Good Neighbor Podcast for the Greater Chattanooga Region

Lezli Lewis Shares Her Gluten-Free Bakery Story and Community Love

August 23, 2024 • Scott Howell

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Supporting Local Businesses Through Gluten-Free Options

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Supporting Local Businesses With Community Help

24:55

Finding Gluten-Free Treats Locally

28:37

Promoting Local Businesses in Chattanooga


What would you do if you suddenly discovered that your family's health depended on a strict gluten-free diet? Our guest, Lezli Lewis, faced this exact challenge and turned it into an inspiring story of resilience and entrepreneurship. On the Good Neighbor Podcast, Lezli shares her journey from social worker to the heart and soul behind Carving Rock Kitchen, Chattanooga’s dedicated gluten-free bakery. Learn how Lezli tackled the often unspoken issue of gluten cross-contamination in restaurants, creating a safe haven for those with celiac disease and gluten sensitivities. 

Community support plays a crucial role in the success of any small business, and Lezli's story is no exception. From an unexpected encounter with a neighbor who provided vital equipment, to the camaraderie among local business owners, the community has been a cornerstone of Carving Rock Kitchen’s journey. Lezli also opens up about her family life, their appreciation for Chattanooga's natural beauty, and the self-care routines that keep them balanced. This episode captures the essence of how local connections can make or break a small business, offering listeners a heartfelt look at the importance of community.

Managing a bakery as a mostly one-woman show is no small feat, but Lezli makes it happen with grace and tenacity. She discusses the unique offerings of Carving Rock Kitchen, from gluten-free peach cobbler to cinnamon rolls, and how she juggles everything from updating the website to sending out newsletters. We also to

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Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Scott Howell.

Speaker 2:

Hello good neighbors, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast brought to you by the Friends and Neighbors Group of the Greater Chattanooga Region. Of course, my name is Scott Howell and I'm your host for today. You know a lot of people ask what is the reason for the Good Neighbor podcast. What's it all about? Well, we just desire to bring an awareness to people living in our communities regarding the locally owned and or operated businesses. You know, they're right up the street, right down the road, right across town. You know locally owned businesses they are the backbone of our community and sometimes we forget that, you know, and we kind of.

Speaker 2:

We live in this microwave generation. You know where we want conveniences and everything kind of handed to us, but local businesses. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have communities, we wouldn't have a city. So they need our support. They still need it today. So let's not forget about them. And that's what we're all about here. You know, every local businesses has a story to tell and at the Good Neighbor Podcast, you know, we just want to help them, shout it loud and proud so that all can hear. And you know, today I have good news we have one of our good neighbors with us. Her name is Leslie Lewis and she's from the Carving Rock Kitchen, the owner over there. So, leslie, we are so honored to have you as our special guest on the Good Neighbor podcast today.

Speaker 3:

Well, thank you, scott, I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I have to admit, when I saw the Carving Rock Kitchen I was like this has got to be an interesting podcast coming up, because I don't know what in the world a Carving Rock Kitchen is. Our name is probably just a really creative name, good for marketing. But you know I'm looking forward to hearing about it. But before we jump into the business part of it, I just want to give you a minute to just share anything with us about yourself and your family. You'd like to?

Speaker 3:

to just share anything with us about yourself and your family you'd like to? Okay, well, I was a social worker by trade and working in that field when I met my husband and we lived in Huntsville, alabama, for about three I mean 15 years. We have three children, and we moved here a couple of years ago and we found out about eight years ago I guess it's nine now that, um, basically at least two of us were needing to go gluten-free, um, strictly, and so yeah for, and then. So we all as a family just decided to go gluten-free and have since discovered that we basically all need to be gluten-free. And so there was in Huntsville, we had a dedicated gluten free space, and gluten is it's really hard to kind of avoid, because even like just a crumb of gluten when you have celiac disease can just make you very, very sick, and so in a typical restaurant setting or bakery setting especially, it's just really hard to avoid the cross contamination.

Speaker 3:

So so, really so really like kind of overnight, your, your options changed drastically. So I just kind of I'm the kind of person that I don't like to miss out on things so I started figuring out how to make the things that I, that I loved and my family loved and make them gluten free and um and dairy free. And we had a place in Huntsville who offered that that was a dedicated gluten free place, so I never really explored. You know, I stopped working in social work for a while and stayed home and homeschooled our kids and then, when we moved here, just realized that there was not a lot of options, a lot of safe options, for the things that we missed. And so my friends, who aren't even gluten-free and eat my food and loved it, were like, well, you should just do it. So anyway, yes, I've morphed into a bakery owner now and that was not really something I ever imagined I would do, but it's been great.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so I'm going to tell you a fun fact. Okay, huntsville, alabama, is my hometown.

