Los Osos mom opens up allergy-free bakery for Sweet Alexis

Posted: Jan 27, 2011 11:10 AM by Carina Corral
Updated: Jan 27, 2011 1:41 PM

A Los Osos mom has opened up an allergy-free bakery so her daughter can enjoy the sweeter things in life.

As Alexis Fellows sits in her mom's bakery, she looked just like any other little girl enjoying a cupcake, but there is more than meets the eye.

"I have severe food allergies, allergic to almost everything," said Alexis.

To be more specific: Alexis is allergic to dairy, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, shell fish, cherries and mustard.

"If she's exposed even to the smell, but more severely if she's exposed with a bite of her allergen, she'll go into anaphylactic shock... It causes her lips to swell, tongue to swell, her throat to swell, she could stop breathing and she can go into cardiac arrest. And if she doesn't have her medicine within 20 minutes she could die," said Michele Fellows, explaining the severity of her daughter's allergic reaction.

Clearly, Alexis is limited on what she can eat and sometimes that makes it hard to be, well, a little girl. "It was especially hard on birthdays because I couldn't have anything," said Alexis.

The turning point came when Alexis was offered a pencil in school instead of a sweet treat like the other kids on a holiday. Michele's daughter being singled out was a little hard to swallow. So, she opened up "Sweet Alexis:" a dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free bakery where absolutely none of the allergens are allowed. Michele said it is the only bakery of its kind this side of the Mississippi.

"Even though someone says 'I'm baking without peanuts,' if its made in a facility that has peanuts there's still a chance of cross contamination," said Michele.

A chance she was not willing to take. So, Sweet Alexis was born, serving everything from cookies and cupcakes to banana and zucchini breads.

She started off only shipping nationally, but the need was so great locally, and the goods taste so good, she opened up shop is Los Osos.

There is still one problem though. "My mind's gone blank cause that's a really hard decision there's so many good things," said Alexis when asked which one of her mom's treats is her favorite.

Click here to learn more about Sweet Alexis.