If you`ve had the opportunity to meet me, you know that I have no problem with rewarding. You also know that I don`t like it when people lie, cheat, slander and think only of themselves. And I dislike it even more when it is done for money. In such cases, I have no problem making special stops the day before 6 December. And oh, there was plenty of such stops in the world. Let me tell you about one in Vienna, where my Devil and Krampus went with me and where we were joined by other helpers. And I have to say, even though they are hideous creatures, they had a lot to do to keep their stomachs from turning from the story about GlutenFreeX and VegaNana.
The GlutenFreeX
Although GlutenFreeX isn`t the main character in this story, the same applies to their supporting role as it usually does to the movies – the whole thing simply wouldn`t work properly without them.
GlutenFreeX has two owners and goes by different names:
- GlutenFreeX (gluten-freex.at)
- VeganX (veganx.at, previously www.veganana.at)
- http://www.gluten-freex.at / VEGANE Konditorei Wien (https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ecx85FdJHxeJSMh6A)
- GlutenFreeX Bäckerei & Konditorei (https://maps.app.goo.gl/84SJ94DgCv4cYvtz6)
They all refer to the establishment at Nussdorferstraße 43 and for the sake of clarity I will refer to them as GlutenFreeX.
For a while, this company was also known as Veganana and managed the eponymous Austrian website. This name is related to the main character in our story - the VegaNana bakery in Bratislava, which was run by the baker Katarína Podhorová and was officially registered to her daughter, Alexandra Podhorová. Are we getting a bit complicated? Don`t worry, Krampus will explain later. For now, suffice it to say that the Podhorova`s caused three former workers owe 17 252.30 euros in wages and other financial demands to three former workers in Bratislava. So why did we visit GlutenFreeX, you may ask? There are several reasons.
Gluten-free, vegan bakery... Really?
One of the GlutenFreeX reviews on Google Maps states:
"It calls itself a vegan patisserie, but not even half of the products are vegan? It should rather be called a gluten-free patisserie, it has little in common with a vegan one..."
What does the owner say? This:
"Out of the 50 products on offer, 40 are vegan... many gluten-free and vegan... all vegetarian... so that has a lot to do with it... :-)"
I have to say that Krampus and the Devil and I were left speechless after reading these lines. Even in hell, it is now generally understood that when you want to devalue the vegan idea, you lump it together with vegetarianism.
The question is, what to think about the fact that they call themselves gluten-free? The owner himself claims that they offer "many gluten-free" products. He doesn`t say all. The devil was curious and checked more Google Maps reviews. He found this:
"Good taste, except for the Punschkrapfen doughnut, which was too dry. The cinnamon bun was very tasty and the poppy seed croissant too! Unfortunately, I wasn`t feeling well the next day. I have celiac disease and I`m really careful when eating. I definitely didn`t eat anything else that day that was contaminated in any way. Maybe I`ll try it again sometime. I wouldn`t eat in the establishment itself, it doesn`t feel very welcoming and after asking around, it turns out they don`t have a restroom for customers, although there are seats."
And the owner`s reacted:
"Unfortunately, we don`t have any Punschkrapfen in our range and never have. We also bake exclusively gluten-free, i.e. nothing with wheat, and we have never had any complaints as there can be no contamination. Maybe you`ve got something mixed up?"
The reviewer didn`t give in and updated her review for the owner, who indicated that she was actually making things up, and added the following:
"I meant slices of "Punschkrapfen" cake! And I didn`t mix anything up."
There was no further response (but in a moment I will mention one statement from the other owner, who praises a cake with gluten).
And as for the Punschkrapfen cake, GlutenFreeX does indeed sell it in the store. Coincidentally, such a cake is also baked by the baker Katarína from VegaNana, whose baking practices have been questionable in the past in terms of contamination. Moreover, only few people know about her current baking conditions and it is possible that GlutenFreeX does not have the necessary information either.
And as far as baking is concerned, ask yourself this question with us: "Is it fair to say you bake when you`re not baking anything and you`re just selling products from people who actually bake?"