Speaker 3:

That's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, uh, so I know all about Huntsville but yeah it's a great place, you know, uh, and, and as far as being gluten free, you know that's a new world for me. I, I, I have don't have that problem, or haven't had it yet, and I haven't had the issues regarding eating gluten that I know of anyway. But I was thinking about when you said that that there's not a lot of dedicated places. I've met a few. I know one restaurant that they're not totally dedicated, but I never thought about cross-contamination. I know they strive to make something for everybody. They try their best to have vegan and gluten-free, but for us meat eaters too, they like to have something for everybody. So tell us a little bit about the Carving Rock Kitchen and how it helps no pun intended how it helps carve out that section of you know dietary needs that you're helping to provide.

Speaker 3:

Sure, yeah, yeah, that was actually part of naming it, that and then also a poem on a piece of art from a friend of mine. But and yeah, naming a business is hard to find something that's not already in use or that the Google page is not gone, you know all that. But yeah, we just wanted to create a safe space for a lot of the things that if someone's not a baker, you know, or it's not used to baking or doesn't have time to bake at home, I mean, I would have customers come in that haven't had a biscuit or cinnamon roll in years, since they were kids and just like tears. So I just saw that that was a missing piece.

Speaker 3:

Here in Chattanooga there were several um cottage bakers around um the good food bakery, um the better bakery and the snacking hour. I've become friends with all of them and they were doing things at the markets and um, and so that's where I started and I started doing some like um slightly different things, cause a lot of the things they offered either weren't dairy free or um. I was just offering different things, um, like cinnamon rolls and pretzels, and and so started out at the Brainerd farmer's market, which is near where we live and um just got an overwhelming response from a lot of people like oh my goodness, this is amazing.

Speaker 3:

You know even the gluten- even people who aren't gluten free. We're like how is this gluten free? And so I really wasn't planning on doing it, much more than just a side gig at the market at first, you know, but knowing that it was that we were wanting somewhere to go eat, you know that was completely safe and that was something that wasn't being offered here. Yet there was a building in our neighborhood that used to be a vegan place and I noticed that they were going out of business because I followed them and so I contacted that building owner just to kind of get you know, just find out, like, hey, if you're going to be working on the building for a while, maybe making it something else, like could I rent just the kitchen Because a lot of food businesses it's really difficult for food businesses because you can't just go get a loan at the bank like to start a food business because nobody wants to finance them.

Speaker 3:

They're very easy to fail. You know they're very likely to fail, and so the financing for it is very hard. But the things that they've created to help, that is what's called like incubator kitchens or commissary kitchens- where you can.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, like the kitchen incubator is over in Brainerd, so I did try to like figure out how to make that work, but it's almost. It's like a restaurant. It's a shared space, it's a shared kitchen, and even convection ovens, can you know, blow around the particles of the gluten and not be safe. So I wasn't able to utilize that resource, and so I just thought if I could just get access to a kitchen that I could certify, because there's only certain things you know I could only sell shelf, stable, cottage food items at the market, and I wanted to do more, and so I contacted him to see if I could like maybe just rent the kitchen from him the kitchen part, if he was going to do something else. At first it seemed like it was going to work out. He wanted to do some music nights for the community. He was thinking of bringing some other people in to share the load, because, I was very honest with him, I can't afford to rent a whole space right now.

Speaker 3:

Just starting out, we tried to work together it. Um, I've actually partnered with the snacking hour. She came on, um to make the biscuits and, um, there was another couple from my neighborhood that was going to basically like kind of manage and run like a coffee shop kind of thing. He had an espresso machine in there. So I was basically just going to provide, you know, their cafe with like baked goods, as I was able, um, and whatever we have for the day, you know, and then just kind of update people online and let them know hey, we've got cinnamon rolls today, go over and get you some.

Speaker 3:

And so that was kind of the model that started out and it just morphed very quickly because the guy who was going to run the cafe side of things had to had to drop out, and so then I had kind of already geared up the gluten free community to like expect, kind of like to have a gluten free cafe, and so I just am the kind of person I'm like, well, I guess I'll just do it, I'll just do it myself. So we just kind of figured it out and it lasted about seven weeks there, and then the building was having like major plumbing issues and we, um, we're just having some issues with the landlord, not, um, you know, meeting the expectations of fixing it and just other things. So, um, yeah, we had to close, um, after seven weeks of opening and yeah, it was a lot.

