Okay…to anyone who is shipping pizzas to customers out of town…we need your help.
After trying all of the gluten free crusts out there…and not being satisfied…I finally decided to manufacture the crust we make for our son with severe allergies.
Well, customers who belong to National Celiac Groups have been blogging and we are getting request for our crust…never imagined…to any of your shop owners who ship pizzas, I am in desperate need of a company that makes a box that will ship 6 or 12 12" crusts safely.
If you are shipping them with toppings on them you should freeze them. This is what I do. Then I use thermafreeze.com ice packs and send them with the 12"X12" flat fee priority box from USPS.
He’s talking about shipping entire pizzas and that price seems a little high for what you are wanting to do (just sending the crusts). Maybe that website has some packaging you can use though.
Good point, royster. Liability is the thing that scares me away from offering a gluten-free crust - and I’m not even talking about shipping it.
Did you guys read the article about gluten-free in the March PMQ issue? The risk of cross-contamination terrifies me. I see another place in town has started offering it and I’ve had numerous requests in the past, but I’d hate for an employee to make a mistake and “hurt” someone.
How do you deal with these concerns, mandyspizza? Are there different levels of the disease where trace amounts are less worrisome than for others? Or am I confusing Celiac with a flour allergy that is worse (like some peanut allergies can be)?
STOP BEING AFRAID…another somewhat know journal and misinformed contributor told us owners in essence to stay away from GF menu items.
Look…my 8 year old son suffers from many level 5 food allergies including tomato and wheat…which is different from Celiac Disease which is caused from the gluten within the wheat and other grains.
Why did we start serving GF products…my son. Why have we continued to sell GF products…the great success we have had. Now, we do not live in a perfect world and as such mistakes can happen for any reason. For instance, mushrooms can cause someone to go into shock due to a know, or unknown allergy. HOW MANY TIMES have I seen a mushroom in the pepperoni bin…and what if that would have been placed on someones pizza. The same goes for wheat.
As for us, we are unique in that we have a child and are highly educated on the dangers of wheat and or gluten. I AM the only one who makes the GF shells which are made and then frozen immediately after they are formed…and then shrink wrapped. I ONLY offer GF menu items in the store where “I” primarily work. NEXT…we open the package in a designated area and the SHELL NEVER touches a prep table (and we all wash our hands before this). We then have separate tools…screens…boxes…and labels.
Look…we do not live or work in a bubble and even if you buy one from the premade vendors…you still have to handle it properly at your location. WE SELL on average 150 – 200 of these per week. I have people that come from MILES away to just have our GF pizza due to the overwhelming response and reviews amongst the Celiac and Food Allergy groups here in Pittsburgh. In fact, the overall response has driven several local organic/healthy grocery stores to request my shells for their stores…which is going to be a feat in itself.
It took us TWO YEARS toi develop our crust which has been said is sooooo much better than Pizza Fusions. WHY…first ours is not just Gluten Free…it’s allergen free. Add to that we have been baking allergen free in our home for 8 years and understand what all of the other commercially available crusts do not…the righ balance of flours, and the water and oil.
BTW…we will have Gluten Free calzone as of next week.b
Anyhow, back to the original reason for this thread…thanks for the box info…no these are not complete pizzas…only shells…yES my insurance company has been made aware…Yes we have nutritional info and a UPC.
The message I got from the one negative article regardining NOT serving gluten free was that the deman did not outweigh the concerns…WRONG…sure we are making money, but when you see a child who has NEVER eaten pizza CRY the first time they do from excitement…that’s sometimes reason enough.
