If you own a cafe, restaurant, or pizzeria, you’ll have witnessed first-hand the recent upturn of interest in gluten-free food.
The gluten-free craze has well and truly exploded across Europe and North America, and is only set to grow further. Are you ready to meet the increased demand?
As many as 6% of the population suffers from celiac disease or some form of gluten sensitivity, and understandably, many choose a gluten-free diet to avoid triggering debilitating symptoms.
By choosing to enrich your menu with gluten-free products, you’re making a proactive choice to better understand and serve your customer base. In fact, offering gluten-free choices will open your door to those who find it difficult to eat away from home, and can help you build a loyal customer base for the future.
Thinking of adding gluten-free options to your menu? We can’t blame you.
Keep reading for some handy tips to guarantee gluten-free cooking, as well as insight into how you can improve your marketing to attract new, hungry customers.
How to Guarantee Gluten-Free Cooking
Have you considered offering gluten-free pizzas or other foods, simply by using special flours?
…if only it were that simple!
Of course, the use of gluten-free flour is an essential component, but alone this isn’t sufficient. Instead, you must follow strict preparation and service protocols to guarantee the absence of contamination. For example, the preparation of many ingredients (like pizza dough), requires the use of a separate work surface and dedicated tools.
You’ll also need a special oven for cooking. Even if you follow the HACCP protocol to the letter to avoid allergen contamination, but then cook the dough in your usual oven, your product won’t be gluten-free.
So what can you do?
A Professional Oven for Gluten-Free Cooking
A dedicated oven for gluten-free cooking is the only way to guarantee that your food production is free from gluten contamination.
We find many restaurateurs (and especially pizzeria owners) are apprehensive about making this investment, as they find gluten-free products to be of inferior quality when compared to their normal production.
‘It doesn’t cook well’, ‘it’s too soft’, or ‘it gets too dry’, are frequent complaints that we hear.
However, these issues aren’t necessarily due to your recipe – it could come down to the oven you’re using. Of course, this in itself is not always a simple issue to fix, and when buying an oven for gluten-free products there are usually three primary concerns:
- Limited kitchen space
- Limited budget for an additional oven
- Uncertainty regarding the volume of customer interest
A lack of options means that many places, especially pizzerias, feel forced to overstep their budget and invest significant capital into a brand new oven, or opt for a cheaper (but smaller and lower-quality) option. The latter often cooks pizza so badly that most end up regretting their purchase.
We heard these concerns and developed a solution…
The DAVID WORLD ovens – for gluten-free cooking, without compromise.
The DAVID WORLD ovens are small but reach high temperatures and guarantee uniform cooking, for any gluten-free product. The required power consumption is incredibly low, and the modular nature of the oven allows you to add additional cooking chambers at a later date, in line with customer interest. This is the most cost-efficient way to offer gluten-free products and means you don’t need to break the bank for a blind investment.
Spread The News!
With a good dough and a good oven, your gluten-free pizza won’t be overshadowed by your traditional offerings. With time, you’re sure to create a strong base of new customers from word-of-mouth alone. But why not help spread the word a little faster?
Here are our top tips:
- Ensure that within every menu and on every table, it is clear that you offer gluten-free food
- Update your digital marketing by officially classifying yourself as offering ‘gluten-free options’ on platforms such as Trip Advisor, Yelp, and The Fork
- Seek out specialist eating websites (e.g. www.FindMeGlutenFree.com) where you can advertise your gluten-free menu – these sites expose you to people who are interested in your products and are actively searching for a place to dine
Ultimately, offering gluten-free products puts you on the radar of more people, widens your target audience, and gives you a competitive advantage over other restaurateurs!
If you’d like to offer quality gluten-free products in your establishment, talk to one of our experts about your needs, and we’ll be happy to recommend the best oven specifically for you.