Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/116674
Pastas of all shapes and sizes are going gluten-free too, with offerings from DePuma's, Maninis and Viviana in high demand at retail. Tate's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, San-J Marinade and Becoming More Foodservice Friendly an all-purpose baking mix from Bella Gluten-Free. The company's Restaurants and caterers would be remiss to resist adapting to this website, tasteguru.com, also offers an informative section (dubbed growing market. According to the Gluten & Allergen Free Expo "Magazine") with original articles on the gluten-free lifestyle as well website, more than 60 percent of hospitality and foodservice providas recipes and products. ers consider gluten-free guests a profitable market. Though a growIn May 2012, online retailer Fresh Direct launched a gluten- ing area of interest for many foodservice professionals, Cafferty says, free section with more than 500 offerings. The online channel it's still a hit-or-miss arena. debuted with a big social media push with both gluten-free man"We are seeing more restaurants offering gluten-free items," ufacturers and consumers tweeting about Cafferty notes. "But the question is, are they their favorite products. "We looked at how doing it safely and avoiding cross-contaminamany people were searching gluten-free on tion?" Cafferty calls out one restaurant, Da Vegan restaurant Beyond our site, and the numbers were big," says Luciano's in Chicago—which has a separate Sushi received so many Alicia Galbo, Fresh Direct's associate catgluten-free kitchen to make menu items like requests that it replaced all egory merchant of grocery, frozen and dairy. pizza, pasta and cannoli—that is doing it noodles and wrappers with "It definitely warranted its own merright. "Four of the owners' seven children chandised category," adds John Leeman, have celiac, so they get it," she explains. gluten-free alternatives. chief marketing officer. More than 1,000 In Riverhead, N.Y., chef and owner customers search for gluten-free items on Dee Muma of Dark Horse Restaurant has the site every week, about 1.3 percent of Fresh replaced all her conventional flour with her own gluten-free blend Direct's total customer base. Products merchandised in this sec- stored in a separate part of her kitchen. "This way our gluten-free tion include those that are certified gluten-free, dairy alternatives customers can have things they feel they have been deprived of, like that are promoted as gluten-free and products with a "gluten- breaded chicken cutlets, calamari and pasta, and not have to worry," free" claim from the manufacturer. Leeman says the most traf- she explains. Muma says her gluten-free advertising has been a bit of ficked categories are Snacks, which include such brands as Food a "whisper campaign"; word of mouth is what draws people in. "Our Should Taste Good, Pirate Brands and Popchips, and Bread & menu says, 'We speak GF,' but I don't shout it from the rooftop." Baking (including cake mixes and flours), such as Bob's Red Mill Guy Vaknin, chef and owner of Beyond Sushi, a vegan sushi and Enjoy Life. spot in New York, received so many requests for gluten-free menu 32 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com (continued on p. 53)