New Nixa bakery serves sweets for those with food allergies

NIXA, Mo. -- According to the Food And Allergy Resource Education group, nearly 33 million Americans have food allergies. Here in the Ozarks, a new bakery is making those people feel included when it comes to holiday treats. 

Sensitively Sweet Bakery hosted a grand opening at their Nixa store on Friday and Saturday, serving nearly 300 customers. 

“This is so important because for people who have food allergies, there's absolutely no convenience for them,” owner and head baker Katrina Hagan said. 

“We offer anything from salad, bread, white bread, dinner rolls to take and bake, chicken pot pies, pop tarts, brownies, brookies, cookies,” Hagan said. "The list just goes on and on and on.” 

The bakery is entirely centered around serving people who don't have a lot of options when it comes to baked goods.  

“In our facility here, we're free from the top 11 allergens. We're Alpha-gal safe and celiac safe. There is no cross-contact with any of those allergens. We take it super seriously here,” Hagan explained. 

Hagan started Sensitively Sweet from her home in 2022. Two years later, she now owns and operates her own bakery.  

“We're trying to change the stigma around allergen-free or gluten-free food. A lot of people tend to think it's going to be dry or yucky or tastes like cardboard, but we've worked really hard here to make things taste normal,” Hagan said. 

Having food allergies of her own, Hagan says she understands what those with these limitations endure when it comes to food. 

“This is allowing people to come into a place, feel normal, purchase something, have a regular interaction that they wouldn't be able to have anywhere else because there's nowhere else in the area to offer something quite like this,” Hagan said. 

Hagan told OzarksFirst she considered pushing the grand opening until after the holidays but decided to reconsider. 

“Whether it's cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning or, you know, a sourdough turkey sandwich at the end of the day, we just wanted people to be able to really experience a happy holiday where they don't have to worry and stress about the food that they're eating right,” Hagan said. 

Sensitively Sweet will be open on Monday for anyone to pick up any allergen-free treats before Christmas.