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Gluten Free Bases

We are selling about 4 per week at this satge but every week there is someone new trying them. I think in about 6 months time we will do about 10 per week which is fine for us, so long as we know someone is now able to eat our pizzas where they couldn’t before.

Dave
 
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I think for us to get into this category, I need to have just one size of pizza on offer and that it should be a 14" so the price gets up to where it makes sense to deliver etc. I would prefer to work with a doughball over a ready made skin. Has anyone seen a GF doughball product of about 15-20 Oz?
 
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Life would be perfect if GF crust were the same as regular pizza dough.

To wish for a doughball is a dream for even me who makes his own GF dough. There are some intrinsict problems with a “dough-ball.”
  1. GF dough is NOTHING like what we are use to from a doughball perspective…at best if you have mastered the recipe it is more like an apple pie crust which can take several times to roll…it rips…re-ball…re-roll.
  2. FOOD SAFETY…a ready-made crust offers a safer alternative. For us, we make the shells and shrinkwrap to prevent cross-contamination. You now want to use a doughball…and where will you ensure that this ball will be rolled out with the least chance of cross-contamination.
  3. The actual dough again…some peoples recipes are more like pancake batter runny and wet. Some are like tortillas…thin and fragile.
So, in all honesty, a doughball would be great but the benefits of a ready-made crust is far greater. Trust me, I strongly feel that our success in developing our crust (two years)…finding the perfect manufacturing solution…finding the safest process to prevent cross-contamination is what I base my opinion on.

Tonight, we had a family of 8 drive all the way from New Jersey for the sole purpose of trying our pizza…here Pittsburgh. When they finished the dinner the first comment was that it was a pleasure to find a pizzeria owner that actually understands their dilemma and truly is concerned about their safety. Next, they thanked me for what the felt was the best pizza they had eaten in 5 years since being diagnosed with Celiac. Lastly, they purchased 2 cases of my crusts…again, I am out and I need to go in at 3 am to make another 50 for tomorrow and Sunday for which will most likely sell out.

I am NOT standing on a soapbox! I AM trying to pass on some invaluable information so that others can make people happy again while eating pizza. The difference between my product and the others…we made ours for our son who suffers from severe food allergies which is far worse than gluten intolerence, soooo our crust is allergen free as well as we make the only comple allergen free pizza…not just the crust.

Okay, before I finish this off I logged into my POS and ran a report…43 gluten free pies sold today…just today. Add to that, 12 gluten free pepperoni calzones and 4 gluten free flatbread steak sandwiches…

Now who says there
s no reason to sell GF
 
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I am wondering what size would most likely to sell best. With my regular dough the size breakdown is 8" 9%, 10" 16%, 12" 30%, 14" 45%. My thoughts are 8" or 12", the 8" will feed one person and the 12" will feed two or three.
 
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Daddio,

While there is nearly zero reason for me to ell Gluten free pizzas in my town of 2300, if I were to do it, I personally would use the 10" sizing. I can get it from Rich’s pre-made; the two customers in town who might consider ordering it would be satisfied with that size.

12" might be a better single size for a larger market like yours. It is big enough for two to eat . . . and can be priced at a point where it is enough return on investment for you to hassle with. Sure, if demand does go up, you can spread the costs across more units and adjust pricing accordingly. Bodegahwy makes a good point about delierability . . . but I seem to recall that is not so much an issue for you and a 12" pie. You can always go bigger if you need to . . . I would wonder about downsizing perceptions.
 
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We use a pre-made 12" base as this is the only size our supplier has. My preference would be a 10" (our small) as mostly they are for one person only. I think if we had a 10" we would sell more.
As for the US market where your personal size is 12" (from what I can gather from comments made in other posts), then I would go for that size.
Mandypizza was spot on with pre-made vs dough balls. I send around 20% of my bases back because they are broken or have huge cracks in them. Gluten free bases need careful handling as there is nothing to bind the ingredients as in a normal base mixture.
For those who don’t stock GF I wouldsay you are missing a niche market. We have seen increased purchases from customers who are now ordering GF from us. Once they would buy periodically our normal pizzas because not all the family could have pizzas due to gluten intolerance. Now all the family can enjoy a pizza they are buying weekly, plus they are telling other people with gluten intolerance that they can get GF pizzas from us. The GF will not be a big market but it ill value add to our existing sales.

