We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brandon Thomas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brandon, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
We’re Guilt Free Pastries! We’re Guilt Free because 99% of everything we make is gluten-free, grain-free, refined sugar-free, paleo, keto, natural and artificial flavor free, gum-free, dairy-free, soy-free and made with organic and local ingredients.
Why are we so passionate about what we do? Because we believe that everyone should have access to yummy sweets that aren’t going to extremely damage their bodies by containing toxins and chemicals that aren’t originally meant to be in our bodies. Also, we love the creativity that comes with creating pastries that are made from ingredients that only come from the Earth and making them taste even BETTER than those chemical desserts that you find in stores and certain large chain spots.
My passion/awakening for health and wellness began back in 2001 when I looked in the mirror at a 300 pounds version of myself and decided to start caring about my body. I went from 300 pounds to 175 pounds in like 100 days by focusing on what I put in my body and by getting up and moving my body daily. My weight loss journey is what started the Guilt Free Lifestyle™ and over time led me to start understanding food allergies and the detriments they can cause many people including myself.
I discovered my allergy to gluten in 2012. Knowing that this could put an end to my love for all things sweet, I went into the kitchen like a mad scientist and began experimenting with gluten and grain free recipes. The first recipe was our first product which is our one of a kind Avocado Brownie.
Since then I have been on a Guilt Free journey to continue growing our company and helping as many people as possible help themselves along their journeys by providing them with awesome, clean and yummy desserts as well as the Guilt Free Lifestyle™.
We are striving to be the leading industry standard of healthy, nutritious, and delicious desserts. Outside of food we’re all about the Guilt Free Lifestyle™ which is about helping you help yourself enlighten your mind, body, and spirit. We offer consulting services starting at the individual level and going all the way up to the (high rise) corporate level. Basically no issue is too small or too large for us to help you handle.
We hope that one day people will look at desserts not only as a sugary treat but one that is nutritious with a touch of organic sweetness.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
What sets us apart from others is my understanding of just because something is vegan or gluten free doesn’t make it healthy. There are LOADS of extremely unhealthy vegan/gluten free options available on the market today.
Many load their items with TONS of terrible sugars (white sugar, agave, swerve, stevia, inulin, etc) and label them vegan/gluten free but neglecting the fact that their items are still causing major harm to the body. I view pastries no different from creating a healthy meal. Meaning that a pastry should be made with organic ingredients and flavors that come through without drowning the item with sugars. I love to think of sugar like most chefs think of salt as the absolute last part of the recipe.
The services we provide are: healthy vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, soy free, natural/artificial flavor free desserts, custom order desserts, wholesale desserts, we ship nationwide and consulting services. Our consulting services offered includes: body management (weight lost/gain), grocery buddy services, menu optimization (businesses), group consulting, business consulting, and speaking engagements.
What I’m most proud of is not simply my weight lost journey but more so of my passion to help others truly help themselves. By showing people that the 3 most important aspects of like is Discipline, Consistency, and Patience which all helps motivate you to become a critical thinker. Helping others become critical thinkers in all aspects of their life, especially food (by reading labels and understanding that if you can’t pronounce the word you shouldn’t put it in your body), is what I’m most proud of and something that I will continue to do and is what we call the Guilt Free Lifestyle.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I think local networking was one of the biggest aspects. In the beginning I would be everywhere sharing the Guilt Free Lifestyle. At networking events, local festivals, doing a lot of charity events, farmer markets and public speaking engagements.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Sure, we originally started in Memphis providing to local boutique grocery stores and selling to local customers. That grew into getting a store front on South Main street for 2 years. Within those 2 years we served customers from all over the World thanks to being next to the Civil Rights Museum and discovered that we had a larger customer based outside of the Memphis area.
At that point we spoke as a team and decided to exit the storefront (saving on the overhead that comes with it) and became 100% e-commerce based. By switching over to online only we were able to start shipping products all over the USA and made some shipments outside of the States. This came with an entirely new business approach and taught us all about logistics and e-commerce marketing strategies.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.guiltfreepastries.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guiltfreelifestyle1/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GuiltFreePastries
- Twitter: https://x.com/GFP_EatMoreFat
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GuiltFree_Lifestyle
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@guiltfreelifestyle
Image Credits
Erica Joyner
Tindall Stephens
M Hawkins