Speaker 3:

So, um, yeah, we had to close abruptly and just unexpectedly. So we were open for seven weeks and then, at that point, we didn't really know what to do because we had, you know, just paid for all the certifications, all the things, and, like we didn't, we had not been open long enough to to get enough revenue or income to really like relocate. You know it's, it's insane. So we but we had a following, a small following, you know, and so we tried a Kickstarter and didn't really have any idea how to do that either.

Speaker 3:

We just figured it out as we went along because, yeah, so we did it for $10,000 and we met it just barely. We met it and so, yeah, that was enough. I mean, we thought that was enough enough to get us relocated. It took a while. We closed in October and we opened here on MLK in April of this year, so it was quite the journey.

Speaker 2:

It sounds like it. Wow, that's a. That's a lot to have to, to have to do in the first two months of being in business. Right, that's, that's a lot.

Speaker 3:

Yes, it was, it was quite. Yeah, did not expect it, but we made it through, so yeah, so so did.

Speaker 2:

Did, uh, did reaching out to other people in the community who were already kind of involved in in somewhat of the same journey you're wanting to. Did you want to do Was that? Did you find that helpful to you?

Speaker 3:

Oh yes, absolutely. I mean, I would not. I would have quit if it weren't for the amazing other people in this community, like when I had taken a few small business courses from Hive Bank Media and it's founded by some of the guys behind Be Caffeinated and just got to know those guys and they're just really amazing. And one of them is the friend to Michael Lardzab all who painted the painting that um houses the, the point with our name in it.

Speaker 3:

And um. So yeah, he, they were just really great. They were very supportive when they found out that the um that my cafe partner had had dropped out, they just donated a bunch of coffee to get us started. And I was able to find another um, my beverage, my beverage partner now, and Walter Brews, who she'd been a barista for years and wanted to create her own like kava bar in the future, and so we kind of partnered together and she's growing her own business here and so, yeah, so she came in and started and did the drink. So we still kind of delivered on what we had promised.

Speaker 3:

It just looked a lot different than we, you know, and it ended up being a whole lot more responsibility on me that I was prepared to handle. But yeah, like I said, friends came through Another local business partner, owner of Hardy Bites Chai, antonio. He came by one day to just. He also owns Cha Cha Masala Chai. And he came by one day to just. He also owns Cha Cha Masala Cha. And he came by one day to see if we wanted to purchase his cha, which we did, it's amazing. And he noticed like we had. We were just got to talking and figured out that he actually knew my brother, worked with him for years and so he just kept checking in on us, found out that our grinder had broken and it wasn't. It was owned by the landlord and he hadn't fixed it.

Speaker 3:

And so he just brought me a grinder to use, as, like you know, as long as I need it, I'm actually still using one of his mixers, because my big mixer has a broken part, and so, just you know, I would not have made it to this point if it weren't for the other good neighbors in our community.

Speaker 2:

That's what I hear. That's what I hear so many times is somebody moves to this area and they're just amazed at the community that there is among a lot of the business owners. You know, I hear that so often and when you mentioned a while ago I know you didn't mention her name, but you mentioned her business name my buddy Shantae and her husband from Down Under.

Speaker 3:

Okay, yeah, uh-huh.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. You mentioned them a while ago. Yes, okay, yeah, uh-huh, awesome yeah.

Speaker 3:

You mentioned them while ago.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, yes, yes she's awesome. Yeah, well, you know, I mean, you've shared with us so much in just a short few minutes we've been talking here. Can I step outside the business for a moment? You said you and your husband have three children. We do Uh-huh. You said you and your husband have three children we do?

Speaker 3:

They're all still living at home.

Speaker 2:

I guess yes, yes, they're five nine and 11. I figured they were young, but I didn't want to put that out there. So what do y'all do for fun when you're not working? Now that you're in a place called Chattanooga, Tennessee, and while I'm a Huntsville fan, I'm sure enough a Chattanooga fan. So beautiful area here. What do y'all do for fun?

