our FAMILY

Joe Van Gelderen Was the CEO of Totally Gluten Free Ltd. He sadly Passed away on March 5th 2024 due to health related issues. He will be greatly missed by all.

Valerie Van Gelderen is the Co-owner of Totally Gluten Free Ltd and busy mother of 9 children ranging in age from 13 yrs to 32 years, and 'Oma' to 5 little ones. 7 of their 9 children have celiac disease. Through the years, much needed to be learned about baking gluten free food that was not only edible, but delicious and healthy for the children. She will be seen in the bakery a fair bit more when the children are in School, and a bit less during summer holidays. Valerie helps with creating new products and flavors, keeping our product line fresh and current. She primarily comes in to serve customers in our storefront and delightfully cozy Cafe.

Karin, our 3rd eldest daughter, Is a Co-Owner of Totally Gluten Free LTD and also take on the role of General Manager. Scheduling staff, planning special events, social media management, and payroll are just a few of the many, many facets of her position. As well as managerial duties, she still makes pies, pastries, cookies, cakes, and fills the gaps wherever is needed. She is a very essential member to our team as she is quite knowledgeable about both celiac disease and the gluten free diet as she has been gluten free since she was a very young child. We appreciate being able to step away a bit more, knowing without a worry that things are running smoothly under her care.

LIanne is our eldest daughter, and she juggles her full time work at the hospital, and being a fanatstic mom to 2 of our granddaughters, with the behind the scenes work of piles of paperwork, payroll, and government paperwork, She also will do some of the shopping and deliveries, and she basically steps up whenever we need her. Lianne also steps up and is more than willing to take a delivery or two during our busy seasons, or help with sticky red tape situations that may arise. We sure appreciate her expertise in these areas as she keeps us informed and makes us aware of new regulations and requirements of business owners.

Ashley is our 5th daughter, just graduated from high school in June 2022. She has been an essential worker and can do anything from early morning baking, making pies, cookies, muffins or cinnamon buns, and she is often a pleasant face in our storefront, greeting and looking after customers. Ashley is excited to be off to hair college in January 2023 in Red Deer, She’s been a very reliable and very capable part of our team and we will miss her sweet spirit here at the bakery., although she will certainly be dropping in from time to time.

Levi is our 2nd youngest of 9 children, and he is enjoying high school and hockey here in Lacombe. As a new licensed driver he gets himself to work in the afternoons and evenings during the school year, and puts in more hours during holidays and busy seasons. He makes a copious amount of delicious pizza crusts, pizza’s and Paninis to sell here in the bakery. If you haven’t tried these savory items that Levi enjoys making, it’s a good time to do so! We look forward to seeing him grow and develop in his ability and contributions to the teamwork here at the Totally Gluten Free Bakery.

We have a much larger family than the ones mentioned above as well. 4 of our 9 children are not employed with us, or just help out casually or seasonally, and our youngest son is eagerly waiting to be a part of the bakery team soon. But our Bakery team is made up of so many more individuals who have become like family to us. We have 12-15 employees that are the glue that holds this team together. Without our valuable staff we could never cohesively have the successful establishment that we do today. just to mention a few positions, we have early morning bakers coming in as early as 2 a.m., making all the bread, buns, and muffins. We have some who cook and prepare our line of ‘Homestyle Meals’, and others come in and strictly make cupcakes, special occasion cakes and fancy shortbread cookies. Our pastry workers are always busy making pie shells, tart shells, and fruit pies. Other workers pack the seemingly endless orders shipped out each week. The list is really endless, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the amazing folks who make up THE TEAM here at the Totally Gluten Free Bakery.