Originally posted in 2021, but it did not generate enough responses for the post I was working on. Please share this with all the GF bakery owners you know (or restaurants which sell their in-house made gluten free desserts, especially baked goods). Thank you!
As a customer I greatly appreciate bakeries which are dedicated gluten free.
As a friend to some bakers, I know they get a lot of questions – some make sense, some are ridiculous.
But as the owner, you often can’t tell it like it really is without risking your customer base. Having worked in many retail jobs, I can definitely sympathize, because the customer is definitely not always right.
So, I’m working on a post that can simply be shared by the gluten-free (bakery) community, explaining what you wish your customers knew and/or understood. All feedback will be shared anonymously in that post.
Customer Q&A example: Is everything gluten free? Yes, as a dedicated bakery, which it says in multiple places in our bakery, everything is 100% gluten free.
On one hand, most bakers I know understand where this is coming from, since there still are not tons of dedicated gluten-free bakeries, and some that are still aren’t as safe as they think they are (ex: using “gluten free” Oreos in their products, oats, or anything from General Mills), but still, if everything on your shop says “dedicated, 100% gluten free,” hearing this question over and over again becomes tiresome.
Or, yes, the very expensive multi-layer cake you just purchased will be good for more than one day, so, no, it won’t be a problem if you pick it up the day before you need it, since our bakery is closed on the day of your event. What bakery would stay in business very long if their cakes were only good for 1 day?
Or why do gluten-free bakery prices tend to be so much higher than “regular” bakeries? “I could make this cheaper myself!” (Don’t you wish you could just tell them to go look at the prices of GF ingredients?)
I’d like to hear from dedicated GF bakery owners on what YOU wish YOUR CUSTOMERS knew / understood about gluten-free baking.
Please fill out the following form (and, yes, while I am asking for identifying information, this is simply so that I can verify that you really are a dedicated GF baker, contact you if I have questions about what you wrote – may need to clarify something, and also, so that I can add you to my list of GF bakeries to check out! I will absolutely not include anyone’s name or bakery name in the “What I Wish My Customers Knew” post, so that you may feel free to speak freely.).
