As more people develop celiac disease and pursue gluten-free diets, Omahans are searching for a place they can get bread and desserts that are safe for their families without sacrificing flavor. Gluten-free options are limited in Omaha, but one new bakery is looking to change that.
Rebel Rise GF (11039 Elm St) operated as a pop-business in Omaha for about a year before opening its brick and mortar in Rockbrook Village in November of 2025. Owner Beth Gregory and four of her kids have celiac disease, and she couldn’t stand not being able to feed them the treats they loved.
So she decided to do something about it.
“I wanted people to be able to have safe food that tastes good,” Gregory said. “Just be able to have options; to be able to walk in and choose. Do you want a cookie? Do you want a cupcake? To be able to feel normal and eat things that are safe for them.”
Gluten-Free Baked Goods in Omaha
Everything inside Rebel Rise GF is 100% gluten-free and is produced in a gluten-free environment, ensuring there’s no chance for cross contamination. Everything is made from scratch, making it very labor intensive, but Gregory wants customers to feel like they just came home to mom’s house and received some delicious home cooking. Among the gluten-free options at Rebel Rise GF:
- Sourdough bread
- Cookies
- Cakes
- Cinnamon rolls
- Cupcakes
- Hamburger Buns
- Donuts
- Focaccia
- Cake pops
Rebel Rise GF also knows that Omaha’s gluten-free population can’t live off sweets alone, and the cozy cafe also has bistro plates, which include soups, sandwiches, yogurt parfaits, and more.
Gregory has a special memory of a young red-haired girl who visited soon after the shop opened. She walked over to the counter and asked her mother which treats were gluten-free and safe to celiacs. When her mom replied, “You can choose anything here,” the girl’s eyes welled up with joyful tears. It’s a memory Gregory holds dearly and uses to help her push through the long hours and difficulty of sourcing gluten-free ingredients in Omaha.
“The community is what keeps me going and what motivates me to put out all the food,” Gregory said. “It’s the stories. When someone eats a chicken pot pie and it’s what their mom made growing up and they haven’t had one in 20 years because there aren’t any gluten-free pot pies.
“Or they see the peanut butter cookies and it’s just like their grandma made with the fork prints on the top and it tastes like their grandma made them and they haven’t had a cookie in years because they don’t bake or there aren’t cookies like that out there. Just that nostalgia and being able to bring a little bit of the past through food and that connection to them and us.”
Rebel Rise GF’s Gluten-Free Story
After being diagnosed with celiac disease in 1998 and not being able to eat or feed her family the food she loved, Gregory decided she would teach herself to bake in 2015. Gluten-free baking is difficult, and most of Gregory’s early tries were failures. But after testing over 100 recipes, she finally unlocked the secret to gluten-free chocolate chip cookies that her family loved. That knowledge helped her develop recipes for other baked goods.
Gregory had a strong career in sales, but her husband encouraged her to pursue baking full time. She officially launched Rebel Rise GF in November 2024, right before Thanksgiving. And when she sold more than $6,000 worth of gluten-free pies over the holiday, Gregory knew she had something on her hands.
Her passion to bring safe gluten-free goods to Omaha drove her to start the business, and Omaha is showing her the love right back.
“It’s so all of us that have food allergies or celiac or whatever it is that restricts the things that are available to you, that you can walk in and have lunch or dinner like everybody else,” Gregory said. “You have choices and you can eat food that tastes good. You have that feeling of safety and be able to feel normal and eat food that tastes amazing.”
