If you own a restaurant, chances are you’re aware of this trend: more and more people are eating gluten-free diets, whether out of necessity for their health or by choice. And they are increasingly vocal about it. You’ve probably already received comments about your gluten-free menu offerings — or lack thereof — and suggestions or requests for improvement. So how do you go about pleasing this section of your customer base? After all, the gluten-free landscape can be somewhat daunting to the uninitiated. Here are some preliminary steps you can take to get the ball rolling and on your way to being a gluten-free destination restaurant.
Go to the Source – Ask Your Customers
What kinds of gluten-free menu items you ultimately decide to carry will depend on many factors of course — what kind of restaurant you have, the quality of recipes you can find, cost, etc., but none should be higher on your list than catering to what your customers actually want. So ask them. Ask them to fill out a brief survey, or offer them a coupon for weighing in on your Facebook page. And when your gluten-free customers approach you to offer suggestions, don’t look that gift-horse in the mouth. Take the opportunity to pick their brains about what they are looking for in gluten-free menu options, and go so far as to get their contact information. You might want to talk to them later, or even use them as taste testers when you are in the recipe development stage.
Ask the Experts
Invest in your decision to go gluten-free and hire a consultant. A consultant can guide you through the process and make sure you don’t leave anything out. They can help you find suitable recipes that taste great and that meet all of the standards of gluten-free. (Some ingredients actually have gluten but you wouldn’t think that they do.) They can also help alert you to places and organizations where gluten-free eaters hang out, which will help you when you want to get the word out about your new offerings.
Test, Test, Test
Gluten-free has something of a bad rap in the mainstream eating world — flourless cupcakes that taste like cardboard, entrees that don’t fill you up. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Relentlessly test the recipes you decide to go with to make sure that they actually taste good. After all, you want everybody ordering them, not just the GF eaters.
Go the Whole Nine Yards
Providing gluten-free menu offerings to your customers is just one way of giving them what they want. Know what else they want? To know exactly what’s in their food. Consider providing them with complete menu nutritional labeling and analysis. It’s true, not everyone is gluten-free. Some are vegan, some are counting calories, some have food allergies, and some don’t eat additives and preservatives. But all of the above love having the facts about their food. Call us today at (888) 767-MENU (6368) to learn how we can help.
Image used under Creative Commons from missmeng.
