Image: Mabel Kitchen, Facebook
A Saint John entrepreneur is making enjoying sweet treats easier for diabetics and those on the ketogenic diet with their baked goods and meals.
Jennifer Colpitts is the owner of Mabel Kitchen. The business specializes in Keto-friendly baked goods and recently expanded into making take-home meals too.
Colpitts started the business, which is named after her grandmother, about two and a half years ago. She has been following the keto diet herself, and started making baked goods she and others on the diet could eat.
“They were always saying ‘your stuff is really good, you should try and sell it,’” says Colpitts.
The ketogenic diet or “keto” for short is a low carb, high-fat diet. Many use the diet for weight loss, but it’s also been known to benefit those with conditions like diabetes and epilepsy.
Soon after she started the business, she wasn’t the only one in her household on the diet.
“Ironically enough, my son was then diagnosed with type-one diabetes about two weeks after I started,” says Colpitts.
Image: Mabel Kitchen, Facebook
Mabel Kitchen products are keto-friendly, sugar-free, gluten-free, and diabetic-friendly. Products range from cookies, cakes, party mix, bars, brownies and more.
“For most of them, I took our favourite recipes and adapted them,” says Colpitts. “I use sugar-free sweetener and a lot of my products are made with almond or coconut flour, making them gluten-free.”
She also has her son a willing taste-tester, which also helps.
“My son is a willing guinea pig. He’s willing to try anything and I can test his blood sugar before eats one of our baked goods and then I can test it afterwards as well to see if it causes a spike in his blood sugar.”
Mabel Kitchen currently sells from Saint John City Market from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays and from the Carleton Curling Club every Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Colpitts posts the week’s menu on the company Facebook page on Mondays, where customers have until Wednesday evening to place an order for pickup. She does make some extras for Saturdays at the City Market, but they don’t last long.
“Pre-ordering is not necessary, but I sell out pretty quickly, usually within an hour to two when I’m at the market. So I tell people to either come early or pre-order, that’s the best way to ensure you get what you want.”
Mabel Kitchen’s customers range from people following the keto diet to people with diabetes, celiac disease and other food allergies.
“I have a lot of little kids that are coming and they want the cinnamon rolls and the doughnuts and things they can still have because you can still eat whatever you want when you’re a type-1 diabetic, but you need to take insulin for it,” says Colpitts.
“So, when they eat my baked goods, they don’t have to take as much insulin and sometimes they don’t have to take any insulin at all— which is nice when you’re three or four years old and don’t have to take a needle for a cookie.”
Back in May, Colpitts rented a commercial space in the Carleton Curling Club. This allowed Colpitts to make and sell products the require refrigeration, like cheesecakes. This move also allowed her to expand to offer Keto meals.
“It’s a lot of salads, casseroles in single servings because most people that follow the keto diet, they’re not doing it as a family, it’s just one person in their family,” says Colpitts. “So their other family members are eating normal food and they’re eating something different. They can just pop them in the microwave or put them in the oven and the rest of the family can eat whatever they want.”
Colpitts says the next step for Mabel Kitchen will be wholesale. She says she already had a local business reach out to her about supplying products. Though she has her mother helping her now, she’d also like to hire some staff in the future.
“Eventually, I’d like to hire few more people because I’m quite busy with doing the keto cakes myself,” she says. “It would be nice to have other people take over the rest of the baking so I could focus on the anniversary cakes and birthday cakes.”
Cherise Letson is the associate editor of Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
