SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) —Around 1% of the U.S. population has celiac disease, with even more people having a gluten sensitivity.

A local business is giving all of those people more options when they’re in the kitchen.

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While she spends a lot of time in the kitchen now, Jennifer Johnson used to spend her days in a much different setting.

“I’ve been in banking for 22 years. And during that time I was also gluten free,” Gluten Free Please owner and operator, Jennifer Johnson said.

And, she faced an all too common struggle.

“I didn’t want to cook separate meals for my family and they did not like what was out there on the market. And so I had to start improvising and figuring out what would work for me and my family and make it so it tasted good,” Johnson said.

In 2023, she made the jump to focus on her gluten-free baking mix business, Gluten Free Please.Now, she sells her mixes at stores, including Cooks & Bakers Kitchen.

“She came in one day with our Saturday bake shop and made some of her products. We had the customers taste them and they didn’t even know they were gluten free until we told them. So then they started really selling,” Cooks & Bakers Kitchen Owner, Joanne Bogus said.

To make Johnson’s Banana Bread Cake Mix you just need eggs, oil, and bananas.

“So we have customers that make it into muffins. We have some people that add nuts to it. You can also make it vegan so you can use ground flaxseed or applesauce and not use the eggs,” Johnson said.

Helping people who can’t eat gluten, enjoy the food they can eat.

“It’s a serious medical condition. Especially if you’re celiac. And it can be life-threatening,” Bogus said.

“It’s frustrating. There aren’t many options out there on the market, especially with our baking mixes being gluten free, soy free, dairy free and nut free. And so that’s important to us, to give people control in their kitchen and let them make things how they want,” Johnson said.