I don’t know how many people saw, last week, that we dropped our prices 20%! We did this, basically, by asking the staff to take a 20% pay cut, and we did it because we see people are struggling lately and we needed to.

But you can imagine, 20% hurts. We’re depending on making it up in volume, by selling to stores. That’s the only way we can survive at this point. (Yeah, it’s that bad.) But the stores, at this time, aren’t running to take on new suppliers.

Next week, we’re starting a new marketing campaign. We’re going to ask you to ask your local, independent health-food store (NOT Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s - nothing our little oven can’t handle!) to carry our bread &/or muffins, cupcakes, and cookie dough. You’ll pay the same $8 per pack* of bread or muffins that you do now at our bakery, but you’d get it a lot closer to home!

It’ll all be really easy; basically just come here and choose the most convenient store to you from a drop-down list, and hit “send.” We’d be so grateful we’d give you a free tub of gluten-free cookie dough, which you would pick up at the store you chose.

That’s why we call it “The Great Gluten-Free Cookie-Dough Giveaway!” which sounds hokey I know but, hey, we’re a little desperate here.

We’re just working out the logistics with the local stores but we really want to get out there (think Ventura to San Bernardino, Lancaster to San Clemente.) If you have any suggestions, please let us know at giveaway(at)thesensitivebaker.com!

Check back with us in a couple of days and it will be all set up for you! (And have I told you recently how much I love you? No kidding. I really really appreciate every one of our “peeps” who have kept us running so far. Thank you everyone, for being a part of this.

***
* BTW, if anyone is NOT struggling, and can still afford to pay more for gluten-free bread, please give us a call at (310) 815-1800. We can arrange to take your excess cash in exchange, for example, for home delivery.

*
CDF Annual Education Conference & Food Faire
Saturday, May 2, 2009
8:30 am to 4:00 pm
New Location!!

In an effort to increase the awareness and diagnosis of Celiac Disease, and therefore the demand and availability of gluten-free foods, Celiac Disease Foundation (CDF) presents their Annual Education Conference & Food Faire in the new ballroom at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 East Green Street in Pasadena, California from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.

As always, this is a great opportunity to hear outstanding professionals speak on the latest issues regarding Celiac Disease and the gluten-free lifestyle - - all in one day! Read the rest of this entry »

“What’s In Your Lunch Box” (WIYLBOX)
provides underserved families impacted by autism with free-bilingual education programs on diet, nutrition, exercise & advocacy.

“More than Mcnuggets”
Eating & Autism Spectrum Disorder

F.E.E.D. the Kids program.
(3) Saturdays - March 28 8:30am-4pm,
April 4 8:30am-4pm,
April 11 9am-3pm.
Registration is Required

Location: Nobb’s Auditorium at the Marilyn Magaram Center on CSUN (Northridge) campus,
18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge CA 91330;
enter campus at Nordoff & Lindley.

for more info go to whatsinyourlunchbox.net

Gluten Free and Loving It!!

Cooking class with Peggy Curry

Founder of Kitchen Blessings & GrowingGreat

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

11am-1pm

$65

477 33rd Street, Manhattan Beach

Call to RSVP – 310.545.6529

peggy (at) kitchenblessings (dot) com

Nicci, the lovely lady behind the “GFCF Done Easy” website, will be doing a GFCF cooking demo Monday night from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m., at the Pasadena Arroyo Whole Foods Market. There will be a demo of an appetizer, main dish, and dessert.

(Rumor has it the appetizer will be her fabulous spinach artichoke dip which got rave reviews at Nicci’s Superbowl party a few weeks back - yum!)

Get Map
Whole Foods Market
465 South Arroyo Parkway
Pasadena, CA 91105 USA

If you can’t make it, you still should check out her site, especially the uber-helpful 10 Steps to Getting Started, in which she reveals that Costco rotisserie chicken is gluten-free — imagine the possibilities for easy dinners! Yay Nicci! We love you!

(Click to enlarge.)
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It’s time to make a “The Sensitive Baker” t-shirt, but I need your opinion. Personally, I think this works as a uni-sex design, but the guys who work here in the bakery (where men are men) think this is WAY too feminine to be worn by any male over the age of twelve. And, since I’m trying to be more open to other people’s opinions (you see, We Mean Business crew? I CAN be taught!) I thought I’d solicit yours.

Enter a comment by clicking the word “comments,” above, and when we do make a shirt, whether this design or something a little manlier, we’ll enter your name into a drawing for a free t-shirt! If more than ten people respond, we’ll even give away 2 shirts (more than 20, 3 shirts - hey, ya never know!) so you’ll always have a good chance to win.

When we make the actual shirts, we’ll announce the winner and email that person, so you don’t have to give us your actual address unless you win. So come on, tell me what you think!

And, thanks!

Come celebrate with us at The Sensitive Baker in Culver City and be a part of an episode of A&E’s new show “We Mean Business”, a small-business makeover show, premiering this summer.