Speaker 3:

Yes, we love it. We spent the first year we lived here and just kind of took it slow and like, just, you know, explored all the things and got all the went to all the places and it was a really fun time and we still like to do that. We like to walk the bridge, be outside during the summers, right the bridge, be outside during the summers. Right now they're in swim team, a summer swim team, so it's that's a super, it's super busy month, but it's really fun for them and great, just team, you know, activity and so, yeah, we love that and we love getting out outside. It's just, I feel, the most home in nature, you know, and that's a great. It's a great place city to live in, you know, city in a park, kind of like. They say it's a great place to live in if you want to be in nature, and so that's what we try to get out as much as we can. We love to go to, like, saudi Gulf and places like that.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, we've instituted a few like non-negotiable things now that I've started this, because for years, you know, I didn't, I worked at home and I did tutor at their homeschool co-op and do another few little things here and there, but it was a big adjustment for me to start working like this a lot. So we have tried to really take care because, I mean, as a social worker, I'm passionate about mental health and all the things. So we have a lot of non-negotiables, like you know. Wednesday nights, my self-care night, tuesday nights, my husband's self-care night, wednesday is my day with the children and so, um, because of that, we aren't open like seven days a week like a typical you know cafe. Um, but the gluten-free community has just been amazing. They, they know, they understand.

Speaker 2:

You know that I'm just trying to fill a void and um, they're happy to you know, they're happy with what we can offer. So, yeah, absolutely so. So tell us about some of the items you that you offer. You said you're a bakery, but then you mentioned, while I go, some other things, so tell us about that. Do you have breakfast?

Speaker 3:

We do. That's kind of like the main focus, since that I felt like was the biggest kind of you know hole in in in offerings for gluten-free. I try to to do my best to offer the things that are hard to find. So while you can find some things um at other restaurants um like Bantam and Bitty has like some breakfast items, but but like biscuits are a thing you really can't find gluten-free um anywhere around here Just like to go in. I mean, there are, like I said, some of the um the the cottage bakers. They offer biscuits but you to go in and like order a biscuit sandwich, you know that's kind of the experience that I wanted to um to provide, because it's something that I've missed for years.

Speaker 3:

You know, I remember when I was, you know, um, pregnant with one of our kids and I would just go through McDonald's every day, you know, and get the bacon, egg and cheese. That was like my favorite thing and um like yeah, you just don't realize, like your whole world turns over. You just can't. There's so many things you can't do, and so I just wanted to provide that experience of just being able to go in and order and like know that it was going to be safe and not have to ask a million questions like we do at normal restaurants. So we have biscuits, sandwiches and we have cinnamon rolls.

Speaker 3:

Those are kind of like our two main things that I try to um, that people come in here to expect is the breakfast sandwiches and the cinnamon rolls. Um, we do still sell out some days before close. But, um, because right now I'm still doing the majority of the baking myself and so I'm working on training up some of our staff so we can kind of have a little bit more stock available each day. But, but, yeah, those are our two main things I do. When I can, I'll add on other things like quiche with crust, and we do have like a lot of add-ons. Look, we have a fried chicken add-on. Yeah, that's, it's not made in-house. Because we are like we call ourselves a micro bakery, because it is a smaller space and the peach cobbler, who was here before.

Speaker 3:

I think they had like a you know a production kitchen and a lot of things were shipped in. So it's not really set up to be like a typical huge you know production bakery, but it works for us right now. And and yeah, so we do that. And what else about? I mean, I should have probably looked at my menu.

Speaker 2:

I'm blanking here but what are your hours?

Speaker 3:

So right now our hours are Friday. Fridays and Mondays we're open eight to one and then Saturday and Sundays we're open 10 to two, so kind of just that little weekend chunk with Friday and Monday in there.

Speaker 2:

Friday, saturday, sunday, monday, when you're open.

Speaker 3:

Okay, all right.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's great, and then so, since you're open until 1 some days, I guess you do some things for lunch too, right?

Speaker 3:

Well, not really. I mean people still come in and get the biscuits and the cinnamon rolls. I mean I do have so. Well, we have some days we'll have bagels and pretzels, so I try to offer those. I am trying to offer those. The pretzels are going to be on the menu every day in July. I'm going to make a priority of that because it is part of our the vegan chef challenge that's going on in July.

Speaker 1:

I was asked to participate in.

