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Creating Gluten-Free Menu Appeal for Customers
Published: November 1, 2024
Explore our tips for gluten-free offerings and to attract allergen-conscious customers.
Serving gluten-free menu options is also a smart way to appeal to the growing number of consumers who seek gluten-free options as a lifestyle choice.
A Strong Opportunity for Foodservice
Today, offering gluten-free items is cost of entry for operations that wish to remain competitive. “Gluten Free” has grown on menus by more than 30% over the past four years and currently boasts a 42.7% total menu penetration—with its highest incidence among American (20.5%) and Pizza (15.7%) menus.1
Take Steps to Avoid Cross-Contact
When introducing gluten-free menu items, it’s important to know that food can only be considered allergen-free if it’s prepared in a contaminant-free space. Cross-contact occurs when an unsafe food (the allergen) mixes with a safe food (the food that does not contain the allergen). The cooking process does not remove allergens from food.
Because customers with Celiac Disease or severe allergies can be affected by even trace amounts of an allergen, you’ll want to take the necessary steps to help prevent cross-contact.
Five Ways to Help Prevent Cross-Contact
1.
Use separate utensils and dishes for gluten-free foods. Many manufacturers offer purple-colored utensils you can use to signify “allergen-free”
2.
If you need to cook several foods, cook gluten-free foods first
3.
Keep gluten-free foods covered and away from other foods
4.
If you make a mistake, start over, as you can’t remove an allergen from a meal. Even trace amounts of cross-contact make a food unsafe
5.
If you touch an allergen, wash your hands with soap and water before you touch anything else. Hand sanitizer or water by itself will not remove allergens
Source: FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education). May 2024 foodallergy.org
Establish Kitchen Safety Zones
To further avoid cross-contact when preparing gluten-free items, it’s helpful to identify the “hot spots” in your restaurant—areas that are vulnerable to contamination during daily meal prep.
“Storage areas, toasters, cooktops, grills, ovens, sinks and even your kitchen’s window or pass area are places where contamination can occur,” says Brooks Cameron, Senior Executive Chef, Tyson Foodservice Culinary Team. “Cross-contact also takes place with frying oil, so the oil you use to make breaded foods cannot be used to make gluten-free foods. Preparing items in a convection oven is a great way to get around the hazards that can occur with other cooking methods.”
To help you set up safety zones in your kitchen, BeyondCeliac.Org has created a “Hot Spots in the Restaurant” reference tool which you can download from their website.
Creating Flavorful Gluten-Free Menu Items
After you’ve committed to a safe prep environment, here’s where the fun begins: gluten-free menu creation.
“For an exceptionally flavorful, gluten-free dining experience, a product like our Tyson® Gluten Free Chicken Tenderloins is a great place to start,” says Chef Cameron. “Chicken is naturally gluten-free—but adding a breading, especially a scratch-made breading, adds a bit of complexity and risk. So you’ll want to make sure you’re choosing gluten-free foods from a producer you can trust.”
In addition to being free from the top 9 allergens recognized by the FDA, the Tyson® Gluten Free Chicken Tenderloins score really well on flavor—preferred over the top competitor (by volume2) for gluten-free breaded chicken over 70% of the time.3
With their premium texture and the full flavor customers expect from breaded chicken, Tyson® Gluten Free Chicken Tenderloins make it easy to bring a deliciously satisfying option for patrons looking for gluten-free options.
Educate Your Staff on the Importance of Gluten-Free
“Making sure both back-of-house and front-of-house staff understand not only why these items are important to customers but also how your operation can deliver on the promise of gluten-free options is an essential part of the process,” adds Cameron.
BOH staff should be made aware of the importance of careful creation, while FOH should be educated on all the steps your operation takes to ensure your guests’ safety—so they can give this assurance to your customers.
Allergens Training from ServeSafe and GREAT Gluten-Free Foodservice Training from BeyondCeliac.org are valuable resources available to help your staff best accommodate patrons with food allergies.
Appeal to the Important Allergen-Free Segment
Adding a gluten-free tenderloin offering to your menu can help increase traffic at your operation and also can help with profitability, as customers seeking gluten-free foods are willing to pay more for them. It also helps you serve a community that doesn’t always have a lot of options—giving you another strong way to stand out from the competition.
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Sources
1 Datassential, MenuTrends, July 2024
2 NPD SupplyTrack VA Chicken L12 Mo ending April ’24, excludes large chains >250 units and operator label
3 Tyson Foods Primary Consumer Research, May 2024
