There’s nothing quite like a mother’s guilt. Will my baby be ok if I can’t breastfeed? Can I feed them from a jar because I haven’t slept for days and I’m too exhausted to cook? Is the iPad babysitting while I shower for the first time in 72hours permanently damaging their fragile, growing minds? Do they need lessons to start ballet dancing and mastering piano concertos the day after their 2nd birthday because their friends are?
The list goes on and for a full time working single mum this guilt multiplies. You feel torn leaving your baby at day care so you can race off to work and pay the mortgage. You cry because you miss their first athletics carnival. You feel terrible they never get the excitement of being served by you at school canteen. Finally, when your pride and joy has serious food allergies, well, up, up, up goes that mother’s guilt. Did I do something wrong while I was pregnant? Should I have delayed solids or given them earlier? What can I try to bake so they don’t miss out on every birthday cake at Kindy and every special food day at school? You get it, there’s a lot of time spent beating yourself up, but I found something that changed everything. And this is how I started a donut business.
Hi, I’m Jane, owner of OMG Decadent Donuts Northern Beaches and North Shore. My son Toby was born with a lot of allergies. He became anaphylactic to eggs before he was one and was diagnosed Coeliac (allergic to Gluten) just before he turned 6. As he had been managing allergies for a long time, he was used to eating different foods to other kids, but that didn’t make me feel any better. Seeing him eat his separate food at his friend’s parties, my heart broke for him. Prior to becoming Coeliac, he’d tried a cinnamon donut. It just stuck in his mind. Donuts – powerful holey delights indeed.
He begged me to cook them at home…a miserable failure. They tasted somewhat like a donut thanks to abundant cinnamon sugar, but I’d whipped up chewy balls so fibrous and leathery, even the family dog turned her nose up at this “treat”. Shortly after this however, Toby spotted an ad for Gluten Free Donuts and begged me to order a box. It was love at first bite, Toby enjoying every decadent delight without any allergy flare ups. He said we should do this business too. My little business advisor extraordinaire.
I thought he was nuts, obviously. I’m a single mum with a demanding full-time job. But my curiosity was piqued. I called the Brisbane Head Office and there was instant connection. Toby’s business intuition and dependable palate helped overcome my usual risk averse perspective and we decided to go for it. Starting a new venture during a global pandemic wouldn’t seem ideal timing, but the humble donut is proving to be a perfect antidote to the doom and gloom.
Now, most importantly, what’s so OMG special about these donuts? Well, unlike a lot of gluten free and vegan substitutes, which any donut connoisseur spots instantly as a mere shadow of the real deal, our donuts are every toothsome bit as light and fluffy as our gluten-laden peers. Our boxes offer unique flavours too, with 12 bespoke sugar dustings in every pack made from real dehydrated fruits, veggies and spices.
The reactions I get from people who haven’t had a donut in years, the compliments and joy they bring, all make the hard work worth it. And the mums who’ve shared in my own motherly guilt, seeing them in tears, finally able to give their highly allergic child the wonder of a donut, that’s when I see just how important my family business truly is.
Find out why these donuts are OMG. Order today via the website:
omgdecadentdonuts.com/northern-beaches