Speaker 3:

So I came up with a few new um. I came up with a new dip for our pretzels, a vegan, a cashew cheese dip for our pretzels and then, um, a few new vegan items. So I'm going to have the pretzels on the menu all month, Um. At the other location, um, the kitchen was a bit bigger and I did have a bigger staff over there, so we were offering kind of like sandwiches. We had like a deli cabinet where we could make the sandwiches and stuff and then we had we would offer sandwiches and soups. But we haven't been able to reinstitute that here just yet, because the bigger the menu, the more kind of craziness happens in the kitchen. And so if there's already days when there's, like you know, kind of it's a pretty long wait, some days when we get really busy and get a rush, um, because we are just still kind of recovering from the situation. The first situation, our first location.

Speaker 3:

So I'm not able to just kind of like yeah, hire all the all the staff and really, like I said, it's very, it's very small back there. So two people max is about all they can fit in that kitchen at a time.

Speaker 2:

And so I think maybe you're putting yourself down a little bit, because it sounds like you're doing an amazing job. If you know people I don't know what percentage of the population you know that that uh either need or want to eat gluten-free. Uh, I, I know I'm hearing more and more vegans out there. You know hear more and more of that kind of dietary, but I don't know what percentage. But it sounds like the people that need it and want it know you're there and they come in and they appreciate what you've got and what you're doing Sounds like to me you're doing a fantastic job.

Speaker 3:

Well, thank you.

Speaker 2:

I like to ask everybody this question. To me it's just. I like for you to speak to the heart of the business, not what's on the menu, but to the heart of the business. If there was one thing that you wish that our listeners knew about, leslie Lewis and the Carving Rock Kitchen but they probably wouldn't know it unless you shared it with them. And you'd like to share it loud and proud here today on the Good Neighbor Podcast, what would that be?

Speaker 3:

Let's see. Well, I guess mainly that like this is not a typical business and it's not something I set out to do, like I didn't set out to grow a business. I guess an example like yesterday, we it was. We had a first little rush when we came in and I was there's a window to the kitchen. So I was back there, you know, preparing the food and I hear some of our regulars.

Speaker 3:

Two of our regulars were in and one of them has just recently became gluten-free and he was got to talk into the other one of the other regulars and the couple that were family, that was in from out of town and I heard them like talking about tips and like she was sharing with him.

Speaker 3:

Like hey, did you know plato's gluten-free or plato's made of wheat, you know? And he was like, oh my gosh, I didn't know that my kids just had it on the table the other night and so like they were just sharing all these little tidbits and talking, it was just, oh, that's I mean. That's why I do this and I know that sometimes, you know, the wait is long and sometimes we don't have what you want, if you know. But um, but yeah, we, I I do it because I know that the gluten-free community needs this and it's so important to them and so valuable, and because food is just food, is essential to life and it's so nostalgic. You know there's so it's like our sense of smell that's connected, you know it's close to your brain.

Speaker 3:

And the taste too. It's like it brings back memories and it's just such a. It's such an essential, important part of life and people that aren't, that don't have food allergies or celiac disease, don't understand, like the enjoyment that is taken away from the experience of eating out and enjoying food over a table with friends and family when you have to constantly be vigilant about. Okay, can you please make sure that you talk to the manager and talk to the chef and you know, is this gluten-free and is there any sauces? You know, just, there's so much I mean you can't even go to the grocery store.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and just like throw things in the cart. You have to like look at the labels and even then sometimes it's very convoluted. So I just wanted to like create, even just carve out, like you said, carve out this small little spot you know in Chattanooga for people to be able to just come and just like. You know, like I almost named it XL kitchen at one time, but that sounded a little too like a like a smoke shop.

Speaker 3:

Somebody said so. I was like, okay, but just like to be able to breathe. You know, like just sit in and just like, oh, I can just eat. You know, I can just eat and not worry.

Speaker 2:

So I can imagine. I mean, you know I have, I have my own issues, but I don't think food allergies is one of them, unless I haven't discovered it yet. But I have my own, you know, physical problems and things that I have to watch. You know that I that I can't overdo or can't do at all, but I can't imagine not just being able to sit down and worry, you know.

Speaker 2:

So, I admire what you're doing and what you're doing for other people. I admire that. I'm glad that people that do have those food allergies know there's places they can go and still be able to enjoy food and not have to worry. But I'm really happy for you, them and you yourself. Well, thank you Thank you for providing that for the community you know, yes, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

And I want to give you a moment here to just kind of share with everyone regarding your how they can find out more about you, or how they can you know where they can find you at, whether online or offline, how to contact you.

