Don’t you love cooling off on a stiflingly hot summer day with your favorite ice cream? Nearly 5 percent of the U.S. population might never know that joy, with an estimated 16.5 million Americans suffering from an allergy to milk. In fact, it was a milk allergy that turned out to be the catalyst to launch a small shop in Galesburg, making big waves with its innovative approach to creating frozen treats, with no dairy ingredients.

Sprinkle & Spoon is the brainchild of Lora Barajas, one of the co-owners of this tasty trove of treats along with her sister, Janina Glass, and brother, Gabriel Wynkoop.

“I came up with this concept because in 2016 I found out I had food allergies, and I couldn’t have dairy anymore, which meant I couldn’t have ice cream, and I missed it so much,” said Lora with disappointment in her voice. “All the other options out on the market just didn’t do it for me. So, I tried turning every single variety of thing I could find, and eventually came up with the recipe that we use today.”

When it comes to flavor, the amazing treats that come from Sprinkle & Spoon can satisfy a sweet tooth for everyone, not only those who are forced to have foods that are dairy-free only!

“We make an ice cream-like product. We call it a frozen treat. We make all of our ingredients from scratch,” explained Lora’s sister, Janina. “We make everything dairy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, and egg-free, but not taste-free. We love to make it delicious and creamy for everybody.”

“So many people want to be able to go out and have a treat together,” stated Lora. “In our culture, eating is such a bonding moment. However, if you have allergies, that’s really hard because you can’t participate in the activity fully when you can’t have what they’re eating. I wanted to be able to provide a place and flavors that people can come together.”

For Janina, who does not have a milk allergy and calls herself the ‘taste tester,’ there was a singular moment that the impact of Sprinkle & Spoon hit home.

“I think I fell in love with Sprinkle & Spoon when I was helping her (Lora) out,” recalled Janina. “We had someone walk in, maybe with their child, maybe ten years old. They had never been in an ice cream shop before. They just had tears on their face because they felt so grateful that they could share this experience with their child. We were actually affecting people’s lives and that we set an example of inclusivity. We hope to be able to spread that message.”

The proof, as Lora puts it, is in the dairy-free pudding. “Everybody loves it,” said Lora with a laugh. “People who come here and try it for the first time usually say, ‘Wow! Oh my goodness. This is better than any ice cream I’ve ever had.’”

Even the name of the shop reflects Lora’s bubbly personality and love for all things joyful.

“I came up with the name Sprinkle & Spoon, because I love all things bright and colorful,” shared Lora as she grinned with pride. “What’s better than colorful sprinkles on top of your frozen treat with a great spoon?”

A new kind of treat

For Lora, the path to opening the shop was not just about building a business, it was born out of necessity.

“I have a pretty rare disease,” Lora revealed. “It’s called Eosinophilic Oesophagitis (EoE), and it makes my esophagus swell up when I eat something that I’m allergic to. If I eat something that triggers my disease, then my esophagus swells up to the point that I can’t swallow food, can’t go up or down. And I have to go to the hospital. They have to put me under anesthesia, and they have to remove the food for me.

“When I first found out about my allergies, I was newly married. I was a young mom, and I felt so overwhelmed with my life as it was that to add allergies on top of it was so hard to navigate,” added Lora. “I cried every day for three months. I felt like I had nothing to eat. It was so hard.”

Lora was determined to find a solution that would allow her to enjoy life’s simple pleasures again. She created her own non-dairy frozen recipe and began to share her treats with family and friends. She said it took several years to perfect her frozen treat before opening Sprinkle & Spoon in 2021.

“Everyone loved it. They thought, ‘You definitely need to sell this.’ I started making it just for myself, so I had something for me to eat,” exclaimed Lora with enthusiasm in her voice. “I thought, they’re right. I wanted to share what I made with the world.”

What makes it special

The magic behind the delicious, allergy-friendly frozen treats is a commitment to quality according to Janina.

“I love seeing people’s faces when they come in and they enjoy the Sprinkle & Spoon products,” shared Janina. “I love what it does for people and the inclusive message that we’re sending. I started off just volunteering once in a while, but I really fell in love with it for that reason.”

Quality ingredients and careful preparation seem to be the cornerstones of success at Sprinkle & Spoon.

“Our frozen treat is oat-based,” Lora explained as she shared insight into how each recipe is prepared. “When we make a flavor with fruit, we always use real fruit. Strawberry is one of our most popular flavors, and a third of the batch is just fresh strawberries. We always use natural colors as much as we possibly can because we know a lot of people are allergic to dyes, but also because we’re trying to give the best that we can to our families.”

The shop offers a mix of classic and seasonal flavors to keep things exciting. Lora and Janina said their customers can always find a range of traditional flavors including chocolate and vanilla.

