence amongst team members and allow them to find camaraderie among coworkers. Did you know that 80% of adults with autism are either unemployed or underemployed? “If I can make just one impact in our community with that statistic then I feel really good.” I hope you enjoy Jennifer’s story!
Show Notes
2
0:00:00
So I'm very excited about our next guest, Jennifer Wiese with Bee Free Bakery. I ran into her product at Meijer. I was hungry, the kids were hungry, and I just didn't want to give them anything in the store. So I looked in the gluten-free section and she had her granola on the shelf. I opened it, Flynn ate it up, Riley loved it,
2
0:00:27
I thought it was amazing too, so I reached out to the company. And Jennifer started the company because her son was diagnosed with autism at age eight, and now he is 28 and thriving. And she talks about how he noticed a huge difference
2
0:00:43
going gluten-free, how she as a mom noticed a big difference. And at that time, there wasn't a whole lot of options for gluten-free, so she went to her kitchen and developed Bee Free Bakery.
2
0:00:55
So what I love about them is they have granola and bars. This time of year, they have an apple pie granola as well. So I can't wait to share the podcast with you. Well, welcome to the show, Jen. It's wonderful to have you. And the way that I found about you and your company is we were at Meijer and I looked over on the shelf
2
0:01:18
because we're gluten-free slash grain-free and I saw your products. I saw Clay's chocolate mix. And so I grabbed that. My daughter is 15 months and my son is three and a half and they loved it and I tried it as well and it was really good. So that's what made me reach out to your company because as you well know, there's very few companies that have super clean ingredients across the board as far as grain-free and gluten-free.
2
0:01:51
So I'm so glad that you decided to join the podcast and I'll let you introduce yourself to our listeners.
1
0:01:58
Sure, well thank you again for having me. I'm always happy to meet new gluten-free people who really believe in the power of food and look at food as medicine. And I thank you for your interest in allowing me to share a little bit of our story as well. So I'm Jennifer Wiese. I am a mom of four sons who are all adult men now, which is so hard
1
0:02:32
to believe, but their ages 23 to 28 and really just doing beautifully in the world. And so back in 2007 when our son was diagnosed with autism. We'd only read about it in books and, you know, saw it on movies and things like that. And so it was, I'm going to say, it was a little terrifying just because we didn't have information. We didn't already have a source, a knowledge base of autism and what that could look like.
1
0:03:13
And we just mostly knew the negative things. autism and what that could look like. We just mostly knew the negative things. We went to an autism conference in Vancouver and learned about how people were living with autism, how families were supporting each other, how communities were supporting each other, how medical field and therapists and all other nutritionists and all other types
1
0:03:41
types of people who were really smart, had a lot of information on how the body works, and really were putting autism at the center, and how we could support people living with autism to be part of our communities, to live their best life. And so that was super empowering for us and really impactful, so much so that that was And we really didn't know about gluten-free much prior to that, but that sparked our interest.
1
0:04:10
And so on the way home, we stopped at a local Whole Foods store and back then gluten-free was, it was tiny, it was like a little teeny tiny four foot section of gluten-free. And, but we were so intrigued and so interested and so curious, we pretty much bought everything.
1
0:04:30
And we took it home and started eating things and most of it ended up in the trash because it tasted so bad. It had horrible ingredients in it, a lot of stabilizers and chemicals and foreign things that I didn't even know what it was.
1
0:04:44
And it really didn't taste very good. But we were still intrigued. So I enlisted my mom and she and I got busy in the kitchen and we recreated favorite family recipes to gluten and dairy-free and real ingredients. And when I say it took a couple years,
1
0:05:00
it sounds kind of ridiculous, but it really did. It took us a couple years to really perfect our recipes, but that didn't really stop us either. We still put our food out there and we share it with friends and family and my boys were, so I'll back up for a second.
