Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jill Robbins. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jill, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My son is one of the approximately 32 million people with food allergies in the United States. As a clinical psychologist and a mom, it was difficult watching my child watching everyone else enjoying treats at social gatherings. I thought, “If only there were treats everyone could safely eat together, people like my son could be included.” I knew that would make a difference psychologically for the people with allergies, as they would be part of the group, and they would feel great that they mattered enough for someone to make the effort to include them. So, I decided to try to do something about it. Having already spent years figuring out how to bake treats for my child, the next step was finding industrial ingredients that I could have confidence would be free from allergen cross-contaminations. That took six months! Then we built a commercial kitchen in the basement of my home in which to make cookies. Of course, the cookies had to taste great so that everyone would want to eat them together. And it mattered to me that they also be wholesome. And I wanted to include not only people with food allergies, but also people with other dietary restrictions as well as lifestyle choices. So Homefree cookies are now free of the most common 14 allergens, gluten free, kosher pareve, vegan, whole grain, non-GMO or organic, and so delicious that they have won awards simply as tasty, healthy snacks. And yes, we moved out of my home, and we bake in our own dedicated facility with loading docks and all!

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?

We’re an industry leader for allergen and gluten related safety. I’m proud of the care we use making our brand “treats you can trust.” For example, our staff wear our uniforms, and we wash the uniforms in-house, just to be sure allergens aren’t tracked in. That’s because an allergen trace smaller than you can see can be life threatening for some people with food allergies. We are also Safe Quality Food (SQF) Level 3 certified for food quality and safety more generally. That’s a really high level of certification for which we stand out.

We are also a Certified Women Owned Business as well as a certified B Corporation for our commitment to social responsibility and to sustainability, so people can feel great purchasing Homefree cookies.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Launching Homefree was the major pivot. I was quite content in my life, working as a clinical psychologist, with plenty of time for family and interests. But you never know where your kids will lead you. Before long, I was working 60-80 hour work weeks running an allergy-friendly cookie company!

The 2nd pivot came with the pandemic. Our focus was primarily foodservice, and our biggest category was breakroom snacks. When people stopped working at the office, that business was impacted. So, we hired an agency to help us improve our Homefree Amazon pages at https://www.amazon.com/homefree, to grow sales there. Now many more people are discovering our cookies, and they can purchase them easily even if there isn’t a store near them yet that carries our products.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I believe in being honest with the team about challenges, so that we can work as a team to solve those challenges. Similarly, I share with them our successes, such as exciting new business. Mostly, though, I think it is important to give them space to take responsibility and do their jobs well, while being available for support as needed. At Homefree, it isn’t so much about managing a team but rather about respecting a team, and then the successes are truly theirs.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.homefreetreats.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homefree_treats
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homefreetreats
• Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/homefree-llc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6W1Yfq0qxUIVVdjqsJYzdw