Relationship between GlutenFreeX and VegaNana
While the Devil was researching reviews on Google Maps, Krampus noticed that the owners of GlutenFreeX said a bunch of nonsense on Facebook as well. Some of the pearls have already been published by the Priama Akcia union, and some have been commented on by random people. We were intrigued by this post by one of the GlutenFreeX owners from Thursday 24.10.2024 in the Facebook group Vegan Wien 2.0:
"to clear up any misunderstandings... we worked with veganana bratislava, we bought cakes from them as the Austrian company GlutenfreeX, we had nothing to do with the management of the company, nothing at all. Back then we just thought the name Veganana was cool and we secured an Austrian domain. Then there were these accusations that this Bratislava company allegedly did not pay the employees, we then asked the police and the court in Bratislava and also Veganana Bratislava and we were assured everywhere that no, there were no accusations and no proceedings. And we assumed that in Austria, and hopefully also in Slovakia, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. The former head of Veganana Bratislava told us that the campaign of this primai alkcia group was financed by one of its competitors in order to get rid of a competitor, but we have no proof of that either. So we ended the cooperation anyway, because we from Austria can hardly interfere and we do not want to interfere... and so we give up the name veganana and now we call ourselves VeganX like GlutenfreeX, and the website veganana . at changes to veganx, because we are not involved in this Bratislava company, we just took cakes from them for a while. For now we have our own baker. I hope I was able to help.”
A day later, there was a direct response to his post:
"Just last Friday you had cakes from Katarína Podhorova, the baker of VegaNana, in your shop. Are you saying that you no longer have Katarína Podhorova`s cakes in your shop or on the veganx.at website and that you will no longer be offering them?"
And again, there was no further response.
We found further evidence of the connection between the baker Katarína Podhovorá and GlutenFreeX. GlutenFreeX offers the same packages of Christmas pastries that she bakes. And veganx.at website also features the same cakes and photos of products taken from VegaNana (some even on plates with the VegaNana logo).
We are getting the feeling that GlutenFreeX think that people are so simple-minded that it is enough to simply tell them that the supplier`s name on the paper is different and they will stop wondering who actually bakes the products and if it happens to be the person who caused the huge debt. GlutenFreeX has another minus point for such an insulting attitude towards people.
And now, let`s sum up some facts:
- It is questionable if GlutenfreeX is an exclusively gluten-free store.
- GlutenfreeX is not an exclusively vegan shop.
- GlutenfreeX continues to buy products from Katarína Podhorová (despite claims of ending the collaboration) and is misleading people about where they come from.
- GlutenfreeX leaves behind a sizable carbon footprint by importing fresh baked goods several times a week from abroad. The devil is ultimately fine with that, of course, but he still couldn`t help remarking, "Are there really no suitable gluten-free or vegan suppliers in Vienna?" Moreover, the prices of the products are really exorbitant - for example, in the case of gluten-free bread imported from Slovakia it is twice the price as in the country of origin.
Fake reviews
The devil has a nose for scams and was the first to notice that in recent days very dubious reviews have started appearing on Google Maps praising the shop at Nussdorferstraße 43.
These reviews began to appear in large numbers in response to criticism directed at GlutenFreeX. For example, after one critical review, five positive ones came within a couple of hours, and these were people from the circle of friends of the baker Katarína! And how did the owner react? To a negative review written in German, which didn`t even mention shopping in the store, he wrote:
"We know which competitor it comes from) You`ve never been here... please send a receipt for what you supposedly bought from us."
Did he investigate if the shop was visited by those 5 people from Bratislava who gave a 5-star rating for the cakes (including a photographed package of Christmas pastries from the baker Katarína) and some of who wrote their review in Slovak language? Did he ask for a receipt from them? No. What he did do, however, was to add the same reaction about the competition and the receipt under other critical reviews.
The Devil wanted to show off and surprise us with one more thing, although at this point we were expecting anything. When he read us the following "review" from a few days ago, we just had to laugh, because its author is one of the owners of GlutenfreeX:
"Delicious, tasty vegan sweets that are hand-made. Many of them are also available in gluten-free versions. Fair prices 1 vegan cake for 4,90eur! I was quite surprised by the deluxe doughnut - vegan with gluten for 3,90!!"
But it`s not really funny. Pretending that I`m a random visitor genuinely excited about an amazing offer, when in fact I own the business, just isn`t right.
There have also been reviews that criticize the quality of the products and the price, and even in these cases the company`s responses had little to do with decency:
"I was delighted when this completely gluten-free bakery opened. I also tried the whole range. The breads are tasty - but the price/performance ratio absolutely does not match the quality! I know that gluten-free products are very expensive. As a celiac, I am unfortunately unwilling to accept such exorbitant prices. However, sandwiches made without love for almost 7 EUR (online delivery) are absolutely exorbitant! The doughnuts were barely filled with jam and could not be eaten in the evening. I have given the bakery a few chances, but that`s the end of it for me - I can do without these overpriced products, which, in my opinion, are absolutely not worth the price!"