1
0:05:17
So one, we went gluten free as a family for one, but it was really important for me to eat the same food around the dinner table because my son was already feeling different and left out in some areas of his life. The last thing I wanted to do
1
0:05:35
was feed him a different plate of food. So it was really important for me to be inclusive and to create food that supported his way of life for the rest of the family. And so that was our charge. And after a couple of years, we really, really,
1
0:05:55
we got to a place where we were making food that no one could tell was gluten-free. And so my son was taking his own gluten-free pizza to pizza parties and cookies and cakes and those kind of things. I, you know, was trying to support on the side so that he could have delicious things that he could eat.
1
0:06:16
But then also what we found was there were lots of other people who were either curious or were interested in gluten-free, but they maybe didn't have the time, the energy, the effort, or the resources to do it on their own. So I was kind of building this kind of repertoire in my little town of Noblesville of kind of the gluten-free girl, right? So people would come to me and say, hey, can you bake a gluten-free cake for my friend
1
0:06:43
or my son or my daughter or whatever? And so we did some farmer's markets then after that kind of encouragement. And then the support even grew stronger because we sold out every week and we had something that people really wanted. And so that was the beginning. And because I have, I'm just a, I'm a pleaser. I like to, I love a challenge. I like to find a solution for a problem and I like to make people happy. And so this was one thing that I found that I could do that would create joy for other people that would, you know, alleviate a busy mom and maybe reduce her stress a little bit
1
0:07:29
by providing some of our food that was the start back in 2010, after we did farmers markets for a couple years. And then I just kind of started as a one girl show in 2010, hand delivering little baskets of food to local groceries and specialty stores, and some online stores as well.
1
0:07:57
And then we've just been growing steadily every year since then. But our focus is gluten-free, dairy-free, real ingredient, grain-free, and just looking at food as our medicine and how can we support our bodies in the best way possible. So that's kind of the overview of where I came from and the why behind my passion for running a food company. Now, when he was diagnosed, did you get any guidance from the medical doctors
1
0:08:34
or what spurred you to go seek other intervention? Well, I did not get support from the medical profession, I got laughed at and I was, you know, pretty much, you know, pushed aside saying that there's no medical evidence that a gluten-free diet is helpful in any way for autism. And, but I didn't, I didn't need, I didn't need medical evidence because I saw it with my own eyes, right? I saw the difference in our son on gluten and gluten-free. So I didn't really, I didn't need a medical doctor to tell me that I had something that was
2
0:09:23
effective. Yeah. Yeah, that's amazing. Good for you for pursuing that because you said around 2010 and earlier on there wasn't much research. Now we're seeing more research that does show a connection, especially with food additives, all the gums, all the stabilizers and all that. So yeah, moms, we always have that innate ability to know the difference with our kids.
5
0:09:48
Exactly.
1
0:09:49
And you know, that's one you just touched on, made me think of something. I often say I'm a mom on a mission. I don't have experience or education in running a food company and food manufacturing or recipe development or any of that, I just am a mom on a mission. Like I want my son to have the best life possible.
1
0:10:11
And so I have just dug in and learned the hard way, most times, made a lot of mistakes, and but I have just been willing to, I've been willing to put myself out there and take a risk because the benefit is so massive that that's why I do it. And then also, you know, for all of the children and adults of all ages that don't have a voice,
1
0:10:44
so I try to speak for them as well.
2
0:10:46
Exactly. Now, if I can ask, how was your son diagnosed?
1
0:10:50
He was diagnosed, a psychologist that, you know, did a bunch of tests. So, and that was back in 2007. Okay, yeah, it's come a long way.
2
0:10:59
It has. And now he is an adult and he has grown up eating this way. Does he notice if he gets gluten, so to speak, or whatnot?
1
0:11:10
He does, yes. And what is so, just so powerful is that, you know, he's 28 years old now, right? So he can consciously make those decisions most of the time unless he gets gluten by accident, right? That happens.
