UB couple offers gluten-free options to county fair foodies

“I forgot how good all of this was,” said Melissa Koller, a West Seneca resident who has been gluten-free for the past nine years. “Normally I come to the fair and I can’t eat anything.”

Koller jokes that when she does order food from fair vendors, there’s a 50-50 chance she’ll have a reaction. But while dining at The Silly Yak, she and her boyfriend happily shared a corn dog, a funnel cake and blooming onion.

Koller is the customer that Rachael and Michael Krupski hoped to reach when they decided to launch The Silly Yak. Being left out of the social aspects of food is personal for them: Rachael, a 2021 alumna of GSE’s higher education and student affairs master’s program, was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2021. And as avid fair attendees, the couple saw a need for more gluten-free dining options.

“We’re definitely not a healthy stand,” said Rachael, assistant director of marketing and communications in UB’s School of Law. “We’re going with the classics, the iconic things that people who cannot consume gluten would not be able to get at the fair.”

That includes corn dogs, French fries, deep-fried Oreos and an original creation they call the brekky-dog. A brekky-dog consists of two breakfast sausages dipped in pancake batter, deep fried and served with maple syrup.

“It’s delicious, both savory and sweet,” Rachael said. “Everything you want mixed together. It’s just happiness. It’s so good.”

Michael, an entrepreneur and clinical assistant professor in UB’s School of Management, took on much of the initial work to find ways to enjoy many of their favorite foods—but in a gluten-free form.

Michael essentially grew up at the fair. He was a 4H participant and a member of the Erie County marching band. As an adult, his volunteer fire department is responsible for staffing the fair, and he is on the grounds all day most days during the run of the fair.

When the couple started dating, Rachael found herself at the fair many nights, too. After her diagnosis, she missed the deep-fried Oreos the most. “It was what I admittedly got nearly every single day at the fair,” she recalled.

In 2021, Michael offered to make the treat for her, as Nabisco had recently come out with a gluten-free Oreo. He brought a small deep fryer to the fair-based fire station and started playing around until he perfected the recipe.

“They were delicious,” said Rachael. “All the firefighters and their families tried it, and they could not tell the difference.”

“We poured our heart and soul into making this a reality,” Michael said. “It was a lot of sleepless nights talking through every detail, and luckily we are surrounded by family and friends who believe in us.”

The Krupskis spent the spring of 2023 developing recipes and perfecting their menu. In mid-July, The Silly Yak launched with a private event, testing the stand setup in the driveway of their Hamburg home. About 60 of their closest friends and family attended.

Although Michael grew up around his grandparents’ catering business, is an avid cook and has started a business before, this venture was very different.

“This is the first thing Michael and I have ever done like this,” Rachael said. “We are not in the restaurant industry. We’ve never done anything like this before. This is really our first crack at it.”

Things quickly fell into place for the couple, giving them confidence that they were on a good path with the business plan. After Rachael’s diagnosis, Michael would call her a “silly yak,” which is also the name of a children’s book about celiac disease. When the domain name “thesillyyak.com” became available for purchase, it felt like a sign that the time was right. They were then able to connect with the fair and secure a spot.

The reception The Silly Yak received at the fair proved the point. The stand was busy—sometimes with a wait time. And it received the Best New Food and Best Sweet & Treat awards in the fair's New Food Showdown, as voted on by the public.

Moreover, the WNY Gluten Free Diet Support Group on Facebook is full of posts about The Silly Yak. Rachael says they served many repeat customers who come to the fair just for their food and fielded lots of inquiries about purchasing gluten-free food outside of the fair.

Although their mission is to provide gluten-free options to those who need them, they want everyone to enjoy their food.

“We want to make food that’s so good you wouldn’t even know the difference,” Michael said.