Speaker 3:

Please just share with that, with everybody yeah, sure, um, well, I probably stayed the most out of all the you know the social media platforms. I stay the most active on instagram and then facebook. Everything kind of automatically post over there to facebook. But we do post our menu because it does change slightly from day to day. Like I said, I do try to have the biscuits and the cinnamon rolls on the regular, um, but, um, sometimes we're out of different toppings and things like that. So instagram um stories is where I post our menu each day and I will try to, but sometimes we're out of different toppings and things like that. So Instagram stories is where I post our menu each day and I will try to post. If we sell out early and close or if we run out of something, I'll try to post if we're not super, just super slammed, but but yeah, so Instagram is a great place to follow us.

Speaker 3:

If you don't do social media, we do have a newsletter on our website, a link to that. Our website is carvingrockkitchens and, um, we do have a newsletter. Sign up there. But I don't only periodically get those out right now, um, because I'm just kind of, yeah, like a one-woman show still mainly, I mean other than my staff that help me in-house. Um, all the admin stuff is is me right now and my husband helps too, but, um, so, yeah, it's uh, the the newsletter is okay to to go on there and the website. I try to keep that updated. It hadn't been updated for a while, but I finally just updated it a little better. And then how else will we see? That's probably. I mean, I do try to keep our Google page updated too, like our hours are updated on there and all the information.

Speaker 3:

We do tell people they can call us if they want to check. You know if they're on their way in and they want to check. If we have something and it's our numbers 4-2-3-2-8-7-6-3-3-7.

Speaker 2:

Okay. What about your address.

Speaker 3:

Oh, our address. Yes, it's 301 East MLK Boulevard and we are in between grassroots and modus build and a little brick building right here across from the big huge AT&T mural painted building and the peach cobbler sign is actually still up on the building. That's another one of those small business things didn't really think about. We had a sign at our other building, but you know everything, you have to pay for the permits, all again and everything, and so it's just not something we had been able to prioritize yet and didn't really think about them not taking it with them.

Speaker 2:

Well, actually, maybe it's a sign that you need to come up with a gluten-free, vegan peach cobbler.

Speaker 3:

Well, I actually just did. Yes, that's on the yeah. A few people do come in sometimes expecting because I was like I just need to make it, so I finally. That was one of the new vegan uh chef challenge menu items, so we now have peach cobblers there you go.

Speaker 2:

There's no sense taking the sign down now. Home of the home of the peach cobbler, right there you go.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that is hard. I mean, you can't really find gluten-free cobbler either, so it works.

Speaker 2:

It's been a pleasure having you on the program with us today on our show and learning more about you and what you do, and thank you for what you're doing for the community, especially those people that do suffer from those food allergies and then those that just want to change their dietary habits. I know they're glad to know you're out there and, hey, all you listeners out there, you can finally get a gluten-free biscuit. Good news, right? Thank?

Speaker 3:

you for being with us today.

Speaker 2:

Leslie, it's been a pleasure having you.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much, Scott. It's been a pleasure being here.

Speaker 2:

Yes, absolutely. And you know all the good neighbors of the greater Chattanooga region out there. You know, after meeting Lessa and learning more about the Carbon Rock Kitchen, I know that you know she really hopes that you'll. You know, come by one weekend, some Friday, saturday, sunday, monday or maybe all four and stop by and get you a biscuit or a peach cobbler or, I believe you said, a cinnamon roll. Was that right, lessa?

Speaker 2:

Yes, stop by and get a cinnamon roll If you've, leslie, yes, yes, I can get a cinnamon roll If you've never had one, and it was that was gluten free and, uh, you know, hey, we, we might all be surprised. I don't know that I've ever had one, that I knew that was so, but I'm going to be trying one soon. So let's all go by there and support them and do all we can to try to help them, especially if you have those dietary needs. There's another place that you can go that provides those types of things you need in a very safe environment that you don't have to worry about what's going to happen to you, to your maybe you know, to your allergies after you get through eating. So one more place that you can mark down your list.

Speaker 2:

And before ending this episode, I'd like to thank you, know, and before ending this episode, I'd like to thank you, know, you all the listeners, for taking the time out of your day, uh, and spending time with us at the good neighbor podcast. You know, and I always say this, but always remember to support the locally owned and operated businesses in the greater chattanooga region, and that's from cleveland to dalton, from jasper to benton. All the small businesses and all the small communities in between are very important to our whole area. So this is Scott Howell with the Friends and Neighbors Group. Everyone go out and make this a remarkable day.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPClevelandcom. That's GNPClevelandcom. That's GNPClevelandcom, or call 423-380-1984.

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