RochesterFirst

Gluten-free bakery leads new co-op space in Pittsford MRKT

Dan Gross

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (WROC) — A new co-op space is up and running in the Pittsford MRKT building at 5 Main Street, in Pittsford.

Biscotti Brewers, a gluten-free bakeshop, sells their goods there, along with over another dozen mostly women-owned businesses. They moved into the just over a month ago.

MRKT brands itself as an event space available for rent, and Biscotti Brewers says they are renting the space until January of next year.

The building is open to shoppers Fridays 2 p.m. – 7p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., and Sundays 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Kayla Sandoval is the head baker and founder of Biscotti Brewers, which is an all-gluten-free bakery.

“I was a baker who took a detour into engineering,” she said. “It just so happened that I married a celiac… I saw so many terrible products getting put in front of him.

“We can do better, I can do better,” she said.

She still bakes at The Commissary in Rochester, and after years of building her product, and selling it at festivals and wholesale, Sandoval wanted a more permanent place to sell her goods.

“I think a little post went out on Instagram.. and my friend Maita (De La Funete), the owner of So Belly Happy, she sent it to me and ‘this space would be so cute with your stuff in it,’ and I said ‘it would be so cute with our stuff in it.”

Sandoval now has over a dozen of businesses that are selling in the space, from jewelry to kombucha to dishware to dog treats and more.

She runs the space as a co-op, and takes a small percentage from each sale to pay the bills of the space. It’s a way for the business owners to support each other, and fill a need in the community.

“I’ve always told those people, anywhere I go… I’m going to take you with me,” she said. “We’ve got something in this shop for everybody.”

Vendors at the Pittsford MRKT: