A few minutes of your time pretty-please - important market research regarding dietary requirements!

[missefficient]

I am interested to find out if you are happy with the amount of gluten-free foods available in our supermarkets and local cafes.

Can you answer any of the following questions to help me potentially fill a gaping gap in the market?

I would also appreciate a bit of background as to why you choose to eat free-from foods.

This covers food intolerances in general, not just gluten.

I would also love to hear from vegetarians and vegans.

Many thanks in advance!

- Do you find enough variety at your local supermarkets when it comes to free-from foods?

- Is it easy for you to dine out locally without having to call in advance to make sure it won't be a wasted journey?

- If you have a busy lifestyle, do you find it easy to rustle up free-from meals? Would you benefit from a local business who could supply homemade main meals like lasange or family sized desserts that you could heat at your convenience?

- If you avoid gluten, would you feel reassured knowing that all produce had been made in a kitchen that has never seen (or ever will see) gluten through its door?

- If you have a lactose intolerance or are vegetarian (or have another dietary requirement), would you feel comfortable knowing that your food had been made on the same premises as foods containing the offending item, but that every care possible had been taken to ensure that cross contamination was not an issue?

- With regards to coffee, cake and other light foods like sandwiches and pastries, would you be keen to enjoy them in situ as well as to take away?

- Also, if you do NOT have any dietary requirements, would you be put off eating from such an establishment?

Anything else you would like to add will be gratefully received.

Thanks again!

[Robert Poste's Child]

Are you by any chance related to the previous recent thread on this topic, and will this one be followed by another under a new name next week promoting a new local business?

[missefficient]

No! I'm sorry - I am merely seeing what's out there, what's not, and whether I may be able to persue a dream of mine without it going belly up! My diet has changed as has my sons, and suddenly we are in a whole new world of food and there's not much out there. I love baking and cooking, they are passions of mine - I would love to be able to put them to much better use.

[missefficient]

I'm not sure which thread you mean - I will keep looking later. And I do so wish it was that easy - I wish I could pop a business up next week! I keep dipping my toe in the water, gaining knowledge, perfecting recipes and so on - but I want to jump in knowing I'm going to fill a gap, not add to the mass.

[Robert Poste's Child]

Ignore my cynicism - attack of forum fatigue. This section attracts a lot of covert market-making.

[RosieH]

Yep, there's plenty of gluten free out there - it's a $10.5 billion industry, and, according to Mintel, "Three quarters (75%) of consumers who do not have celiac disease or sensitivity to gluten eat these foods because they believe they are healthier, despite the lack of any scientific research confirming the validity of this theory."

If you're gluten intolerant, or just looking to profit from fad dieters, that's cool. But there's plenty out there - not sure why you're not able to find it.

[Alan Medic]

If there's a problem with your post missefficient, in my view it's because you are looking for answers to questions which require people to read an awful lot. A simple resume of what you would like to do/offer and maybe some numbered questions may get a better response.

That said I'm a veggie but don't actually need anyone to cater for that. However there may be busier people out there who have the funds to be able to afford to pay for someone else to cater for their needs.

Good luck with your venture.

[missefficient]

I do very much appreciate your suggestion Alan Medic - I know it was long-winded.

RosieH, I am very interested to know more and will be researching this in depth. I have found many free-from goods in Sainsburys, for example. But they are breads, cakes, cereals, dried pasta, highly preserved sauces or convenience food like nuggets and pizzas.

I suffer with a medical condition and have started following a low FODMAP diet which cuts out an awful lot of things, gluten being one of them. My son, who is on the autistic spectrum, is on a very strict gluten and casein free diet. We have both benefitted greatly from our drastic changes in diet, but still find it unbelievably hard eating out due to cafe and restaraunt staff being uneducated in the importance of avoiding cross-contamination. We have seen ladels of pizza sauce being used between both gluten and gluten-free pizza bases. Buttered knives being used for both dairy and non-dairy spreads. Even using the same toaster for GF and non-gf bread can have an effect of the consumer. Celiac disease is a serious condition, and being "glutened" can have serious consequences.

