Our Story

I would have loved a spot like Twist when I was younger and busy raising my three active children.
A place with variety, a clean and welcoming atmosphere, friendly servers, and natural ingredients.

My Twist story really first started in my early teen years. I was stirring a pot of fresh picked strawberries we were cooking down for jam, and I broke out in a rash. Gone was the joy of strawberries, and as I aged, many more items became taboo for me as well: carrots, celery, apples,pitted fruit, to name a few. As an adult, in my never-ending quest to feel better and to try and understand why my body felt that food was an enemy, based on my doctor’s recommendation, I removed gluten from my diet.

As my children were young, and we were out and about all weekend long running between sporting events, for convenience and sanity, we found ourselves attempting to eat many meals outside of the home. With my food allergies and limitations, it was difficult for us to find a place that could accommodate my needs, so we found ourselves doing a lot of planning ahead, packing as much as possible, and eating a lot of late meals. When we opened Twist in 2011, there were many food companies and a few restaurants who were adjusting their menus for gluten-free diners, but there was still a demand for quality baked goods and today still an even greater demand for improved convenience and safety.

Owner Kathryn Ernst
The Twist Team

Once I had determined removing gluten was a significant benefit to how I felt, there was no turning back. As many challenges as I’ve had because of my food limitations, I still considered myself a foodie: a scratch cook and baker selecting seasonal and clean ingredients to feed my family. I was simply not happy with the bread choices available to me only in the freezer sections. I never ate from a box or frozen food, so why would I start now? So, I started making my own. Most of the recipes I tried were just plain terrible, and as a person who prides myself on being a really good cook, I was horrified by what I was producing. Game on. I became obsessed with finding a recipe that would produce bread I liked, and after a full year of playing mad scientist, I finally developed a recipe that worked. Once the bread and rolls worked, I moved on to some of our family’s favorite recipes, and the flour mix I had developed was successful in those recipes too. My children, our family, and our friends were my Guinea pigs, and ultimately were the beneficiaries of my constant baking and cooking as I had finally achieved success with my recipes. Life was back to normal as our familiar food selections, tastes and textures, and family favorite recipes were finally back on the menu.

We continued with our busy life and I soon realized that our family could not possibly be alone in our feelings of frustration with regard to food selections and the lack of convenience. I knew we had something we could share with others, took a leap of faith, and Twist was born.

I hired professional pastry chefs and cooks to help me execute my vision and opened Twist in 2011.

Today, we continue to fine tune our selections, continue to hand craft each item on the menu, and still hand select our ingredients as carefully as I did when I was only cooking and baking at home. As a family run business, our guests are an extension of our family, and when we invite you into our dining room, we serve ingredients we ourselves would select to feed our own children and you.

Handcrafted. Quality Ingredients. It’s just what we do.