We want you to share in our joy on
Thursday June 5th from 4:30 – 6:30 pm
as we have our Grand Reopening event. Come try all of our amazing baked goods; oh and did we mention not only do they taste good but they are gluten-free! MMMMM! As our special gift to you, the first 50 people who come to the event will receive a limited edition The Sensitive Baker canvas bag as our way of saying Thank YOU! To top it all off, during the event every $10 you spend in the store earns you a raffle ticket for an entry into the grand prize drawing: a $100 gift certificate to The Sensitive Baker! What more could you ask for?!

RSVP NOW, space is limited!

EMAIL: JWOODBECK { at } GRBTV(.)COM

We look forward to seeing you there!

Johnathan “Woody” Woodbeck
“We Mean Business” — Segment Producer
GRB Entertainment

***

Woody, dah-ling, you’ve got it all backward! It’s not so amazing that the goods are gluten-free. The amazing thing is that, being gluten-free, they still taste good!

Sunday, May 18th, 2-5pm

City of Manhattan Beach
on the 13 th Street & Metlox Plazas
2nd Fields of Green Free Community Event!

Fun for the whole family, including performances by the SqueeGees children’s musical group, children’s activities, food samplings, professional athlete appearances, exhibitors (like us!) and educational speakers all inspiring healthy eating, healthy living, and the awakened athlete.

You can order any of The Sensitive Baker’s products to pick up at the event, and a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit GrowingGreat, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring children and adults to adopt healthy eating habits. GrowingGreat provides comprehensive nutrition education and school garden programs to 1,000’s of elementary school students in Southern California.

To place an order please call The Sensitive Baker 310-815-1800.

For more information about the event,
call the GrowingGreat office 310-939-9216.

Hope to see you there!

SAVE THIS DATE:
Saturday May 3rd,
Moseley-Salvatori Conference Center
Good Samaritan Hospital
Los Angeles, California
9:00 am to 4:00 pm

This conference is always the event of the year for the gluten-sensitive and those of us who love you guys.

And this year’s speaker / guest list reads like a veritable Who’s Who of West Coast Celiac Disease. Here’s who they’re featuring:

Michelle Pietzak, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Pietzak will speak twice, once on Testing for Celiac Disease, and once on Follow-up Care for Diagnosed Celiacs.

Martin F. Kagnoff, MD, Director, Wm. K. Warren Medical Research Center for Celiac Disease, will lecture on Current Research at the center.

Danna Korn, Founder of R.O.C.K. (Raising Our Celiac Kids), author of “Living Gluten Free For Dummies” & “Cooking Gluten-Free for Dummies”; will talk about Living and Loving the Gluten-Free Lifestyle. She’ll also do a book signing - if you’ve worn out your copy of Living Gluten Free for Dummies (I know mine is about shot!) this is a good time to upgrade to an autographed edition.

Shauna James Ahern will have the luminous Gluten Free Girl available, and Karen Fine will promote her book for children, How I Eat Without Wheat. (Do you know Karen flew helicopters for the Navy for a few years? Is that cool or what?!)

There’s lots more going on as well - those are just the local heroes! But, speaking of local heroes, let us not forget to mention that the Celiac Disease Foundation itself is THE national organization providing support for celiacs and their families, and it’s founded right here in Studio City. Being part of a support group and getting the advice of a registered dietitian are considered to be the two top factors that correlate to a successful life as a celiac, living gluten-free. (I can’t quote my source offhand, but I’m sure I read that somewhere.) And note, please, that they’re also providing registered dietitians to answer your questions, right here at the conference.

Furthermore, the CDF promotes awareness of CD, in many different groups of people, from doctors so that they’ll diagnose more people correctly, to food manufacturers so that they’ll produce more safe food. They’re giving away the 2008 Champion for Celiac Disease Awareness Award - my vote is for whoever got them to take the barley malt flavoring out of the Rice Chex cereal!

Take a look at the program on the CDF website here. You can register online here. Do it now, the price goes up on the 11th. (Why wait? You know you’re going.)

Oh, and I almost forgot. Your Dinner Secret will be there and they’ll be sampling out our brownies. And, we’re providing our breadsticks for the luncheon. In fact, the whole day you will be plied with gluten-free goodies, from every gf-manufacturer in the country. (Why would you even think about not going?)

(And, why do I suddenly feel, like, Amish or something?)

Reminder that the next support group meeting of the CDF Westside Connections will be this coming Sunday, March 9th at 2:00 and 4:00 at our bakery in Culver City. We’ll be providing tea and sandwiches and other Sensitive Baker goodies.

$10 donation to the CDF is appreciated.

Edited to say: We are totally booked! Let Suzanne know if you’d like to get on a waiting list:

Suzanne Frieder
CDF Connections Leader, West LA to
sfrieder { at } earthlink(.)net

We hope to see you there!