Hey…I’m not pizza doodle, and I just happened to come on here 3 years later…too busy to even get on here anymore.
Anyhow, let me tell you about gluten-free. Why? Have owned pizzeria for 13 years, as well as have a young son who suffers from severe food allergies.
Back in 2011, one of the “strong contributors” to the magazine told us that selling gluten-free is far too costly…not worth the extra effort…and a fad.
Well, my son was 7 1/2 and couldn’t eat a freakin thing from our business, so he went on a mission to invent his own crust…and so he did. My son invented the first ALLERGEN-FREE pizza…not just gluten-free, allergen-free.
We now sell an average of 300 of these pizzas PER WEEK…and, I only sell them from one of my locations since it’s just easier for me. He took it even further, we are the only pizzeria to sell a completely allergen-free hot hoagie/grinder/sub. Our son invented the allergen-free hoagie roll, which I bake off every week at our store.
Gluten-Free Crusts:
There are only a few manufacturers out there, and I can tell you this, they are horrible. The average GF resellers goes through 25 to 40 a week, again we do 300. Now, yes it’s because I am a former product marketing professional turned pizzeria owner, but when my son created his crust – he created it for HIM. He isn’t a coffee creamer company that saw an opportunity to make more money, so let’s get into the gluten-free crust business.
Be careful when you seek out your crusts since what you like, will not be what your customers like since it tastes nothing like real pizza. Invite your GF customers in and have a taste-0ff…let them decide which is the best.
For what it’s worth, we must be doing something right in this business, we are and have always been a fully-operational high-gluten traditional pizzeria and we sell a buttload of ALLERGEN-FREE pizzas…hoagies…wings…fries…flatbreads.
Good Luck
Steve
mandy’s pizza
