9 months ago
There's an old adage in business which advises to find a growing niche, and do your best to fill it.
That's just what an already successful Buffalo entrepreneur is doing in his new venture into one of the fastest growing segments of special diet foods.
Mario Pellicano has already built a company which produces specialty sauces, including wing sauce for the Anchor Bar and hot sauce for Mighty Taco.
Now he and two business partners are getting ready to take possession of an abandoned 12,000 square foot warehouse on Seneca Street in Buffalo which will be home to their new venture, Buffalo Gluten Free Products LLC.
Pellicano says their first products when they get up and running in late summer will be gluten free frozen pancakes, and gluten free instant pancake mix.
"Gluten free products are a growing market segment," Pellicano told 2 On Your Side.
"It's an industry which is still in its infancy, as grocery stores are just starting to put in entire sections of gluten free products," he said.
This was all welcome news to members of the Western New York Gluten Free Diet Support Group, which assists those afflicted with Ciliac disease, a condition brought on by an allergy to gluten, a common protein in wheat and other grains.
According to chapter President Cliff Hauck it causes a variety of maladies in its victims who in the past were often misdiagnosed with having some other disease, before scientists discovered the link between gluten and their illnesses.
"Up until the last 10 to 15 years this was thought to be an extremely rare disease that afflicted children and it was thought to be a temporary thing that went away. That is not the case anymore," said Hauck, who claims three million Americans have gluten allergies, which would reflect a figure of about 1 in every 100 people in the USA.
For more information on gluten allergies and maintaining a gluten free diet click on this link to the Western New York Gluten free Diet Support Group website.
WGRZ-TV, wgrz.com
