‘Like it was made for us.’ Gluten-free bakery finds new home outside Lexington.

Many Lexington residents were saddened by the news last fall that Gluten Free Miracles was closing its cafe on Burt Road after nearly a decade.

Now, the business is starting the new year off with a new location and a new name, Miracles Bakery.

Owner Denise Walsh said she’s moving into a never-used commercial kitchen at Mustard Seed Hill in Millersburg, where she will continue to take custom orders and serve the wholesale market.

Walsh said the cafe is not reopening at this time, but she said there’s plenty of room for that at Mustard Seed Hill if she decides to do so in the future.

“We’re feeling very blessed because of Mustard Seed Hill,” she said.

For now, Walsh said she wants to focus on expanding the wholesale side of her business. Her gluten-free baked goods are currently sold at Whole Foods in Lexington and Louisville and Good Foods Co-op in Lexington.

She said the name change to Miracles Bakery is something she’s been considering for a while now after hearing people shortening the business’ name in conversation. Walsh said the decision to drop “gluten free” free the name also goes hand in hand with her increased focus on manufacturing.

She said that whenever the company offers product demonstrations at Whole Foods, there are always customers who take a sample and love it but are disappointed when they find out it’s gluten free.

“It happens every time,” Walsh said, which got her to thinking, “Maybe we should just let people buy them ‘cause they like them.”

Walsh said Community Ventures Corp., which owns Mustard Seed Hill, the former site of the Millersburg Military Institute, has long supported her and had previously offered funding to help the bakery move and expand, but her plans kept falling through until things came to a head last fall.

Walsh closed the cafe at the end of October, saying she was struggling to find enough employees, and her rent had been increased to the point that she could no longer afford it.

““We used to work with 12 employees to 14. Now we have three,” she said in a video announcing the closing on social media. “We can’t do what we’ve always done. We have an inflation and supply chain crisis, and our rent was jacked up 162 percent... I don’t know what’s going to happen but what I do know is I can’t continue the way I am.”

Walsh said Community Ventures stepped in and offered the kitchen at Mustard Seed Hill.

“Community Ventures invests in companies that they think are needed,” she said. “So I’m very honored that they see that in me.”

She said the fully-equipped commercial kitchen was built a few years ago but never used. That, she said, will ensure there is no cross-contamination and her products will remain entirely gluten free.

“It’s like it was made for us and waiting,” she said. “I won’t miss a beat.”

After pausing custom orders in January for the move, Walsh said she’ll resume them in February. The company’s website says they’ll offer custom cakes, mixed dessert bar boxes, cookie cakes and cupcakes, as well as monthly cookie or muffin boxes.

The site says they’ll provide free delivery to Versailles and to Gardenside Christian Church in Lexington once a week, or customers can arrange to pick up items in Millersburg or pay an additional fee for delivery outside those times and places.

“You just have to evolve and reinvent yourself,” Walsh said. “God’s got a plan, and I just try to keep up with it.”