People with allergies and intolerances have to go to extreme lengths in order to ensure that what they are eating is safe for their consumption. I hate dining out as I have to call ahead, or even more embarrassingly, request a breakdown of the menu when we arrive. Even then, the food is analysed and dissected to double and triple check that no flour has been used to dust the potato's or butter smeared on the corn.

Can I ask if vegetarians feel the same way about their vegetarian mince being sauted in the same pan that moments ago contained beef mince? I'm not vegetarian but I'm pretty sure it would flip my stomach if I were.

I am not inviting a debate, I am just very eager to learn peoples views on something that has become so much a way of our lives here in my home.

[Huguenot]

Seems to me you have a bit of a mix of information sought, information being offered, some broad assumptions and the odd bit of proselytizing in your request missefficient.

It might make your business easier to plan if you separated some of the issues. Important in this context is whether you believe and/or you will position gluten free diets to be a clinical or lifestyle choice. The numbers have an influence on this:

The first thing to decide is whether you want to offer retail and/or catering facilities, and the second as to whether you want to offer in store or home delivery/eCommerce services?

This will probably have a dramatic impact on your potential market size and profitability.

For example - current estimates place celiac disease at somewhere between 1 in 2000 and 1 in 100 of the general population.

So in ED (population 5,000) you've likely got between 5 to 50 genuine sufferers.

That's pretty small for a successful catering business, so either you need to ensure that celiac sufferers will drive a sizeable distance for your service (and thus grow your catchment area), or you need to do some sort of home delivery options.

Likewise, with such a small market you'd need sufferers to eat very regularly at your restaurant to make it work. In this case you'd need to ignore Ramsay's advice for limited profitable menus, and try to create extensive flexibility and variability in dishes that might make the restaurant unwieldy or unprofitable.

Either way, a questionnaire on the ED forum won't be able to give you numbers on sufferers as it's not a valid cross-section of your market. (The lack of responses would support this)

Alternatively you could try and pursue a marketing strategy that persuaded fad dieters or similar suggestible groups that the gluten free diet was important to pursue for other reasons than suffering celiac disease. Your reference to autism and gluten free diets may be a reflection of your convictions here, as a medical connection has never been made but the claims persist.

I'm sure that the popularity of homeopathic and alternative therapy discussions on the forum tell you all you need to know about this market in ED.

If this was your strategy, then again, I don't believe that a questionnaire will help in this: you'd be better to invite a guest speaker to a community event and build your audience base from there.

I think it's probably unreasonable to base your questions about gluten free diets on vegetarianism unless you are genuinely try to draw parallels between those who are making diet choices after suffering clinical diseases and those who are making lifestyle choices.

There seems to be a wide spectrum of vegetarians, from those who do it from budget or from general perceptions of healthiness, to those who do it for moral reasons, to clinical reasons, to those who do it as an extension of some sort of obsessive/compulsive disorder.

It's likely that how vegetarians feel about meat being with 20km of them or their kitchen utensils depends upon where exactly they sit in that spectrum.

Hence if you are suggesting that gluten free is a lifestyle as opposed to a clinical decision then I'm sure you will have the same spectrum of customers - being too extreme on the subject may well put casual customers off. It's a thin line between being a niche supplier and being a weirdo.

Either way, once you make gluten free diet a liefstyle choice to grow your business, you lose the moral high ground and open yourself to piss-taking on the forum.

If you wanted to find out how people felt about that you'd need to be a lot more open in your questionnaire: the phrase 'I'm pretty sure it would flip my stomach if I were' is leading and presumptuous. Not every vegetarian is in the extreme zone.

(Just on that subject, I wonder how many vegetarians are homeopathic remedy enthusiasts - has it occurred to them that the more they try and avoid meat, the more powerful they make it??)

[maxxi]

See, now that's just the kind of pithy reposte we've missed around here Huge B)

[uncleglen]

coeliac please

[missefficient]

Thank you for your "pithy reposte" Huguenot, and for some helpful statistics. Can I ask if any if you suffer with COELIAC disease, IBS or any other food related condition that affects your life day to day? If such an establishment is likely to be frowned upon, I would like to know if it would be by fellow sufferers, or those who are lucky enough to have a full bill of health and can eat whatever takes their fancy. The numbers may well be against me in that case, and this is all that I was trying to find out.