And the reaction? Selective as usual:
"Thank you, we know which competitor it comes from) Please post the invoice of what was allegedly purchased from us.. sandwiches cost 4,90.-."
Other people also complained about the dry and overpriced pastries. This is not surprising, since not all products are imported on a daily basis. However, the owner does not admit to this. Instead, he accused the person who expressed an opinion and clearly wrote that it was an online order (so the price could have been higher) of fraud, thus basically brushing off the whole point.
VegaNana - vegan exploitation and hypocrisy
The time has come to introduce the main characters of our story. However, we will not go into details, as these have already been taken care of by the Priama Akcia union in several articles on their website (you can check German and English translations here: https://www.priamaakcia.sk/kategoria/english). Let`s just mention the latest information.
I will start with the person who is legally responsible for the exploitation of the former workers and the huge debt (in addition to which she owes €4,469.37 in social security and €2,983.35 in health insurance as of 20.11.2024). Despite the alleged termination of her cooperation with the baker Katarína, she has not terminated her self-employment called "Alexandra Podhorová - Veganana". And how is she currently living? Judging by her Instagram, she still likes to present herself as a person who wants to attract attention and surrounds herself with expensive things. So far, she has not shown any effort to get involved in the payment of money owed, nor has she resolved the administrative irregularities related to employing people.
And now our main character. Baker Katarína Podhorová. She may be skillful in the kitchen, but she uses fraudulent practices that are despicable. There will be no reward in her case either. She built her entire business on living off the work of others and was neither able nor willing to pay the agreed money for it. Her primary responsibility for the debt lies in the fact that she was the one who had control over the hiring, wage agreements, work organization, payment of wages, and other matters crucial to the day-to-day running of the business.
She is currently baking with her long-time collaborator Patrik Gregorovič and continues to work with GlutenFreeX. Her cakes and most recently also the packages with Christmas pastries are delivered to them to Vienna. Krampus made sure to provide screenshots as well.
VegaNana shares a video of a her collaborator with the Christmas package:
VeganX is promoting a Christmas package from VegaNana (you can find it under the name Endlich da!! Unser veganes Weihnachtsgebäck, mit Liebe):
For GlutenFreeX, this collaboration is clearly profitable, as they are fiercely defending the baker wherever they can. However, from what I have seen so far, I don`t fully understand this behaviour. The thousands of euros owed by VegaNana for the work don`t just disappear. The former workers know that agreements are to be kept and they will keep asking for their money until they get it. If the profiteers on the side of the baker and GlutenFreeX don`t care that this casts a bad light on them, well...
May the coming holidays be about helping each other
And not just the holidays, but also our daily actions. Let`s show people who think mainly of their own benefit and cannot accept responsibility that we know about them and that their actions bother us. And that we will draw attention to them until they stop.
But more importantly, let us not forget that stories like this are primarily about people who suffer because of mistreatment and exploitation. It is not an isolated story, but you can influence how it ends. For example, by posting a simple link on Google Maps (here https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ecx85FdJHxeJSMh6A and/or here https://maps.app.goo.gl/84SJ94DgCv4cYvtz6) with comments like "I don`t recommend the company because of their behaviour", "I`m not saying they don`t have tasty cakes, but the approach to veganism is not to my taste", "Not worth a visit", etc.
You can also post a review on HappyCow (https://www.happycow.net/reviews/glutenfreex-vienna-385903 or Tripadvisor https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g190454-d28247005-Reviews-Glutenfreex_Bakery_And_Patisserie-Vienna.html). You can also post under their Instagram posts, although they are quickly deleting critical voices there.
Speaking up means contributing to the solution. In this case, the Devil, Krampus and I agreed that neither GlutenFreeX nor VegaNana deserve any reward. That belongs to the former VegaNana employees.
GlutenFreeX is a shady business and is considerably assisting the baker, Katarína Podhorová, to get away with everything without paying her debt. And that is not a course of action that can be agreed with. We would therefore like to appeal to all good-hearted people to support Jana, Laura and Veronika in their efforts to get their wages paid.
St. Nicholas, the Devil and Krampus
Vienna 5.12.2024
