How My Gluten Free Bread Company Went From Zero To $125M In 5 Years – & Why I Decided To Sell

Udi Baron was running a bakery and restaurant when someone brought him a recipe for gluten-free bread so good it made people cry. It became the linchpin of the company now called Udi's Gluten Free, which immediately defined and dominated its market–so much so that not even Baron could believe it. –As told to Una M. Morera

I was born and raised in Israel. Next door to my high school, there was a tiny grocery store owned by an Italian Holocaust survivor. He made beautiful sandwiches. He bought bread from a refugee from Iraq, and made sandwiches on Iraqi bread with Italian meat and pickles. I kind of fell in love with them. Probably they were terrible. But ever since then, I'm making sandwiches.

I went to work for the Israeli IRS. In 1978, my family left for Denver so my wife could be closer to her family. In 1994, I quit my job and tried to do desserts. Then an old man who had a small sandwich shop became violently diabetic, and asked if I could take over his business. A business doing maybe $700 a day–which is better than what I did. So I got out of desserts.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Inc