1
0:11:31
But, and if that does happen, he knows. He's like, oh, I don't know what I ate yesterday, but something in that food really messed me up. And, you know, and some of the ways that it impacts him are a lot of, some intestinal things, but mostly more attention. It really, really affects his ability to attend and focus and kind of stay present in his
1
0:11:56
world. And so those are some of the biggest impacts that it has on him and you know he's he's a working man and so he you know attention is a big deal for him he actually doesn't ever choose to eat anything that's gluten he would start I mean he would just go without because of the impact and how it makes him feel and how his body reacts to it it's not worth it no and your your other
2
0:12:27
Definitely not.
1
0:12:28
And your other sons, have they, now that they're adults, continue to eat gluten-free as well since you started that as a family? Not so much, no. And that's okay, but they know that when we eat, they know that the food in our house, if I'm going to have family dinner, which we have family dinner every Sunday, it's a gluten-free meal. So, you know, a couple of them live outside, you know, of our home now,
1
0:12:51
and they buy their own food. They decide how they want to eat and what they want to eat. So, some of them do choose to be gluten-free outside of our house as well. A couple of them don't. Yeah. Well, share with our listeners some of your products that you've developed. I know we've tried the bars. Oh, yeah, good. And my son absolutely loves those. They're
2
0:13:20
amazing. Oh, good.
1
0:13:22
So I know that's good. Well, I hope you'll be able to see those soon in Meijer, on Meijer store shelves, those little mini bars. So we're getting those out into the marketplace. So we have our Warrior Snack Mix, which is that cluster-style, cookie-like granola made with almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, lightly sweetened with honey. That's available in five different flavors, in two different sizes. There's a regular like nine-ounce shareable family size, and then a little three-ounce
1
0:13:55
snack size as well, just more like grab-and-go type of a size. And then our mini bars, we have those in two flavors. And then we have a brand new product that you'll see soon. I'll give you a sneak peek on it and send you a tasting box. It is a granola cookie bite. So, and that is not grain-free.
1
0:14:15
So that will be a product made with oats. Still gluten-free, still better for you ingredients. But we were looking for something that has a lower price point, that will kind of expand to our audience that isn't, that aren't always grain-free, that, you know, we're just looking for other things that we can put out into the marketplace at a little bit lower price point because oats are much
1
0:14:40
less expensive than almonds. And so that will, you know, that will be a lower price point item. And there's so many constraints on people's budgets right now. And if food is getting so expensive that we're looking for something to have just a little additional offering for our customers.
1
0:15:00
Yeah, so, yeah, and then we have a hot cocoa mix that's really super delicious with MCT powder. It's sugar-free, we make it with monk fruit, and it's really, really delicious on its own. You can just mix it with water or put a little scoop in coffee. Super versatile. So that'll be a nice addition as we're coming into fall and winter.
1
0:15:24
Yes. Yeah. Because it's always hard to find clean hot cocoa mixers. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And the fact that you can put tea in there, that's fantastic. Yeah. No, I was just going to say, we're always looking for what's in the marketplace that people want a better option of. Those are often the products that we develop, and then we listen to our customers, too.
1
0:15:47
So if your listeners have suggestions on what kind of item or product they're looking for, please send them my way. I love suggestions on what we can put in our test kitchen to just, like, you know, clean up an item that's already out there, but that could just be a little bit better.
4
0:16:04
Yeah.
2
0:16:05
It's always disappointing to me when I am looking at the gluten-free section and I pick up, and as you said, there's always some junk in it. So that's what drew me to your product is it's clean across the board. And for busy moms, if we don't have the time to make it, it's a great product to give your kids.
1
0:16:24
Well, thank you. Well, that's why we created it. And I love it that your family, you've introduced it to your family, and at even a young age, that's 15 months, right?
