By Tracy Morin
South Jersey locals and longtime friends TJ Hunton and Daniel Romero may be first-time restaurateurs, but their Barclay Pies restaurant in Cherry Hill, New Jersey (opened in the summer of 2025), is already making a splash in its inaugural year. The duo’s original goal was bringing family and friends together over delicious, high-quality food in a laid-back environment. But Romero’s wife, who has celiac, inspired them to make their menu allergen- and gluten-free-friendly—while not compromising on flavor.
This move has created a passionate following, with customers driving hours for their gluten-free pizza. They even host gluten-free pizza nights that sell out 100 seats at $40 a ticket—clearly making a major impact in their community and beyond.
A big part of their success is how seriously they’ve taken inclusive dining. Their strict systems for serving gluten-free include a dedicated mixer, high-walled pans, separate stations/cutters, and no gluten in the fryer. Meanwhile, thoughtful R&D on a nut-free, housemade vegan mozzarella—Romero says he tested 30 or 40 recipes—allows celiac, vegan, dairy-free and nut-allergic guests to all share a meal. Now, about 30% of their guests order at least one gluten-free or vegan item, and on the locator app Find Me Gluten Free, they score just as high on taste and variety as they do on safety.
Romero and Hunton (pictured below) recently sat down with PMQ Pizza to discuss their allergen-friendly journey, why their offerings are such a hit with diners, and how tight systems enable maximum safety and customer satisfaction.
PMQ: What was the inspiration behind your pizzeria?
TJ Hunton: The final concept and process to open started a little more than a year ago. As friends and dads of young kids, we ate a lot of pizza together. It felt to us like many of the local options were falling behind in terms of food quality and overall experience—like the pizza scene around us was in need of a refresh. We wanted to create a place for everyone to gather and enjoy great pizza—and, to us, that also meant including our friends and family who have dietary needs.
PMQ: What was the process of creating an inclusive menu with gluten-free and vegan options, and how have you gotten the word out to customers about it?
Hunton: We experiment a lot. Anytime we think about our menu, we want to make sure we are creating delicious, craveable items, and then we ensure they are safe and accessible for our guests. In the early days, there was a lot of testing, refining our recipes and flavors to present what we think are the best options on our menu.
From there, we worked to create very clear procedures so our team knows how to keep our guests safe each and every time they prepare or execute a menu item. We know the time and attention is worth it when we hear from families who are now able to enjoy a meal together without compromising on safety, flavor or number of options.
Spreading the word was a pretty grassroots effort from the get-go. We took to social media, had some initial press coverage, and we invited anyone and everyone we knew—from our friends and families to local businesses, schools and other community organizations. And once online chatter started, particularly among those who are gluten-free, word really started to spread that Barclay Pies was a place worth trying.
PMQ: Tell us about your success with the gluten-free market. How do you set up and carry out your gluten-free pizza nights?
Romero: When we first opened, we had no idea how underserved the gluten-free community was when it came to pizza. Most places today serve a frozen “cracker” or cauliflower crust, and they often don’t understand how scary a pizza place can be for someone with food restrictions. We were committed to making great food from scratch and being transparent about our recipes and procedures. We tested all of the gluten-free flours out there, even experimenting with blending our own flour, but we found that Caputo Gluten Free Flour provided the best consistent rise and flavor.
For the GF Pizza nights, we partnered with a local influencer, Alli (@allisappetite), who is dialed in to the gluten-free community. She pitched the idea of a GF Pizza Party, and we loved it. We see the event as a great opportunity to bring the gluten-free community together.
The GF pizza nights also allow us to also test new menu offerings. We took the opportunity to soft-launch our housemade mozzarella sticks at the first event, and we tested loaded fries at the second one. Event attendees love that they can try things first before they’re generally available on the menu, and we love the real customer feedback before we officially add an item to our menu.
One thing we hear from guests is that the parties allow people to try a variety of menu items, which is very unique for those with dietary restrictions. Usually, someone with celiac disease would only get to try one menu item each visit. At our parties, they can try the whole menu to find their favorites.
PMQ: What kind of systems do you have in place to serve these gluten-free diners?
Romero: Specifically for our pizza, it starts with a dedicated 30-quart dough mixer, which is sized for a batch using a 5kg bag of Caputo Gluten Free Flour we get directly from our distributor. We prep our GF dough first thing in the morning and place the dough directly into deep-dish pans, which are covered and stored in the walk-in. Our intent here is that working with GF dough first can limit the potential for cross-contamination during prep. We then cook our GF pies in a separate oven, and we have separate stations for toppings and boxing—again, this is an effort to keep GF and non-GF pizzas separate from start to finish.
All of our fried items are naturally 100% GF, so there’s no cross-contamination with these items. The team is also very well-trained on changing gloves, sanitizing their stations, and answering guest’s questions around processes and precautions.
PMQ: What about your nut-free, housemade vegan mozz? How was it developed?
Romero: When we first started serving a dairy-free vegan pie, we used a pretty popular dairy-free cheese on the market. When the manufacturer started experiencing production issues, which impacted our ability to source product and offer these pies to customers, we decided, again, to start experimenting. Since so much of our menu is already housemade—our sauces, for example—we thought we could try our hand at a housemade vegan cheese. And, in the interest of inclusivity, we also decided to make it nut-free, which steered us away from any cashew-based recipes.
We consulted with our vegan customers to figure out what would resonate here locally, and we tried other offerings to see where we could stand out. We also studied up on all the great vegan cheeses out there and landed on our current recipe, which is easy to make, dairy- and nut-free, and has already been a hit with our guests.
PMQ: How popular are your GF and vegan items, and how do the profits compare to traditional items?
Romero: Our inclusive offerings are very popular. Today, every third pizza we sell is gluten-free, and every 10th pie sold is dairy-free. Our GF pizza is priced a little higher, but only enough to recoup the higher ingredient and labor costs, keeping our profitability right in line with that of our regular pizza offerings.
PMQ: Do you have advice for other pizzerias on catering to a niche or special-diet clientele?
Hunton: Our advice is to spend some time getting to know people in those communities and understanding the local dining options that may or may not be available to them. Then identify a gap where you can really stand out. And, most importantly, take cross-contamination very seriously. It’s important to be transparent about your protocols and processes, and don’t be afraid of improving them as you get feedback from the community. We’re also happy to chat with any pizzeria looking to offer more inclusive options. Reach out to us at [email protected] or [email protected].
Tracy Morin is PMQ’s associate editor.
