A new café and bakery specializing in gluten-free food is slated to open by the end of April in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood.
Mor Bakery & Café will occupy a 2,000-square-foot space in the north end of the Lincoln Warehouse, located at 2018 S. 1st St. It will share the building with other several other Milwaukee-based food and beverage start-ups– Bittercube, Enlightened Brewing Co., La Pavia Beverage Co. and Twisted Path Distillery— that have planted themselves in the makeshift incubator.
It will serve light fare such as soups and sandwiches, as well as house-made baked goods, including bread, cookies, brownies and cupcakes. It will also serve espresso drinks and Milwaukee-based Anodyne Coffee and Rishi Tea. All of its menu items will be gluten-free and some items will also be vegan, made without eggs or dairy.
Mor will be a dedicated gluten free establishment— meaning products containing gluten will not be used or kept inside the kitchen or café area. Owner Traci Morgan-Hoernke is opening the bakery after pursing her dream for almost 10 years. She has been baking out of her home for even longer than that, experimenting with substituting typical baking ingredients in recipes with gluten-free and plant-based ones. She uses ingredients such as millet flour, quinoa flour, buckwheat flour, tapioca starch, flax seed meal and chia seeds to create baked goods that, she said, are not only gluten-free, but also tasty.
“I purposefully try to make recipes work without certain ingredients, using what nature already has out there,” she said. “I go the extra step to get it tasting good, no matter what it is. I’ve had people tell me, after trying my items, they would have no idea that its vegan or gluten-free.”
Morgan-Hoernke, who herself has an intolerance to eggs, said she started exploring gluten-free food when her son, now an adult, struggled as a young child with health issues. After a series of inconclusive tests, she eventually found that diet without gluten was the key to eliminating her son’s symptoms and improving his health. Her son remains the inspiration behind Mor Bakery & Cafe, Morgan-Hoernke said.
“I am redefining gluten-free, not just for me and my family, but for people around me,” she said.
She said her initial focus will be making her products accessible to people with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder triggered by ingesting gluten. Gluten-free food can often be costly and as a mother of someone with a gluten sensitivity, Morgan-Hoernke said she understands the challenge of searching for safe and affordable food to feed her child.
“Even though its a specialty product and I’m catering to a niche market, for the celiac community, this is their medicine,” she said. “This is not my million dollar idea. If I can sell you three of my chocolate chip cookies for one dollar, I will do that. I just want to make somebody’s day a little easier.”
With Mor’s opening only about a month away, the space is currently being built out and converted from warehouse and office space into a commercial kitchen and café. It will offer tables, benches, lounge chairs and a counter top with bar stools for seating, and its northern wall will be complete with floor-to-ceiling windows for natural light, Morgan-Hoernke said.
She said the Lincoln Warehouse feels like a small community of entrepreneurs who are all working toward a common goal to support other local businesses.
“I can’t wait to get in there and live off of that energy of creative forces,” she said.
