|
|
|||
|
|||
Healthy Slice - Gluten-Free, You and Me
By Jim Dees • Managing Editor
According to the National Institutes of Health, one out of every 130 people have celiac disease, an autoimmune digestive disorder whose sufferers cannot eat anything that contains the protein gluten.
Pizza has long been on the list of foods to avoid for those with celiac disease, until gluten-free dough and crusts quickly started spreading as a national trend.
Pizza Fusion, Deerfield Beach, FL
When business partners Vaughan Lazar
and Michael Gordon opened their
first Pizza Fusion in 2006, the two vowed
to offer healthy pizza, which included introducing
a gluten-free pie for customers
with celiac disease. “Instead of offering it
to only a small minority, we offered it to
everybody,” Gordon recalls.
Lisa Simmons, PR director for Pizza Fusion, says the company has tapped into a growing segment of customers who haven’t been able to safely eat a slice of pizza. “We’ve teamed up with celiac support groups, which has been great for us—and for them,” she says. “You can ask any nutritionist; gluten-free has less carbs and is a great alternative to traditional pizza crust.”
“We spent more than 200 hours perfecting our formula,” Gordon recalls. “We used to sell one or two a day of the glutenfree crust; now we’re selling more like 20,” he enthuses. “We’ve had people drive an hour to get our pizza,” Lazar says.
Roberto’s Pizza,
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
You might ask why you should offer
gluten-free pizza for only one person in
every 130. For Roberto’s Pizza owner Roberto
Vergalito, the reason is quite simple:
Celiac sufferers have family members.
“Obviously, not everyone in the family is
going to have celiac,” Vergalito says. “But
when you offer something that no one
else has, not only will you gain the target
as a customer, but, hopefully, the entire
family will become customers.”
“It took a few months and a half-dozen experiments with different types of flour to get the recipe just right,” Vergalito says. Once he nailed the formula, he sent out monthly coupons and placed ads in the phone book to get word of mouth started on his new offering.
Vergalito has designated 13” trays he uses just for the special crust (this prevents cross-contamination with his regular dough). The gluten-free crust costs him about $3 to make, and the dough has to be mixed by hand, because the flour is harder to manage than regular flour and appears improperly mixed if handled incorrectly.
Vergalito offers his crusts in-store, as well as a take-and-bake option, with or without toppings. (Most of his toppings are also gluten-free.) “It’s really taken off,” he says. “It helps celiac sufferers enjoy pizza again, and it’s also a healthy option for people without the disease.”