How Desperation Brought Inspiration to Pinto Barn
The Heart Behind an Innovative Nut-Free Product
“Some of our greatest ideas come out of the inspiration of desperation.”
Life for the Pinto family was turned upside down when their daughter Lily was diagnosed with a life-threatening nut allergy at the tender age of three. The first reaction came in the form of hives, but the following two reactions resulted in a thing that no parent wants to see their child face — anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially fatal allergic reaction. “You only have to see this once, and then you decide that you are going to be part of making the world safe for all kids,” said Jane Pinto, Founder and CEO of Pinto Barn and mother of Lily.
Severe or life-threatening nut allergies are a scary reality for an estimated 2.3 million children in the United States. According to a study released in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies among children increased approximately 50% between 1997 and 2011. The numbers are steadily increasing and the cause of this is not apparent.
We have two choices when we face the challenges that life brings. We can either run away or lean into them. Lily was lucky to have a supportive family with an entrepreneurial inclination by her side. Her family foundedPinto Barn, a conscious company engaged in creating and selling products that nurture a healthier life. While her battle with a peanut and tree nut allergy has not come without anxiety, it has brought a deep sense of responsibility to the greater allergy community.
“When you have any kind of anaphylaxis, you literally have to restart your life,” says Lily, “You have to rebuild your trust in the people around you, the food that you eat, and most of all, yourself.”
In order to rebuild that trust, Jane Pinto and the Pinto Barn team, along with Lily’s help, decided they had to source, make, and package the safest nut-free foods. Thus, Don’t Go Nuts came to fruition — a nut-free, organic, GMO-free line of food — to bring a delicious line of safe, snack food to kids and adults with nut allergies.
“We know from personal experience that kids with peanut and tree nut allergies have really limited choices when it comes to the kind of tasty, nutritious, grab-n-go snacks their friends eat,” says Jane. “We wanted to create something that was so delicious, nutritious and fun that not only would these kids be excited to have them, but their families, friends and classmates would want them, too.”
The Don’t Go Nuts team has worked carefully to establish their unique Field to Fingers program, in which they trace each nut-free ingredient straight back to the source and ensure that no nuts come in contact along the way.
“No one is more careful than I am,” says Lily. “It’s not enough to just FEEL safe…I want to BE safe. I want everyone else to BE safe, too. We’re building this from the ground up to make it safe so that people KNOW and trust our foods are nut-free.”
Don’t Go Nuts didn’t stop at simply tracing ingredients. In the process of starting a truly safe brand, they knew they needed to have their own nut-free processing facility. Lily remembers walking into one building they were initially looking at, and asking, “Has there ever been a nut here?”
Jane and her team finally came to the conclusion they needed to build a new facility. “We realized that the only way to ensure that our nut-free foods are truly safe was to build a facility from the ground up,” says Jane. “That way we know that it has never had a peanut or tree nut anywhere in it. We also purchased all brand-new equipment that has never touched a peanut or tree nut. We want our customers to know and trust that our food is safe.”
I had the opportunity to join Jane for lunch one afternoon in her hometown of Salida, Colorado – a remote, gorgeous town of about 5,000 people that runs along the Arkansas River in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. We grabbed a bite to eat local cafe that Jane swore was best for it’s service. I ordered a salad with almonds, and thought nothing of it. We enjoyed lunch as Jane gabbed about her beautiful, and inspiring children Lily and Gray. She told me about a song that Lily is working on for the allergy community, and how dedicated she is to making kids like her feel cared for.
It wasn’t until we got to the Don’t Go Nuts headquarters afterwards, that I began to think about my lunch choice. I thought to myself, Oh no, am I going to contaminate something?! The entryway was decked with little signs saying “This is a nut-free zone” adorned with their adorable characters Lulu and Lunk. Jane handed me a white jump suit, hair net, and a dust mask — all general protocol for entering the production facility.
