Gluten-free bakery opens its second location, this one in Ocean City

Those traveling to the Jersey Shore this summer will have another sweet treats option: Kizbee’s Kitchen in Ocean City.

The gluten-free bakery, which has a flagship location in Egg Harbor City, celebrated the store's grand opening on July 13. The location is 611 East 8 ^th Avenue.

Chef and owner Jenna Kisby established Kizbee’s Kitchen in 2013 and opened her first retail store two years later.

Kisby discovered she could no longer tolerate gluten after developing stomach issues in 2008 and she’s been gluten-free since. It also made her realize there was a need for “great tasting” gluten-free options in South Jersey.

“I was sick and had to go gluten-free for medical reasons,” Kisby said in an interview. “We just had nothing in South Jersey at that time…So I decided to leave my psych career and learn about baking and figured I would be one of the first in South Jersey to open a dedicated space so that everyone like me could eat really great food, gluten-free options.”

Here’s a sample of her menu items: peanut butter cookies, pop tarts, blueberry cheesecake bars, cookies and cream brownies, cinnamon buns, cupcakes and cake slices.

The customer favorites?

“Cinnamon buns, we cannot keep those in stock,” she shared. “Our pop tarts and any type of cake, baguettes and scones….and jumbo cookies.”

Baking was ‘born out of necessity. Now, I’m obsessed with it’

Kisby said the reception in Ocean City has been “wonderful. The community in Ocean City has been so warm and welcoming and amazing…This is the first time deciding to venture out with my team with a second location and Ocean City has proved to be the perfect spot.”

Kizbee’s Kitchen also sells at farmers' markets in shore towns, including Brigantine, Margate, and Stone Harbor.

The chef and creator, who has a degree in psychology from Loyola University in Baltimore, began pursuing gluten-free baking after working for several years as a youth case manager.

“I actually hated baking, a lot,” Kisby said. “I originally left my psych career and went to culinary school for hot goods. I thought I was going to open a restaurant."

But, she continued, "I realized there was such a lack of quality baked goods in the gluten-free sector. I forced myself into pastry, had to study it, learn it and fell in love with it. It was born out of necessity. Now, I’m obsessed with it.”

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Kizbee’s Kitchen has about a dozen employees

After two years of research and development, Kisby created the proprietary flour blend used in most of her baked goods, her website states.

She credits her “amazing” team of about a dozen employees with helping fuel the success of the business.

“They’re just all so great,” Kisby added.

The Atlantic County native has been back in the area since 2007 after graduating from college.

“My husband and I live in Absecon,10 minutes from the beach,” she added. “How could you ever give that up? It’s such a great area to live in.”

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Gluten-free bakery opens its second location, this one in Ocean City