We are a heart-led business that is for sure. One of our lovely licensees (we have about 70 across Australia and New Zealand), Suzi from Brisbane Central, told us this story and it really encapsulates why we do what we do…..
One of my fondest stories, is about a sweet 11-year-old boy, who walked past our store with his mother. She read our graphics with our certifications, displayed along the store wall. She paused. Then she physically stopped. She asked her son to wait by the wall. Slowly walking up and analysing our store, checking all our certifications. Reading every word. Looking and watching at what we were doing within our pop-up store. She looked me dead in the eye with a tear welling.
“Is this true? Is what you are saying here, the absolute truth? Do you really have NO gluten, NO dairy, NO wheat and NO sulphites in your donuts?” she asked.
I beamed with a smile, “Yes, I can assure you, ALL OF THEM.” “ALL – OF – YOUR – DONUTS ???” She asked wide-eyed again.
“Yes, everything we have here is free from all of those ingredients.”
She looked over at her son, and then looked back at me, “If what you are saying is TRUE, then my son is able to have his very first donut, EVER. He is allergic to ALL of those things.” She composed herself and went over to talk to her son. His big wide eyes looked over at me and back at his Mum for reassurance. She took his hand and they slowly walked over together to the front of the store, where they saw the 12 donut flavours on display. He didn’t really know how to respond to this news.
Joyfully, I asked for his name and spoke to him directly. I wanted to comfort and confirm what his mother had said to put him at ease.
“James, I am so happy to introduce to you, OMG Donuts! We have NO gluten, NO dairy, NO eggs or wheat or yeast or nuts or sulphites in these donuts. They are all cooked hot and fresh for you, right here where you can see what I am doing. All these sugar flavours come from real fruits, vegetables and spices that are freeze-dried and then get made into fine dust, and we then pop whatever flavour you like on the donut for you!”
James’ jaw dropped open. Then I suggested he try a donut to ensure it was safe for him. They took their one donut and stepped back against the wall. His Dad and his sister had arrived by this point. His mother explained that James was about to have his first donut. They were stunned that this was possible. As we all watched with anticipation, he took his very – first – bite.
He began to chew, closed his eyes, tasted the beauty of the flavour, and then began to bawl his eyes out. You could imagine there was not a dry eye in all of us. He buried his head in his mother’s chest as he cried. And kept taking more bites. In this moment, it was clear he felt “included”. Goal reached. His whole life having different foods, different snacks, different lunches at school… constantly feeling “excluded” from what everyone else was enjoying.
His mother cupped his face in her hands, “Are you ok? How was that?”
“It is the best thing I have ever experienced in my life, Mum.”
She came and thanked us, telling us that she would like to give him an hour to assess any possible reactions. Smart Mama – wisdom, absolutely.
The whole family returned, with disbelief on their faces. They ordered a dozen of different flavours, and they all went off to share them “together”. It was such a precious moment.
At the end of that day, they returned again, and bought another 24 donuts to take home.
Every one of our independent OMG! business owners will have a similar story, it happens all of the time and it is stories like this that inspire everyone in the OMG! family to do what we do. Unashamedly heart-led.
The goodies with no baddies.
