Kith & Kin Bakeshop & Bistro makes gluten-free eating easier

Article and Photos by Benjamin Joe

Kith & Kin Bakeshop & Bistro, a restaurant on Transit Road in Lockport, has a unique distinction of being a gluten-free eatery. Originally just a bakery, the shop has expanded to its current role as a conscious diner, serving customers everything from fish fries to meatloaf, burgers to pasta and chicken fingers.

Many people have a gluten-intolerance, while some have a larger immune reaction called celiac disease – including Tim and Lisa Jermyn’s three children. For them, finding gluten-free foods is a challenge. Tim and Lisa Jermyn opened Kith & Kin in 2012 – originally just as a bakery. Lisa, a baker, said the inspiration came from home.

“That’s the reason why,” Tim said of the Jermyn children. “They were diagnosed 17 years ago. (They were) 10, 8 and 5. Symptoms were brain fog. All had digestive issues. They were all small. Emaciated looking. Our youngest son had skin issues. … It took about three years to get them diagnosed. No one thought to test for that.”

While the cause for the children’s maladies was unknown, the Jermyns fed their children crackers and toast for upset stomachs. Of course, crackers and toast have gluten, thus further compounding the problem.

The Jermyns went to gastrointestinal doctors, allergists and even psychologists until finally a physician’s assistant asked if they had been tested for celiac.

“It started with a blood test, and the numbers were off the chart,” Tim said.

After that, the Jermyns instituted a gluten-free kitchen, Lisa started baking at home, because store-bought, gluten-free products were expensive – and not always so good.

“Things are way better now,” she said of the choices for gluten-free families. At that time, there was less consideration to the allergy.

While working at a bakery, Lisa decided to take classes at the Small Business Development Center and set out to open her own bakery – a sweet shop that would be completely gluten-free. The first site of Kith & Kin was on West Avenue.

Tim and Lisa Jermyn opened Kith & Kin Bakeshop & Bistro in 2012.

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“I still had my construction business at the time, until 2014, when I started the restaurant (portion of the business), because we had moved to Dysinger Road,” recalled Tim, who’s also a trained chef. “It had space for a restaurant, and people who heard about us were coming out of the woodwork.

The Jermyns moved to their present location on Transit Road in 2018. A garage there was converted into a bakery, and a barn was built for special events.

All the foods made at the restaurant, including the variety of cookies and other baked treats sold over the counter, are made completely without gluten.

Business has been good, and the Jermyns recently celebrated their 13^th anniversary on Dec. 1. They currently employ six bakers, 10 front-end people, and seven cooks, as well as dishwashers and part-timers.

Lisa said she makes 10 times the amount of bread she used to bake when first opening, about 50 loaves. Her best-selling cookie is Chocolate chip.

On the restaurant side, most people come in for regular kinds of food: chicken fingers, fries and pizza. The Reuben, chicken fingers and fish fry are three of the top five sellers, Tim said.

“And everything you need is from scratch. It’s homemade,” Lisa noted.

“We even make our own flour,” Tim added.

When it comes to preparing food sans gluten, “A lot of the times we’ll just start with a regular standard recipe then convert it to gluten-free,” Lisa said. “So, there’s a lot of trial and error, a lot of practice, a lot of research and development. A lot of things go right in the trash. I understand why it’d be very cost-prohibitive for someone at home. You have to have so many different ingredients to make up for the lack of gluten, and they can be really pricey.”

Having worked now for years on perfecting gluten-free recipes, Lisa gets those ingredients in bulk.

“We’ll start out with a just a standard recipe. I’ve just done a ton of research on replacements and proportions for different things,” she said.

People from all around the world have stopped in at Kith & Kin, which is an old-timey term for “friends & family.” Many of those guests were tourists seeing Niagara Falls and the Lockport Historic Locks. Tim said that, for families with celiac, they have to plan out where they can eat every day. Kith & Kin has become a popular stop.

Pictured with holiday-themed, gluten-free baked goods at Kith & Kin is employee Cassidy Granchelli.