Restaurant Survey Review Update

At the beginning of the year, we contacted 100 restaurant and hotel chain establishments based across the UK to ask if they were aware of coeliac disease and whether they offered gluten-free choices on their menus.

Sadly, despite repeated efforts by Coeliac UK, over a third, 40%, failed to respond.

However, interestingly of those who did reply (60 restaurant and catering chain establishments), the majority, 78% said that they offered gluten-free options, with 73% claiming that they train their catering staff in handling of allergens in food.

62% of those who responded said they were aware of the new FSA's guidelines on handling allergens in loose foods too.

Perhaps, like us, you are rather surprised by the number of chains that claim to have a working understanding of coeliac disease and gluten-free food and so we have decided to investigate further.  We are asking those who responded to provide a more detailed breakdown of their gluten-free options so that we can provide you with a clearer and more informed gluten-free map of the UK.

However, at this time, there some interesting developments worthy of note:

A range of dishes on Asian restaurant, Wagamama's menu can be adapted to be gluten-free; these are listed at www.wagamama.com/food_dietary.php

Toby Carvery and Harvester Restaurants also gained our attention for the work they are doing to provide the clear information and labelling of GF dishes. They also told us that although a number of their dishes were already gluten-free, such as, their rhubarb and apple crumble with ice cream - they are working to introduce new gluten-free dishes soon so we'll keep you updated.

Coeliac UK has not carried out any independent checks or verified the information provided by these establishments  as being authentic. So please as always check with the establishment   before you buy and most importantly, eat!

To read more about the Awareness Week campaign, please click here.