STARTING WITH A PASSION
Kim Gregory Pure Pastry is an organic pastry shop in Beverly, MA. A graduate of the first EforAll accelerator in Lynn, Kim has operated Pure Pastry out of her home for the last three and a half years. As the apple tree, chicken coops, and beehives in the backyard indicate, everything created by Kim Gregory Pure Pastry is made from scratch.
Kim’s passion for healthy cooking began early on. As an athlete, body model, and cheerleader, she says, “I needed to make my body fit and stay fit. All my life, I wanted low fat, I wanted organic, I wanted clean, but I wanted my pastry too. I’m Italian – I want a piece of cake, I want a cannoli!”
Her journey into the world of entrepreneurship started because of her daughter, Kiana.
“When I got married and had a child, my daughter was born with over 300 food allergies. On her first birthday I was like, what does gluten free mean? How do I make a cake with no eggs? How do I make a cake with no dairy?”
As a new mom, Kim started to research substitutions and experiment with different recipes. “20 years ago, no one was taking away gluten.” By Kiana’s 2nd birthday party, Kim said, “I could make something that looked like a cake but didn’t taste like a cake.” But as she kept trying new approaches, she got better and better. At gatherings with friends and family, people began to ask where the cakes came from. And the orders started rolling in. She quit working for someone else’s business and licensed her home kitchen to become the site of Kim Gregory Pure Pastry.