A growing number of Free From customers need our hospitality.
Emma Goss-Custard (pictured right), Founder and Director of Dorset based artisan bakery Honeybuns explains why making Free From foods centre stage in your café is a smart business decision for you and your customers.
Read on to discover how to create a delicious inclusive menu that will delight all your customers and keep them coming back for more….
Awareness of food allergies and sensitivities has exploded since the dark days when gluten free bread was only available on prescription. According to a recent report by the Foods Standards Agency, 30% of UK adults report having adverse reactions from eating certain foods. 6% were found to have a clinically confirmed food allergy equating to 2.4 million people. The number of sufferers is large and growing year on year. According to a University of Manchester report, the number of people in England diagnosed with a food allergy has doubled between 2008 and 2018.
Younger people are also more inclined to choose Free From options when eating out regardless of whether they are diagnosed or have an intolerance. Catering not only for allergy/intolerance sufferers but also for their friends and families is a huge opportunity to bring Free From foods out from the wings to centre stage of your menu.
A welcoming hug for all customers
Making customers feel welcome and included makes better business sense. For instance, coeliac customers report back to us that it’s the norm for them to still be offered “the gluten free cake” when really they would like to be having the same delicious cake as everyone else. Children can be especially hard done by with feelings of being left out. When heading out to eat, customers want to enjoy a shared experience together. At our own monthly pop up café, we witness first-hand the delight when coeliacs learn they can safely eat everything.
“What? I can even eat the Rocky Road?”
The majority of our café customers do not need gluten free but they are with a family member or friend who does. The fact that they can all join in and enjoy the treats makes for a loyal and very vocal following. I think this point is often lost when looking at just the bare stats in isolation – “Oh it’s only…% of the population….”.
Having gorgeous cakes (I’ll focus on sweet treats as it’s our area of expertise) front and centre of your tea and cake offer which just so happen to be dairy free, vegan and gluten free as well is achievable and worth a bit of work on the sourcing side. How much more welcoming for a customer to be told that the delicious sounding pecan, caramel and chocolate slice featured on the menu is Free From rather than being told, “I’ll go and get the gluten free biscuits for you”.
Steps to creating a more inclusive menu
- Scope out the allergies and dietary requirements you can realistically cater for. Again, using our pop up café as a working example, all of the cakes we use are gluten free, soy free and vegetarian. Half the range is vegan and dairy free. We cannot, however, offer anything nut free. It makes sense to ensure you have addressed more than one dietary need in your Free From items. Clear communication of what you can and cannot do is super important too.
- Find the most delicious Free From hero item – that aforementioned pecan, caramel and chocolate slice – and taste test it with your team against regular “non Free From” contenders. Your Free From options can be and need to be at least as good as the non Free From option. Share this blind tasting evidence with your customers. Provide choice rather than just one Free From option. Customers do not want to be side lined.
- Finding a brand or supplier that can also add other added benefits such as locally sourced ingredients, great eco credentials and/or an artisan ethos will ensure your Free From options have depth rather being perceived by the customer as simply a box ticking exercise.
Nothing beats home made….but by using artisan suppliers you can come pretty close
Small is beautiful
Food that’s thoughtfully made in small batches with impeccably sourced ingredients is the next best thing to home made. Smaller scale food producers can knock the spots of mass-scale manufacturers in terms of taste, quality and simplicity. They are expert at using simple, store cupboard ingredients.
Seeking out smaller suppliers of Free From foods will chime with customers who want to avoid ultra- processed foods. Just bear in mind any suppliers will need to verify any Free From claims.
More than just food
Customers eating out of home are seeking something memorable. My brother is still raving about a lightly spiced plum crumble he had at a National Trust café in Lincolnshire and that was 15 years ago….it just so happened to be gluten and dairy free too. Great food and a warm hug of welcome to every customer, regardless of their dietary restrictions, will make for fabulous foodie memories.
The devil is in the detail
- Check that suppliers state their foods are “Free From” and ask for their product specifications. These are usually just a straightforward one pager of info they can email across to you. We send them out all the time as a matter of course. You can then keep them on file and show customers.
- Seek out suppliers who either use official logos like The Vegan Society, the Crossed Grain logo or who can supply a product specification and other assurances.
- Visit suppliers if you can – getting an under the bonnet experience of their operation can be super helpful and interesting. You can not only be assured of the integrity of their Free From claims but you can share food stories with your customers. The more transparent and open to visits a supplier is the better.
- Wrapped Free From products are clearly easier to handle than unwrapped. You will need to ensure your team are up to date on allergy training. Our approach is to go above and beyond what is legally required. Working with a specialist food allergy training company in addition to the mandatory food handling booklets has helped us greatly. We also run spot check quizzes with our bakery team twice a year.
About Honeybuns
We are a small but perfectly formed artisan bakery based in Dorset. Specialising in wrapped slices and tray bakes, all our cakes are gluten free with half the range also vegan and/or dairy free. Customers include John Lewis Cafés, The Deep, and RHS Wisley. Accountability, Community and Excellence are our values. Customer delight is our overarching aim.
Our bakery is surrounded by our own nature reserve filled to bursting with bees, butterflies, wild flowers and our two resident donkeys.
Please visit honeybuns.co.uk, email emma@honeybuns.co.uk or call 01963 23597 for more information.
