We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Keri Lijinsky. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Keri below.

Keri, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

My background is in public health and it was an interesting (and unexpected) path to get to Sweet Crimes Gluten Free Bakery & Test Kitchen! I became dedicated to public health service when I worked for the World Health Organization and was very proud to work for the UN in my early 20s. I traveled all over the world and felt defined by my work. I also started collecting art from my travels and would talk about owning an art cafe someday, although I truthfully never imagined myself as a business owner (I hadn’t been to school for that!). Things changed when I discovered I was gluten intolerant because I felt well for the first time since childhood. I swiftly moved back to the US where I thought I could better understand the sources and effects of gluten. I continued working in public health, but I also started tinkering with gluten free flour blends and recipes. My science and economics training helped me conduct my research, changing one variable at a time and taking notes. I slowly learned how the ingredients interacted and suddenly I had products that people wanted to buy! The first real impetus to turn my hobby into a business was after joining an incubator kitchen where the rent was so high I had to start making sales. I didn’t leave my position at USAID for four years and was juggling both full-time jobs, which wasn’t easy. I was working around the clock – during the day at the office, all night at the kitchen, and weekends at farmers markets and events. Interacting with customers at markets and events ultimately propelled me forward. It was clear that Sweet Crimes would need my full attention in order to grow, but I couldn’t convince myself to take the leap until I recognized that my contribution to the gluten free world was itself a public health service. That sealed the deal and I haven’t looked back! I’ve had to learn a lot along the way having never taken a business class, never worked in a commercial food environment, and never been in a management position. Sweet Crimes and I have grown together and I thank both the experience and my staff, customers, and supporters for coaching me over the years.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Keri, the owner of Sweet Crimes Gluten Free Bakery & Test Kitchen, and a self-taught cake designer. I was 39 weeks pregnant when my storefront finally opened the week of Thanksgiving 2021 (we experienced countless delays due to DC’s bureaucracy) and I was nursing a newborn during our first holiday season when no one knew what they were doing (even me!). I baked a little as a child and was always very creative, but my passion growing up was travel and I ended up spending the first half of my career overseas working for the UN. How did I end up in food service? At the age of 32, when I was living in the Philippines, I discovered I was gluten intolerant (finally my life-long ailments had a diagnosis!). Yes, I’d had all the tests, but nothing was ever conclusive. I returned home to the DC area to educate myself about gluten and how to maintain a gluten- and casein-free diet. I wound up at an incubator kitchen experimenting with recipes and learning about food service. It was there that I created the Sweet Crimes Pastry Flour Blend and I found my new passion and public service project – developing delicious gluten-free baked products that taste just like you remember.

I am most proud of our flour blend, which is a one-to-one substitute for all-purpose flour. In fact, most of my recipes are inspired by those calling for all-purpose flour. We also have bread flour and cake, brownie, and pancake mixes to sell at the shop so customers can make delicious things at home. Gluten free baking can be stressful – you see a long list of (expensive) ingredients you’ve never heard of and half the time the product doesn’t turn out well. My approach is a Betty Crocker-style “add eggs, oil, and vanilla” to the mix and bake at 350F! My goal is to expand the grocery line, including the dry mixes, but adding pizza dough, cookie dough, biscuit dough, etc. I never intended to have a storefront, actually, and my goal was always to make good gluten free baking accessible at home. I hope to come back around to that original goal!

Have you ever had to pivot?

Like many business, I had to pivot during COVID. I had been mainly selling my product at events and farmers markets, with a few wholesale accounts, but of course those all disappeared during COVID. I had to let all of my bakers go, so it was just me in the kitchen (I was operating in the back of an ice cream shop at the time and they had closed down, so I was completely alone). I taught myself how to use Instagram and relied heavily on social media to promote online sales and circulated a Pantry Menu where customers could order things in bulk. I personally baked and delivered all orders (for free) and drove as far as Great Falls, VA (45 mins from the kitchen). I would bake from 7am to 6pm and then begin deliveries, arriving home between 10 and 11pm. I had so many orders that I created a spreadsheet and some customers had to wait over a week for their deliveries. Everyone was so supportive of me and no one complained about the wait. I made hundreds of custom cakes during this time and developed both my decorating skills and online presence with my highly photogenic creations. I really made lemonade out of lemons during this time period and, although it was an incredibly tedious 6 months at the beginning of 2020, I felt purpose. I was providing a service during a time of great angst and the business really took off. People had time to look at social media and since I was doing free deliveries, customers gave me a chance. I really made Sweet Crimes known across the region and developed relationships with hundreds of customers whose bags I personally dropped at the door.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Food businesses have very small margins and they’re even smaller for gluten free businesses. Our ingredients are more expensive and there’s only so much a customer is willing to pay, so pricing is tricky. At the same time, we general have a smaller customer base and we have to find creative ways to bring in revenue. My shop was also robbed three times in 2025 causing thousands of dollars in losses. We have muddled through financially thanks to help from family and mostly the reinvestment of my own earnings back into the business to cover payroll. Most business owners and investors would have called it quits, but Sweet Crimes is providing a service that matters to customers and to me personally. Despite many set-backs, the business is finally starting to thrive (we really turned a corner starting in the fall of 2025) and I fully believe that this is because we’ve stuck it out and stayed the course. I’ve learned from mistakes, I’ve listened to employees, customers, friends, and confidants, I’ve made tough decisions to simplify our operations, and I’ve made sure that the quality of our product and our customer service is up to standard. None of it has been easy, but the work is finally paying off!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sweetcrimes.com
• Instagram: eatsweetcrimesgf
• Facebook: eatsweetcrimesgf
• Yelp: Sweet Crimes Bakery