Music playing in the background, soft chatter and the sound of an espresso machine releasing the warm aroma of coffee. Dedicated, a gluten free bakery and coffee shop, is a family owned and operated business. 

Located at 4500 E. Speedway Blvd. Suite 41, Dedicated provides a place for everyone where you can either chill with friends or do homework while enjoying a gluten-free meal or dessert. 

Jennifer Kinkade is the new owner of Dedicated. She went through a six-month training period with the previous owner, Rebecca Wicker, to ensure the brand’s integrity and recipes. 

Early in the morning, Kinkade would go to the shop to observe Winker baking bread, cookies and cake.

“Learning to run the espresso machine to make the coffee and work the deli, which is by far my weakest point, building those sandwiches quickly I’m kind of a mess,” said Kinkade, who also had to learn about the other side of the business like accounting, bookkeeping, sorting out suppliers and more. 

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Margueritte Pittle, who joined the Dedicated team a month ago, said Dedicated cares about serving the community where people who have certain allergies can still enjoy good food. 

“A lot of people really enjoy the atmosphere, it’s very chill, you can sit here for hours,” Pittle said. 

Either a cookie or a brownie, Pittle said, even a small sweet can make someone’s day.

Kinkade is aware that there are people who are gluten intolerant or have food allergies. She knows from personal experience as she is mother of three children, and her eldest son has corn intolerance. 

“It’s a huge life-changing thing if you get diagnosed with gluten intolerance,” Kinkade said. 

While Dedicated serves the community in offering gluten-free pastries, bread and more, they have also continued to create dairy free, soy free and vegan options. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, gluten is a protein found in grain products such as wheat, rye and barley. Celiac is a hereditary immune disease in which people are intolerant to gluten.

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According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, one in 100 people worldwide are diagnosed with celiac disease. Ingesting small amounts of gluten such as crumbs from a cutting board can trigger small intestine damage. The only treatment available is sticking to a gluten-free diet.  

Behind the scenes, pastry chef Susannah Long joined the staff in February. She used to work at Tanque Verde Ranch, and said working in the hotel industry means serving customers from all over the country and the world. Now that she is working at Dedicated, she has consistent customers which helps her to focus on catering towards what customers want.

Long is sensitive to dairy and her mother has celiac disease. Her mother was diagnosed in the 90s when there wasn’t much awareness of gluten-free options. Nowadays, gluten-free pastries are more common, and Long said she is up for the challenge as she wants to please people with food restrictions in their cravings.

Long also invited the gluten-free community to interact with Dedicated on social media so she can hear from people about what they want to eat.

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“Even yeast-free bread is a common request. So we have our sourdough, it’s a vegan option and it doesn’t have yeast,” Long said. “It’s really nice to just hear people’s excitement when you have what they are looking for.” 

Additionally, Long owns a small business called Drinking Buddy LLC where she sells gluten-free snacks to pair with alcohol beverages on Instagram.

Dedicated is open seven days a week, Sunday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and until 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. 

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