I Made Banana Bread My Stepson Could Eat And It's Become This...

I came into my stepson's life when he was 4 years old. He was always eating different meals from the rest of the family due to his peanut, tree nut, dairy, seafood, shellfish, and egg allergies. I believe that dinnertime is a WONDERFUL time to get the whole family together, talk, share thoughts or feelings or wisdom, and see each others' faces. A part of that magic is taken away when one is eating while the others are having their food prepared or one looks on as others discuss how delicious something is, only to know that he/she may never be able to know for themselves. I started cooking meals for the family that didn't involve his allergens and it turned out, we really didn't miss it!

More info: kickstarter.com

So when I saw a couple of browned bananas, I decided to make a chocolate chip banana bread we could eat by modifying a few ingredients. The worse case scenario: the bread was bad and I'd throw it away, which is what I was going to do with the brown bananas anyway. HE LOVED IT!! But he and his sister went to their mom's for 5 days and I couldn't eat the bread by myself so I brought it to work. GONE!! Orders started coming in and I realized that whether people had allergies or not, they really wanted and loved good, honest food! No preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial coloring or flavors.

After opening up my company and farmer's market stand in September 2015, I gradually changed out my standard ingredients for higher quality options (grapeseed oil instead of canola, organic pure cane sugar, unbleached wheat flour, ceylon cinnamon, etc) and the produce I use is locally grown, organic, or both if possible. The bananas, which are in all of the breads instead of egg, all come from LNB Groves, a local South Florida farm that specializes in exotic fruit and carries multiple varieties of bananas! Through my company, I have met dozens of people and moms who have thanked me for starting my company! They're so relieved to be able to know and trust that the person making their/their child's food has their best interest in mind. It's the most gratifying feeling!!

I currently bake out of my house and was renting a warehouse space in the hopes that little by little, we could convert it into a commercial kitchen. And everything was working out... until the heat and humidity of South Florida summer laid waste to everything we built. Farmer's Markets were all being frequented less often, some closed down permanently or for the summer, and our large deals in outdoor markets were lost since the breads perished in half the time. Basically, The Banana Crew knew that summer would be difficult but just didn't anticipate it being THIS much more difficult.

So we launched a KICKSTARTER!! The funds from the campaign will help us to finish what we started!! Farmer's Market season is coming up in October and all the favorite spots are opening back up but we wanted to be able to share our breads with the rest of the U.S. too since we have family and friends from all over and can't do that without a commercial kitchen!! We have fun rewards like our breads, magnets, T-shirts, and totes with designs by Ashley Taylor (who also did our logo), a freelance graphic designer who's collaborated with Disney, Lucasfilms, Marvel, and Her Universe!!

Thanks for checking us out and reading our story. We're just a small family company looking to make our mark in the world and your interest humbles us.