Dave
 
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We have had a number of inquiries and I would like to try to do this at some point. When I have spoken to the people asking about GF, they have indicated that they are not concerned about some flour dust on the screens or other minor “contamination”. This is mostly an intolorance issue, not an allergy. Much like most lactose intolorant people can eat scrambled eggs made with regular milk or drink coffee with regular cream in it.

I would tell people that are allergic to gluten and can not tolorate any gluten that they should look elsewhere the same way we tell people allergic to nuts or mushrooms that we have them in the kitchen and make every effort to keep them off pizzas that have not ordered them but there is no way to be 100% certain that they are not on a pizza. Things fly in a pizza kitchen and a piece could end up in the sauce bucket or the cheese bin and end up on a pie.

There are gluten free doughballs available, but they are too small for our use. As I said in my earlier post, my first choice would be a 14" pie using a dough ball of about 15-19oz, I would be willing to use a 10-12oz ball and produce 12" pies.

We will keep looking.
 
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OK…the misunderstanding about gluten is what scares me in our industry AND before you start serving these customers you need to READ and UNDERSTAND.

Now…at the simplest level

Gluten Intolerance (Celiac) = Stomach pains, possible puking, soft stool
Gluten Allergy (Could be celiac if not tested) Same affects as celiac
WHEAT allergy (NOT gluten allergy) = Stomach pains, blisters on lips, POSSIBLE DEATH from anaphylaxis

With ALL of the comments made here, this is what scares the crap out of me in our industry when it comes to miseducation. REGARDLESS of the level of gluten, any gluten is still dangerous. However, a customer coming into a pizzeria should assume some risk that there is gluten in the air and as such can get onto a GF crust.

Most Celiacs, or food allergy sufferers, belong to support groups and all it takes is for one of them to say, “you know, the pizza tasted great, but BOY did I get sick…there must be more gluten in the store than the owner knows.” GUESS WHAT…all the other members of that celiac group now know that they got sick.

There is too much misunderstanding here and comments that could be dangerous for a business. The one thing that my customers know is that I am probably the most in-tune pizzeria owner and are releived when I answer their questions.

Again, the most important part here is to understand that no matter what their level of intolerence is…IT’S STILL AN INTOLERANCE AND I, MUCH LIKE YOU, DO NOT TEST THE PRODUCT for gluten content as it rolls out the door onto their table.

I WANT our industry to allow people to enjoy pizza again…but remember it only takes one of us to screw it up and it becomes a blown up news story.

Honesly, if a customer is soooo concerned about the possible levels in a pie…I kindly refuse the business and say that I am so concerned for THEIR safety, that I really do not want oo make the pizza. BTW…this has only happed once.
 
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Mandy,

Your comments are well taken. Condidering the amount of flour in the air vents when we clean them and INSIDE the computers when we blow them out, there is no way I would ever tell someone that ANYTHING coming out of our kitchen was Gluten Free. A customer wanting truely uncontaminated product should make it for themselves.

What we can do is offer a gluten free crust when we find one. The customer simply must know for themselves whether this is a risk. All of the customers I have spoken with indicate that would work for them.

Thanks for your input.
 