2
0:16:37
Yeah, Riley, she loved it. And like I said, my 3-1⁄2-year-old loves the bars. We'll be ordering more of those for church and traveling and things like that. Oh, good. And it's funny, my husband, he'll try to be gluten-free once in a while, but he's not really consistent with it. I went to the pantry last night to grab some of the Auggies and it was gone! I'm like, did you eat the Auggies? He's like, yeah, it was really good. I'm like, oh. So, even for the non-gluten-free, he loved it. That's amazing. That's that's the biggest compliment to me. It's an empty bag. It's the biggest compliment
2
0:17:18
Exactly. Yeah, I didn't even know this thing and then I went to find it. It was gone. Oh Well, I appreciate your support as a customer as well, so thank you you are right across
1
0:17:27
Really across from us. You're in Noblesville, right and we're in yes, you know, so okay
2
0:17:32
Yeah, yeah
1
0:17:34
So, you're a bar.
2
0:17:35
Yeah. Yeah.
3
0:17:37
We're super close.
2
0:17:38
And how many do you employ in your company? Talk a little bit about your company. Oh, you know what?
1
0:17:45
Thank you for asking that, because really, the heartbeat of our company is not only good, delicious, tasting, ingredient, real ingredient food, but it's the mission behind that, which is a job training. We have a job training center. It's called Be Free Bakes. We train job skills for young adults with autism.
1
0:18:10
And there, most of the employees that come to us have never been employed before. So we're training them very basic job skills, like how to clock in, what to wear to work, how to have appropriate conversations, how to have a break, you know, all those things. And then building confidence, building camaraderie with their co-workers, building friendships. It's just, it's really, it's super, super special to me. But not only that, there's a need, you know, 80% of adults with autism are either un- or underemployed. And, you know, if I can make just one impact in our community in that statistic, then I feel really good
1
0:18:55
about that. But we have big plans. So we are just recently entering a relationship with an organization here in Hamilton County that also is connected with the state of Indiana for funding and resources. And so we are getting ready to expand that program and we'll be able to offer even more training opportunities
1
0:19:19
for young adults so that they don't sit home all day. You know, they have a reason and a purpose and a place to put their feet every day. And so that's really, really what we're passionate about. And so that's why you see that little blue symbol on the front of all of our packages that says autism jobs provider because that's that's what we do and
1
0:19:42
every purchase we want all of our customers who purchase a fee-free product or Decide to share our story or share a link to our profile or whatever that all of that really helps change lives and if every purchase, you know every interaction helps allow a person that might be overlooked and might be sitting on their sofa because no one gave them a chance, it allows them a purpose and a place and a paycheck. And so everybody who comes alongside of us gets to be part of that. So we're just really super thankful and super excited about what the future is going to be for Be Free.
1
0:20:23
So I really, really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our story, ask some questions, and share our story with your listeners. So, I appreciate you. Yeah, I love that. Like you said, there's not many opportunities.
2
0:20:35
Right.
1
0:20:36
We just hosted a food handler certification course in our training center yesterday so that our adults can, once they finish our program, they can take their certification and all their great new skills and their confidence with them and get the job of their dreams. So that's fantastic. And what a confidence builder. It is so fun to see the difference between the very first day and the 12 weeks after that and just how conversational and just confident that they are. Yeah, that's cool. Very cool. So if our listeners want to, of course, your product could be buyer, but if they want to order from the website, the website. Yeah, so
1
0:21:24
yep, so they can go to BeFreeGF, which is bloop free, BeFreeGF.com, and order to their heart's content. And also on our website too, we have a lot of really great resources and information. So there's all of that available to them as well, too. And they can join our newsletter. Yeah, share it with everybody.
2
0:21:46
Yeah, and I saw some really good recipe ideas, too.
1
0:21:49
Yeah, and so we're always looking for new ideas, too. So if anybody wants to share a recipe or connect with us and be a recipe developer with our product, just reach out to me and I can connect you and we can get that going.
2
0:22:07
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time.
1
0:22:10
It is my pleasure. It's really an honor. Thank you so much. I appreciate it, and I'll make sure to share all of the links that they can purchase your products and look you up. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. Have a wonderful day. You too, Jennifer. You too, Jennifer.
1
0:22:30
All right. Bye.
Transcribed with Cockatoo