Food startup makes inroads in vegan, allergy-conscious market

BROOMFIELD — U-Luv Foods LLC, a cookie-company startup, might be described as mom’s baking with a vegan, allergy-conscious twist. It’s completely owned and operated by four family members. 

U-Luv based in Broomfield, had its roots in the scratch cooking that Debbie Tartarini prepared for her family. But the idea for the company really came together when she began baking gluten-free treats for her husband, Jim Tartarini, after he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in the early 2000s. Nearly a decade later, she began taking cinnamon rolls to local farmers markets with her sons JJ and Joel Tartarini.

JJ said that his mother’s talent with baked goods and the necessary diet change for his father’s health led to the birth of a company.

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“My mom always had a gift of baking. And so, the two kind of came together, and it took us a while to kind of make it into something, but the real starter came from this forced diet change,” said JJ, who serves as vice president of sales and co-founder of U-Luv. 

The farmers market stand turned into Bowbeas LLC, a gluten-free cookie company. It operated from 2013 until last year, closing to put energy into U-Luv. The family’s first business didn’t cater to as many dietary and allergy restrictions as U-Luv

U-Luv is free of milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans. It’s vegan and crafted in small batches.

There are three flavors: snickerdoodle, spicy ginger and brownie. Debbie develops the recipes.

U-Luv began selling on Amazon this year, along with its own ecommerce website. With the exposure on Amazon, sales spiked, JJ said. In its first month, 40 bags of cookies were sold. Now the small team of four family members is selling more than 200 bags a week.

By the time U-Luv turns a year-old, its cookies will hit Rocky Mountain region Whole Foods shelves this summer. Whole Foods has not commented on how many stores will sell U-Luv cookies.

Working with family isn’t always sweet, and the Tartarinis had to learn how to separate personal and professional spaces, JJ said. 

“We’ve had to learn how to check that at the door and put boundaries around things so that when come Easter, come Christmas, come these other things, it’s not a U-Luv Foods sales meeting,” he said.

U-Luv’s mission statement is “Cookies with compassion.” Around 10% of U-Luv’s revenues are donated to different causes such as Denver Dream Center, a Christian-based nonprofit organization and church that supports teens and children, JJ said.

“We want to be able to do more than just make good cookies, or good snacks that are good for you. We want to have a mission that people can get behind and they can actually be part of,” JJ said.