Caring for your gluten-free customers
Help your gluten-free customers have a pleasant experience by making it easy for them to communicate their needs.
Clear awareness about the ingredients used in the dishes on your menu gives confidence to customers on a gluten-free diet. If your dishes are made from fresh ingredients then you will know exactly what the meal contains. Since catering packs of ingredients or ready-made foods must be clearly labelled with all deliberate ingredients, it should be feasible for you to know what meals are suitable.
The easiest way to label your menu is to put a simple GF alongside a dish to indicate it is gluten-free. Don't forget that a gluten-free soup served with an ordinary bread roll or croutons is not gluten-free!
It's also important to make sure that all your staff are fully trained and know how to advise customers on making a safe, gluten-free choice.
La Tasca takes the gluten-free opportunity seriously
La Tasca, a national chain of Spanish restaurants currently featured on our online venue guide, 'Eating Out Without', provides those on a gluten-free diet with clear menu advice on gluten-free items. By avoiding contamination and ensuring their staff are well trained, the restaurant chain is a good case study in how to label a menu.
One coeliac customer was very pleased with her experience at La Tasca:
'Finding it hard to really find gluten-free options on the menu (and also the chance of stomach ache after, if you got it wrong) took some of the enjoyment out of an evening out and, more often than not, led to us to not bothering. Last Saturday, we arranged baby sitters, and travelled to the Trafford Centre, Manchester, after reading about La Tasca.
I just wanted to let you now what a wonderful evening we had. The meals were clearly labelled and the staff very helpful. Lovely restaurant, great food, thoroughly recommended. Big thank you.'
Contact us to find out how you can advertise on our venue guide 'Eating Out Without', our website for venues catering for customers requesting a gluten-free diet.
You can get more information about catering for allergies and intolerances from the Food Standards Agency