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80% of the GF pizzas we have made have had ingredients on them that conatin gluten ( pepperoni, BBQ sauce, processed ham etc). We have a poster saying we do GF and under the heading we list all products taht contain gluten that we have in the shop. When they order with any of these products we highlight the gluten factor but in every case they say it is a minimal amount that can be tolerated. The gluten problem comes from an intense flour intake ie the base is made of gluten flour. They have stated that a minimal amount of cross contamination does not affect them, nor does the minimal amount of gluten in the ingredients. I think the concern about someone getting sick is overblown and comes about from us now living in a “nanny state” where no-one wants to take care of their own responsibilities but want everyone else to do it for them.
Act responsible with your GF product - separate screens that are store in airtight containers, clean cutters, change gloves when hadling GF products and general awareness of any cross contamination and you will be fine.
If someone gets that sick from gluten then they won’t be coming into a situation where there is gluten products. If they do then they waiver their rights of non contamination.
We don’t say we are a pure Gluten Free enviroment, we only provide GF bases for the pizzas - end of story !
Their is a small niche market there for those who want to do it but don’t get hung up about all the perceived complicities.
I know Domino’s, PH and others do GF and do you think that all the juniors who work there understand or care about cross contamination? Domino’s and PH and others don’t seem to make a big fuss or see it as a major problem area or they wouldn’t be offering GF pizzas.

dave
 
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Mandy,
I appreciate your zeal, and enthusiatic sharing of information. I know a lot about celiac, and know where to find more. As for GF pizza bases, I am going to be in the same position Richard (Bodega man) is with regards to ‘guaranteed’ GF versus “gluten free base”. With 99.5% of the business coming from use of various gluten-containing products, I cannot promise a ‘clean’ kitchen for allergics who have life-threatening or serious levels of allergy/intollerance. What I CAN do is source a base, make it available to people with disclaimers so that they can make an informed choice whether to indulge. It’s that or nothing . . . I am an looking toards ofering a something to those who are able to eat it. The key element for me will be information and making sure the GF seekers know what we can and cannot provide.

I encourage those with a viable market to take the steps to educate themselves, staff and customers about the condition, and develop a system for implementing a safe program for producing products for the seriously effected.
 
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this thread got me looking at the ingredient listings at the grocery store. I’ve seen a lot of products with a disclaimer like this: Made in a place that manfactures using . Many of the products I’ve looked at that carry this are made for specific groups with xyz allergy or intolerance. That might be a good disclaimer to copy. It’s short and to the point but lets the customer know that you can’t guarentee anything.

Bryan
 
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The samples finally arrived. I got one of my former staff to come and try a pizza. She said it was much better than the only other option in town. So they will go in the menu right away.
 
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Richard.

Glad to hear you got some good ones. Finally got around to tasting one of ours the other night and the GF base was suprisingly good.
Friday night we had a couple come in (like Nick - ex hippies 😃 ) and both ordered GF pizzas. They raved about how caring we were for offering GF as they find it extremely difficult to get “normal” food when wanting to eat out of the house. One thing they did mention, and have others who had bought GF, is that we should advertisie it more prominently as it is difficult to find GF products. They also have their own GF network and pass on to others where they can get GF goods so what started out as a small market is slowly growing - ALL NEW BUSINESS.
To capitalise on this exteded market may I suggest you do some sort of advertising - Facebook, Twitter are good starts and are free - to bring attention to your GF offer.
Good luck with it and hope you develop a niche in Grand Prairie.

Dave
 
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Dave,
I am trying to get a handle on the demand because these are a special order item and will take some extra time to arrive from the supplier. The case has 24 skins and that could last a day, week or month. what do you keep on hand?
 
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Daddio:
Dave,
I am trying to get a handle on the demand because these are a special order item and will take some extra time to arrive from the supplier. The case has 24 skins and that could last a day, week or month. what do you keep on hand?
Click to expand...
We get ours from our main supplier in bags of 3 (frozen) . I get 12 (4 bags at a time) and keep them in our 2 door upright freezer and thaw for 30 seconds in the microwave when required.
Beware … they cook quicker so we push them under a bit and take them out as soon as we see tham at the end of the tunnel. Also handle gently as they tend to break easily.

Dave
 
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