“We have seasonal flavors that change with the seasonal fruits and also with the holidays that are around,” explained Lora about the flavors offered at Sprinkle & Spoon. “We have Cherry Chip for Valentine’s Day. We’ll have a fun flavor for Easter. In the summer, we do a lot more fresh fruit like strawberry and lemon flavors, including a really great cantaloupe flavor that’s surprising and delicious.”

“I love the variety in the Cookie Monster. It’s kind of a different adventure in every bite,” Janina said. “You might get a chewy chocolate crinkle cookie piece or a crunchy piece, and that’s fun. It’s a nice creamy base. Blue Moon is very fruity. We just have it every once in a while. I like a lot of our fruity flavors. Cantaloupe is one we do in the summertime. That’s really good.”

Right now, the frozen treats at Sprinkle & Spoon are created in small batches, but this dynamic duo has big dreams.

“I think our biggest challenge is that we live in a small place (Galesburg), and because we have such a niche product, there aren’t quite enough people in this town to support such a niche product.

“We found a way to overcome this challenge by manufacturing in small batches right here in this little kitchen,” added Lora. “We have people who have traveled up to four hours away just to come to us because what we provide is so unique. Plus, we’re selling to over half a dozen grocery stores in Illinois.

“We’re growing into more places all the time. My long-term goal is to be in grocery stores nationwide. Hopefully, you’ll see us in the store near you soon.”

So many rules

Running a small business is no small feat, especially when it comes to navigating the complexities of regulations, taxes, and compliance according to Janina.

“What I’d like the politicians of Illinois to know about retail is that we’re little guys, and we’re trying hard to meet all of the basic requirements,” Janina shared. “Refiling your LLC, keeping on top of health department paperwork, filing your sales tax, local taxes and all the different little steps. I wish they were simpler. I wish it were more consolidated so that it’s a simpler process, because it’s easy to go, ‘We accidentally forgot to file our state employment taxes due this quarter. We’re not trying to commit tax evasion. I just didn’t know about this one.’ That’s happened to us a couple of times. We’ve had to go in and pay some fines and take care of it.

“Sometimes, I feel like nobody’s trying harder to put us out of business than the State of Illinois, honestly,” added Janina with frustration in her voice. “The local municipality too. They will come along to make sure that we’ve paid our dues and everything. There’s no one that comes along that makes sure we’re doing okay.

“I wish there were a little more assistance offered to little people like us because we have a lot of moving parts, a lot of different things to think about with our marketing, our product development, hours of operation, all kinds of things,” Janina explained. “Then there are these little background details that it’s easy to miss and slip up on. We don’t mean to. But it can be really burdensome.”

Janina said she hopes that Illinois policymakers genuinely review the stories of small brick and mortars participating in the We Are Retail initiative and work to simplify processes and provide more support.

“We’re trying hard,” said Janina with a hint of a smile. “We’re doing our best to contribute to our community and create something special. A little more understanding and assistance would go a long way.”

Making a business thrive

Starting a business is a journey filled with highs, lows, and countless lessons. Lora and Janina offer insights for others who have retail dreams of their own.

“If you’re thinking about getting into retail, make sure that whatever you’re doing, you have passion for it,” Lora said. “You can’t go in it just for the money, because those first few years are really hard. If you don’t have the passion for it, money is not enough of a motivator to stick with it.

“It’s taken a lot of work to get to where we are today,” continued Lora. “We’re at that point now where we finally feel like things are going to start taking off in a great direction. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of grit to get to that spot.”

“I would advise anyone to look into the different grant opportunities that are available right from the beginning,” advised Janina. “Don’t wait until you’re struggling. Try and get the help that’s available to you through the Better Business Bureau. Get those people on your side so that you don’t miss the opportunities. Because many times, those grants and things are only available to new businesses. You want to go in knowing that you have sort of a limited time to take advantage of those, or the opportunity could pass you by like it did for us, since we didn’t know to apply within the first 6 months.

“Something else that I would tell people if they’re starting any kind of business is that, honestly, people are not your enemy. They want to be your friends. They really do want you to succeed,” Janina said with a smile. “Even your competition. Make friends with as many people as you can, and then you’ll have as many people on your team as possible.”

“I do see a bright light on the horizon, though,” Lora stated with smile. “I think this is probably going to be the first year that we’re going to be able to pay ourselves.”

Making a delicious difference

As the sun set on another day of hard work at Sprinkle & Spoon, Lora let us know that she is aware that notwithstanding the challenges of small business ownership, she is well aware she has created something special in Galesburg.

“I get to make such meaningful connections with people. People come in all the time that haven’t ever had a chance to give their child ice cream, ever, or who haven’t been able to have Oreo ice cream for years because they found out about a gluten allergy,” said Lora. “They come in here and they get to have something brand new or something they haven’t tasted forever because they’re not allergic to it here. People cry all the time here. I cry all the time here because it’s such a meaningful thing. We think a dessert, a treat is something small, but it can mean the world to somebody.”