A shared passion for food and a disease that means sufferers can’t eat anything containing wheat or gluten doesn’t sound like the best of combination. For Emma Braz and Nadia French however, it signalled the beginning of a successful business – Fraz Foods.
A life without cake? Perish the thought!
Fraz Foods was founded two years ago after one of the owners’ sister was diagnosed with Coeliac disease which, put simply, is a gluten allergy. Rather than face a life of no cakes Emma and Nadia set about developing gluten-free cakes, cookies and pizza bases through their business, Fraz Foods.
Emma and Nadia have a strong background in food, having worked for the Australian Women’s Weekly in their test kitchen. During their time in the test kitchen they developed recipes for the very popular cookbooks of Women’s Weekly and Woman’s Day. This gave them the perfect grounding and confidence to develop their own recipes – an invaluable experience as they set about the challenging task of producing quality gluten-free products that actually tasted good.
Developing recipes and baking cakes and cookies hasn’t been all roses and chocolates though, as much of the testing has been carried out in their own kitchens. This created its own set of obstacles, with both Emma and Nadia having small and inquisitive children willing to “lend a hand”.
Testing the waters
While they had some definite ideas on how they would like their end product to be, Emma and Nadia decided to first test the waters by selling direct to the public with a stall at Como Markets. What they discovered brought a whole dimension to the business – not only were people looking for gluten-free products, but also dairy-free. So then the challenge was to add dairy-free to the range as well.
“We wanted to make a gluten-free product that tasted really good,” Emma and Nadia said. “We love it when we hear people say they cannot taste the difference between our product and one that isn’t gluten-free – that has been our goal from day one.”
As word spread, a new set of challenges and opportunities faced the budding business owners. They were building a reputation at the ‘grassroots’ level, but then they had to find distributors and businesses willing to take their product to the retail market.
The next challenge – finding distributors
After knocking on the doors of many cafés and restaurants in the Shire, showing and delivering samples, their break came when a distributor heard about how good their product was and contacted them.
As more people discovered their cakes and cookies, more distributors were keen to be a part of this growing business.
Expanding the business
Fraz Foods’ reputation for quality, tasty gluten and dairy-free food is spreading quickly with the girls now distributing their products to cafés and restaurants in and around Sydney, as well as areas such as Jervis Bay, Palm Beach and Canberra.
As the business grows, so will the need to move into bigger premises. Emma and Nadia are also looking at alternative distribution channels such as a website and catering as ways of expanding their business in the future. They also see the growing business as a chance to educate people about the benefits of gluten-free foods and show them that gluten and dairy-free can actually be tasty!
Reaping the benefits of a successful business
The biggest impact when they were starting out were night deliveries that meant time away from their partners and children.
However, as the business has successfully grown, Emma and Nadia can now reap the benefits with flexible hours enabling them spend more time with their children and work around their schedules, rather than their families working around the business.
Where possible, they allow time for themselves, relaxing and catching up with friends. Nadia continues to coach baton twirling, helping her students to reach the world championships.
As the business grows and word spreads about their great product, the two funky chicks from Fraz Foods continue to show that friends, family and business really can mix.
FRAZ FOODS
Emma 0418 111748
Nadia 0402 030 349 | 
