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AROUJ KACHICHIAN admits it took him awhile to believe his diagnosis of a gluten sensitivity. His frequent brain fog, joint pain, body aches and other maladies had to have a source, but a gluten sensitivity was a hard one to swallow for a man who owned a traditional bakery, restaurant and catering company. “I was covered in gluten all of the time,” he says.

Finally, however, he removed gluten from his life and watched in awe as his symptoms disappeared. “I did not realize most of these were from the gluten until I went gluten-free and realized they were gluten allergies.”

After his diagnosis, Kachichian became a certified gluten-free practitioner. “I wanted to know what was up,” he says. “I wanted to know how food could be used as medicine or as poison.” He began experimenting with gluten-free flour blends and perfecting recipes that held up structurally (no crumbling hamburger buns here) as well as in any taste test. “That was my goal,” he says. “To have products that are gluten-free but undetectable. The ultimate goal is that people don’t feel they’re depriving themselves. The breads – you look at them, you taste it, you smell it and it doesn’t seem like gluten-free.”

In November 2022, he put all of his gluten-free knowledge and experience as a restaurateur into The Bakery at Indulge Right Foods, the Central Valley’s only 100% gluten-free bakery. “People kept asking for it,” he says. “One time I had four people ask on the same day. It felt like a sign.”

“We’re like a typical bakery,” he says. “You walk in and find the gamut.” There are cakes, tarts, eclairs, cream puffs, muffins, pies, scones, cookies, breads and even cheesecake. “We make everything in-house,” he adds, including all sauces and sugar substitutes. “We pretty much ran out of everything in the first hour and a half on the first day,” he says. “I didn’t know what to expect, honestly, and I’ve learned how huge the gluten-free community is.”

The bakery has a wide variety of sugar-free and dairy-free products, as well. They even jar proprietary sugar-free caramel and chocolate sauces that are packed with fiber. “I started making those when I started supporting clients in developing their healthy lifestyles,” he says. “They ended up eating far more sugar than they meant to, and it would interrupt their whole journey. I spent a couple years developing those as well. There’s no stevia or monkfruit. You can eat them by the spoonful if you want.”

The response has been inspiring for Kachichian, who recognizes that he’s tapped into a vein of people craving his products. “We’ve become a destination, and not just for locals, but for people throughout the Valley,” he says. “We get people who drive here from LA, from the East Bay, San Jose.”

The Bakery offers ready-made items as well as four packaged flour blends for home baking. There’s an all-purpose blend, cake flour, whole grain and pie blend. The packages come with recipes right on them, and customers can find more on the store’s blog. “People can get the same results that I get here. The idea is to support the community.”

Kachichian wants people to enjoy their foods as they are intended, and he takes his own ciabatta buns to restaurants when he wants to eat a burger rather than order the standard restaurant gluten-free bun, which is often crumbly. “So I can enjoy a burger just like everyone and don’t have to worry about a bun breaking and falling apart,” he says. “You end up using a fork and knife. If I’m going to use my fork and knife, I’m going to order a steak and enjoy it properly.”

To maintain a completely gluten-free environment, the bakery follows a strict code of working with reputable vendors and processes. “Even our employees don’t have their lunches in here unless they are gluten-free,” he says. “My biggest pet peeve is going out to restaurants and finding things marked as gluten-free but they really aren’t.” Kachichian recognizes the risks to his own health and takes seriously the risks to his customers as well.

“It’s been great,” he says. “It’s amazing to serve people. We have people who haven’t had sourdough bread in 10 to 15 years. Their kids can have a birthday cake.”

The Bakery at Indulge Right Foods 5096 North West Ave.. Fresno (559) 478-4063 Indulgeright.com