A disease with the potential to do long-term damage may instead be the trigger for a successful small business for Simpson County resident Tiana Post.

Post and her husband, Richard Post, are launching on Thursday a business called Awaken Bakery Café, which will offer a strictly gluten-free menu of baked goods, sandwiches and other items at its location in downtown Bowling Green.

Diagnosed 12 years ago with the digestive and immune disorder called celiac disease that is triggered by eating foods containing the grain-based structural protein called gluten, Tiana Post has turned that ailment into an entrepreneurial opportunity.

“There wasn’t much gluten-free at the time (of her diagnosis), so I started baking my own,” Post said. “Now it’s starting to get a little more popular, but there’s still no fully gluten-free spots in Bowling Green.”

Now there will be.

Awaken is launching Thursday at 314 E. Main Ave., a 1,600-square-foot space that was formerly the site of Little Fox Bakery and then Knotty Pretzel.

Tiana Post said the business will be open from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. initially, with plans to eventually be open for breakfast and lunch.

“We’ll serve breakfast sandwiches on gluten-free bread, which is difficult to find,” she said. “We’ll have an espresso bar.”

Awaken’s lunch menu will include sandwiches on gluten-free paninis and baguettes.

The restaurant’s main attraction, though, may be its selection of cupcakes that includes strawberry, chocolate chip cookie dough and cinnamon roll flavors.

It was those gluten-free cupcakes, in fact, that led Tiana Post to consider the idea of opening a storefront. She began in January baking the cupcakes and selling them at the Community Farmers Market on Nashville Road, and the response from customers prompted her to expand her business.

“I started meeting person after person who thanked me for doing this (offering gluten-free products) because they couldn’t find it anywhere else,” she said. “I didn’t realize there was such a big need in Bowling Green.”

Tiana Post said celiac disease affects only about 2% of the population but that a much higher percentage have less-severe gluten intolerances that make a gluten-free diet desirable.

While Awaken caters to those with gluten intolerances, Tiana Post said many people without dietary restrictions have enjoyed her products at the farmers market.

“We’re gluten-free, but you can’t tell that we’re gluten-free,” she said. “We’ve gotten that feedback from customers. Anybody can come and enjoy it.”

Despite that response from customers, Tiana Post had no plan to open a storefront this soon.

“We had a three- to five-year plan to open a storefront, but I pray often and I heard God saying, ‘You’re going to open sooner,’ ” she said. “He provided this location very quickly.”

That Christian faith led Tiana Post to seek help from a nonprofit organization called Kingdom Women Connection, which helps Christian female entrepreneurs establish their businesses.

“Kingdom helped me a ton with business planning and with finding commercial real estate,” she said. “They can also connect you with mentors.”

Awaken also has a partnership with a nonprofit called Safe Passage that works to combat human trafficking through education and prevention programs aimed at young people.

Cara Starns, founder and president of Safe Passage, said her organization will hold events at Awaken to encourage residents to get involved in survivor mentorship, safety planning, advocacy and trauma-related interventions.

“We’ll do events and fundraisers for them and help them find people willing to be mentors,” Tiana Post said.

A California native who has lived in Simpson County for four years, Tiana Post for now is focused on starting the eatery that will include among its workforce her husband and two preteen children.

Richard Post, who continues to work as a home remodeler in the Nashville area but eventually hopes to devote his time to the Awaken business, said his wife’s transition from hobbyist to entrepreneur came sooner than expected.

“It came out of the blue,” he said. “It’s not something I expected for another year or so.

“But she has done well with the stuff she makes for the farmers market. Whatever she does, she does well.”

More information about Awaken Bakery can be found at the awakenbg.com website.

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.