Posted: July 22, 2011

A local cookie maker is raking in the dough from a Chicago private equity firm.

Dr. Lucy Gibney, a former emergency room doctor who now spends her days as president and CEO of Dr. Lucy's LLC, said the LaSalle Capital Group, a private equity firm, has made an investment in her small, Norfolk-based company, which makes gluten-free cookies.

Gibney wouldn't say how much the firm is investing in the company, but says that it is enough to expand her business into other gluten-free products.

For its part, LaSalle Capital Group says that it will help make Dr. Lucy's the "leading gluten-free cookie line."

Gibney invented the line of cookies in honor of her son, who has severe food allergies and couldn't eat store-bought cookies, crackers, pizza, candy, ice cream or cakes.

And while Gibney concedes that type of food isn't "essential for life... in our modern social system, they are definitely part of daily living for most people."

So she baked and baked before coming up with a recipe for cookies that are made sans gluten, milk, eggs, peanuts, butter, or tree nuts.

So what are they made of? The chocolate chip cookie's ingredients include a flour blend of gluten-free oat, garbanzo, potato starch, tapioca, sorghum and fava flours; evaporated cane juice; vegan chocolate chips; gluten-free rolled oats; soy milk; brown sugar; soybean oil; palm fruit oil; canola oil; and olive oil.

In its four years, the company has moved from Gibney's Norfolk kitchen to a 12,190-square-foot space at 930 Denison Ave. in the Central Business Park in Norfolk. Lucy's cookies can be found online and in more than 7,000 stores across the U.S. and Canada. Last year, the company had $1.6 million in sales, Gibney said.

She said she had been looking for private equity for some time, but the economy hindered her efforts until about six months ago, when she was put in touch with LaSalle. She said the firm typically takes on larger businesses, but "they thought our branding and our manufacturing capabilities and our knowledge of this segment of the industry were mature enough that they were willing to make the move and build from there."

Dr. Lucy's produces chocolate chip, oatmeal, sugar and cinnamon cookies. Earlier this month, it debuted a new line of flavors - ginger snap, maple bliss and chocolate.

By Bill Cresenzo

bill.cresenzo@insidebiz.com