Interview: Dairy Free Market

Interview with Jeff Eder,
the founder of Dairy Free Market

(www.dairyfreemarket.com).

The Dairy Free market is an online store for people and families who are unable to consume dairy or other food allergens.

What do you hope to bring to the allergic, and food intolerant community, with Dairy Free Market?
Dairy Free Market (www.DairyFreeMarket.com) was founded after years of personal experience surveying both the physical and online grocery world only to find a limited number of dairy free foods available to (and easily identifiable by) the allergic and food intolerant community. Dairy Free Market hopes to be just the opposite of what you find in a traditional supermarket when it comes to finding dairy free foods - we aim to help the food allergy and intolerance community quickly focus in on the dairy free products available to them by offering a unique shopping experience that they cannot find anywhere else when it comes to selecting dairy free and other “free-from” foods. Dairy Free Market offers the allergic and food intolerant community a wide selection of dairy free products - all in one location, at low prices, and knowledgeable and responsive customer service.

How much of a role did your intolerances, and allergies play in deciding to start Dairy Free Market?
My own food intolerances (dairy and potato) played a major role in the idea for starting Dairy Free Market. A simple blood test about eight years ago confirmed my suspicion of multiple food intolerances. Then, after discovering how difficult it could be to conveniently shop for my specific diet, I began to look online to see what dairy free products were available and where they could be accessed - I quickly realized that not enough of these products were being collected under one roof so I seized the opportunity help solve that problem. Therefore, my site ((www.dairyfreemarket.com) understands what the allergic and food intolerant community goes through on a daily basis and aims to offer them a shopping venue that welcomes their special diets.

How does your on-line store work, for people with multiple food allergies?
Dairy Free Market will soon introduce a “Search by Allergen” feature that can take customers directly to the products that match their exact criteria. In the meantime, customers can use our Lifestyle categories (allergen categories including dairy free, egg free, gluten free, nut free, soy free; GFCF; kid-friendly; kosher; organic and vegan) to display the products that fit their diet. As an example, if you were looking for foods on www.dairyfreemarket.com that contained both no dairy and no gluten, simply click on the green gluten free button or the text link on the left-side menu and be taken to a page showing you all the products we sell in that category.

What can our readers who use your store expect in the way of customer service?
Dairy Free Market is not a giant supermarket and therefore has the time to devote to each customer. All customers of Dairy Free Market can expect an easy to navigate web site and checkout process, as well as a prompt and personalized response to orders placed and product and shipping inquiries. We take great pride in communicating product and order details to our customers and always want to keep them aware of the special offers we are offering, be it free shipping, a discount code, etc.

How do you go about selecting products for your store, what standards do you have?
Dairy Free Market selects dairy free foods that fall into a number of different product (cookies, snack bars, baking ingredients, chocolate, etc.) and lifestyle categories (vegan, kosher, organic, gluten-free casein-free, free from other allergens, etc.) and we therefore spend a good deal of time talking to manufacturers to find the latest and greatest dairy free products out there and hope to share as many of them with our customers as soon as possible. However, the primary requirement of all items sold by Dairy Free Market is that they must not contain dairy of any kind (no lactose, no casein, no whey). In some cases, the products we sell may have been made in the same facility or on the same equipment as milk products (a common issue in the dairy free world), however, we try to minimize those cases and if they do exist, we make those instances clear to customers.

Your selection of foods has been steadily expanding. What new products can we expect to see in your store?
In the coming months, Dairy Free Market will be adding many more dairy free baking mixes and ingredients, some newcomers to the dairy free snack bar world, a sugar free line featuring brands such as Aunt Gussie’s and showcasing the gluten-free products of Nana’s Cookie Company. Dairy Free Market will also be venturing into carrying a line of dairy free cheese! Finally, as we approach Halloween, Dairy Free Market will be featuring Enjoy Life Foods Choco Boom dairy free chocolate bars, as well as NuGo Crispy Cat candy bars - perfect for the non-dairy trick-or-treater!