[minder]

Recently went into the new Costa's at Camberwell. Was a bit shocked at their prices for a sandwich and an apple juice but that's another story. On the way out picked up a choc chip bar and was asked by lady behind counter if we were gluten-free. I said no but this chocolate bar was gluten-free.

[steveo]

Welcome back Huge, you were missed

[Huguenot]

Apologies uncleglen, my iPad spells American. Interestingly it also insists there is a word 'glutent' but not 'gluten'. What do you make of that?

Missefficient, I do have an irritable bowel, occasionally downright pugnacious. I guess that since IBS is not a diagnosed condition, but a description of an ailment that has no diagnosis, then I must have that.

Something like 1 in 5 people suffer an irritable bowel at some point in their life, so I am not alone :)

Gluten intolerance is one of the faddish culprits bandied around at the moment, but I'm also aware that there is no agreed medical evidence of the link.

The most popular theoretical physical culprits in the medical world are as yet unidentified amoebic or bacterial infections.

Having said that the most likely cause is currently thought to be psychological, as it invariably seems to flare up in people who have other issues such as stress.

Given my generally irritable disposition, it seems positively likely that my bowel is simply following suit to spite me.

One of the most effective cures for psychological disorders is a placebo - so it may yet prove that your catering services provide an incredibly effective solution for the citizens of ED ;-)

Wouldn't that be the irony!

[missefficient]

In that case, you could benefit from a gluten-free diet Huguenot. Low FODMAP has worked wonders for me. It is also said to reduce anxiety. You may sleep a little better!

[aquarius moon]

So glad that an irritable bowel brought Huguenot back!

Being veggie myself (not because of, in spite of) I've suffered from IBS for 30 years.

Always tolerated gluten ok. The main culprits being excess fibre, excess dairy (the worst) & excess stress.

[missefficient]

So aquarius moon - you would be overjoyed to find a supplier of dairy-free quiche (unless you hate quiche, that is)? :)

It seems I have found a missing person. My post has been productive after all!

[missefficient]

Also, to minder. I am a fan of Costa Coffee, but have spent less time there recently due to said chocolate chip brownies and cherry bakewells being the only food option for me. Oh, and a fruit salad. I'm not sure on the fruit and coffee combination but will give it a go next time I visit. Such a shame everything on offer is so highly processed and full of sugar. It wouldn't hurt to have some gf bread and dairy free spread on hand. And something that doesn't contain nut traces!

[aquarius moon]

missefficient Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> So aquarius moon - you would be overjoyed to find

> a supplier of dairy-free quiche (unless you hate

> quiche, that is)? :)

> It seems I have found a missing person. My post

> has been productive after all!

I would love a dairy-free quiche, dairy-free cheese sauce etc.

But could I afford them? Probably not because manufacturers seem to think that if you are in the minority you have to be rich or go without.

I'd sooner go without.

And I'm happy to have meat within viewing distance of my vegetarian food as long as it's not still alive enough to breath on it or touch it.

[jacks09]

Miseeficient - Where will you be basing yourself? I have a couple of ideas for small food businesses that may need occasional use of premises - shared?

[david_carnell]

Missefficient - has it occurred to you that it just isn't practicle or economical for restaurants and cafes to stock all of these things?

GF Bread

Dairy free spread

Nut free everything

It would cost them too much, would take up space, be time consuming to use and actually is only of benefit to a tiny number of people.

While I sympathise with your plight to some extent, shouting at everyone and demanding snacks that are suited to your specific dietary needs just isn't the way forward.

[missefficient]

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Missefficient - has it occurred to you that it

> just isn't practicle or economical for restaurants

> and cafes to stock all of these things?

>

> GF Bread

> Dairy free spread

> Nut free everything

>

> It would cost them too much, would take up space,

> be time consuming to use and actually is only of

> benefit to a tiny number of people.

>

> While I sympathise with your plight to some

> extent, shouting at everyone and demanding snacks

> that are suited to your specific dietary needs

> just isn't the way forward.

My point exactly! Ready standing businesses and franchises have no time/money/dedication to be able to cater for the minority.

And for the record, I do not shout or demand :)