“We’re not just making safe foods for families like ours,” said Jane, “We’re also making them for all the friends and classmates, for all the play dates and sleepovers, for all the teachers and coaches. There are so many people who are connected to a child with nut allergies, who deeply care about that child, and who want nothing more than to know they’re giving that child a safe food to enjoy.”
Jane also emphasized that the company is not anti-nuts. “We love nuts. Nuts are a terrific food,” she said, “We just can’t eat them.”
When we walked in the production facility with our space suits, Jane introduced me to the “makers with hearts of gold.” She knew them all by name and proceeded to have a conversation with each person, about their life and family. They were about to begin icing a round of bars with a new icing machine they had just purchased. Even Jane herself had not seen the machine in action. As the machine started, one of the ‘makers’ laughed as she gracefully lamented about how they used to have to ice each bar by hand. Tray after tray of nut-free bars passed under the icing in a mesmerizing display.
From that room, Jane walked me into an isolated receiving room, then into a special safety room. She explained that this was Lily’s favorite room because here dust is blown from ingredient packages and removed from the building before ingredients enter other areas, ensuring their safety. Anything that comes in to the building is washed once in the receiving room, and another time in the safety room before it enters the facility. “The delivery person may have just opened a Snickers bar, and that could be life-threatening to these kids,” explained Jane.
As we left the facility, Jane pointed back to the building and said, “Those are the real heros! And they do this all for the kids.”
These ‘makers with hearts of gold’ have pledged not to bring any food with nuts into the facility or eat them before they come to work and they are engaged in following what is happening in the Nut Allergy communities. Jane then recounted a touching story of young man who came into work one morning with a photograph of a little girl that had just passed away the previous day from an anaphylactic reaction. He declared that day be dedicated to her.
Anxieties run high for an individual, and their family members, with a severe peanut or tree nut allergy.
The reality is that, a simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time could spark anaphylaxis. “The fact of the matter is that any moment, at any time, anything could happen that, we have five minutes to make sure she lives. That’s the truth for any kid with this type of life threatening allergy,” says Jane.
Public places and seemingly, harmless social situations become an invitation for a reaction. Jane describes this in a heart-wrenching story of a simple weekend trip to Boulder. Lily had been looking forward to going to see one of her favorite poets, David Whyte, speak. The family was thrilled to see that the event would be held in a Methodist church, where they assumed there would be no eating.
“Sitting in the pew, in the beautiful church, I heard the sound of a bar being taking out of a bag in the row behind me…that familiar crackle. Before I even turned around, I thought, ‘My God, this is gonna be nuts, and she’s gonna be nuts, and it’s over,’” describes Jane,”There they were, two bars lying on the pew, and one being opened and eaten.”
Hours away from home, Lily insisted that the family stay for the rest of the event and simply take turns walking with her. The following day, the Pinto’s went to attend memorial for a dear friend, and they were greeted with an array of pecan cookies.
“We thought these two places were places where nuts wouldn’t be an issue. Yet two days in a row, two events that were meant to be heart-and-soul filling, were instead temporarily spirit-crushing disappointments for Lily,” describes Jane, “David Whyte’s entire talk was about the invitation of life. Two days in a row, Lily very much wanted to accept the invitation of life, and she couldn’t because of the limitations of the world. It is no one’s fault; nuts are great and good for most. It is a hard thing for our world to grasp that they are a serious life threat for others.”
Jane finished this blog entry by saying, “At Don’t Go Nuts, our real reason for being is to be part of this fellowship for all of Lily’s life. Yes, we make safe food, which in itself is so very important. But most of all, we need to share with you our seasons of life, which include the inner heart of allergies.”
Lily, her twin Gray, her mother Jane, and the entire Pinto Barn team have embarked on a Barnraising journey not only to raise money to bring more delicious, safe, nut-free foods to market. They also want to raise awareness and to share the inner heart of allergies. Your contribution could save a life, or simply warm a heart.
Barnraiser is the community powering the food movement, one project at a time. Our mission is to put a billion dollars into the hands of food innovators as they reshape a healthy food world. Join the movement and bring us your projects! Contact us: projects@barnraiser.us
