Gluten-Free Cracker Prompts Couple's Second Act

As a therapist, Mary Waldner helped others realize they weren't crazy. But it took an intuitive chiropractor to help her realize the same thing about herself. The weird physical and emotional symptoms she was experiencing weren't all in her head: She was gluten-intolerant.

"Part of my journey as a healer was learning about my own illness, and I had been sick since I was about three years old," says Waldner, 59. "Ever since I could remember, I was just always known to have stomach aches, being weak and tired, having low energy and sometimes being mildly depressed. Somehow, when I was in my 40s, I realized 'You know, this really is a sickness. This isn't just you.' I finally realized it was something I could get help with."

A Snack is Born
Waldner's healing journey led her and her contractor husband into the field of natural foods. And since people told them they were nuts for quitting their jobs to start an organic cracker company, their enterprise is aptly named Mary's Gone Crackers.

The crackers, made with seeds, brown rice and other organic ingredients, were unlike most other products in the gluten-free food aisle that Waldner had tasted. Her crackers have a pronounced crispness to them that comes from the seeds and rice, which naturally contain no gluten, and their flavor profile doesn't try to imitate a cracker or a snack that is traditionally made with wheat flour.

"A lot of things made for celiacs are replications of Oreos or pizza or bagels, and when you taste them, they're always a disappointment," Waldner says. "I don't think we should have to compromise between health and taste."

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the body's small intestine cannot tolerate gluten, which is found in wheat, oats, rye and other grains. Waldner was diagnosed in 1994 as a celiac, and she started making homemade crackers in 1995.

"I started making them so I could have something to take with me to restaurants or to parties, and then I watched as other people ate them and adored them," Waldner says. "I knew I was making an unusual cracker when I went to a friend's house for dinner, and she had a 2-year-old who wouldn't stop eating them."

Crunching the Numbers (and the Logistics)
That was in 1999, but it took five years of research before she and her husband, Dale Rodrigues, expanded beyond the kitchen of their Northern California home into their own factory. They are now based in Gridley, a community in California's Central Valley where rice and almonds and plums are grown.

"It was an interesting process, going from the kitchen to manufacturing because everything was challenging," Rodrigues says.

The logistics of gluten-free cracker-making were difficult, Rodrigues says, because "the dough is the consistency of rice mixed in with Elmer's glue," and they had to figure out what kind of equipment they needed to make it large-scale. The couple also needed to make those crackers in a facility that was completely gluten-free because any contamination of gluten could adversely affect people who eat the crackers.

"In the beginning, we were letting another company make them, and it was my husband, me and another employee," Waldner says. "It wasn't clear what was going to happen. I kept my practice for two and a half years, but Dale actually stopped working to write our business plan and work on it full time for six months before we started. It was very scary to commit everything that you owned after the age of 50, but once you jump in, you really have to keep going."

Go, Crackers, Go!
And they did keep going. Within two years, they opened a factory with 20 employees, and Waldner sold her family and clinical therapy practice. Today Waldner's son, Jacob Farris, who is also gluten-intolerant, heads the company's marketing and sales division, and Mary's Gone Crackers employs 85 people.

The couple also expanded the original line of crackers to include pretzels and cookies, and their products are sold across the United States, Canada and Australia. They initially targeted gluten-intolerant consumers, but their market has expanded to include vegans and gourmets.

"Flat-out, it is probably the finest cracker," says Rick Antonelli, CEO of Galaxy Nutritional Foods in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. "Special dietary needs products and food allergy products are just exploding. Mary and Dale are classic entrepreneurs. They're passionate for their business, and the growth of their company demonstrates that they obviously were onto something."

Food For Thought
Thinking of getting into the food manufacturing business as a second act? Waldner and Rodrigues offer the following advice:

1. Ask experts for advice, but don't believe everything you hear. "When I was a therapist, my experience was that people came to me for help, and they didn't lie to me. I had never been in the business world, where people would look me straight in the face and lie," Waldner says. "As a therapist, it helped us to deal with so many people who were less than forthright, who had their own agendas, and that still is the case."

2. When you raise money, make sure you raise enough for the first time you need to expand. "As most new entrepreneurs, we were really naïve [about costs], and within 12 months, we needed more money," Rodrigues says. They had to find additional investors. "That taught us a good lesson," he says. "We learned the cost of capital, and it cost us a lot in personal equity: To raise $350,000, it cost 5 percent equipment and $250,000 dilution. It was a hard lesson, but a good one."

Waldner adds, "You have to be careful about where you grow and how fast you grow, and you need enough cash to keep the company going."

3. Know that not everyone who helps you will stay the course for the long haul. The couple eventually parted company with an early investor. "We couldn't have gotten started without him, but he could not see the path we're now on," Waldner says. "People have different levels of fear, and some people couldn't be with us when we took our business to the next level. In the beginning a lot of people looked great, but you have to pay attention to when they stop being helpful."

4. Be careful about the fine print in contracts -- that's how some entrepreneurs lose their companies. "We had to learn a new way of thinking," Rodrigues says. "When you're signing a contract, there's a funny little clause, and the guys [on the other side of the table] say 'Don't worry about that. That never happens.' So then you say 'Okay,' but then somehow, that little clause affects something."

5. Be true to yourself -- and your product. "Don't cut your vision in half," Waldner says. "We were told we shouldn't use the name 'Mary's Gone Crackers,' and Whole Foods won't take just one flavor. Pretty much, though, we did everything people told us we weren't going to be able to do."

6. If you're going into business with a spouse, you need to respect your spouse. "Mary trusts what I'm really good at, and I trust what she's good at, and we don't second-guess each other," Rodrigues says. "We know what we're each supposed to do, and we let each other do it. What I see that so many other couples do that Mary and I don't do is manage each other."

SecondAct contributor Jeanette Hurt writes extensively about cooking and food and is the award-winning author of The Cheeses of Wisconsin: A Culinary Travel Guide and other books. She lives in Milwaukee.