Gluten Free Option pricing

[FlameFartingDragon]

Just went to order from a cafe and was pretty impressed that most of their menu came with a Gluten Free Option. In all cases this was a Gluten Free slice of bread instead of regular bread.

Ordered a GF option and was then told it would be 50p extra for this.

I mean someone is making a profit on an extra 50p for each slice of bread - that's a whacking 7 pounds per loaf mark up!

Sort of made me pissed off, then made me laugh because it's clever business skills, but should they really be charging that much extra?

Especially when gluten free bread is usually crumbling and not the tastiest if breads i would probably pay it because it is expensive but I would regret every mouthful

I’ve got Coeliac disease...YANBU...we already have to pay through the nose for our day to day staples. It’s really annoying to as you say be charged a huge mark up for something that’s down to a disease your body can’t help. I just suck it up as I want to have some semblance of normalcy when dining out with healthy people but I do think it’s unfair. Everywhere charges extra for the gluten free products. But I’d be really impressed and would prioritise establishments that didn’t take the piss and just charged a small amount extra to cover the extra costs...not to profit from other people’s illness.

G/F stuff is much more expensive than its glutenous counterpart so it doesn't surprise me to see this surcharge. Even if the cafe made the bread themselves they would be paying more for the ingredients so I would expect to pay a bit more.

I'm much more accustomed to it now but I do wish prices for G/F items would come down in general, some of the prices are ridiculous for what you get.

I'd rather they offered it as an option at 50p more than not offer it at all.

Gluten free bread has come on in leaps and bounds recently but it is still more expensive to buy, difficult to store for any length of time and doesn't get used in huge quantities. A decent loaf of GF bread can easily be £2-3 even at trade price so the markup probably isn't that great in comparison to a normal loaf of bread.

That's before you start considering the additional time cleaning a work space etc to make it ensure it is safe for people with coeliac disease.

They will not be making a 50p profit. Gluten free bread is more expensive to produce and, being less popular than wheat bread, does not have good economies of scale. All the cafe is doing is making sure it doesn't lose money on the gluten free options

Assuming the place is also taking the right steps to ensure no cross contamination then I would say that’s a reasonable difference

YABU I am a coeliac and so is DS, I’m happy to pay more if it means they take extra care re contamination etc.

But, they need to take the steps with all dishes containing allergens - at least they should! Yet none of the other allergens had price mark ups now I think about it.

Anyway I paid it - their menu options were impressive! I will be going back.

Gluten free bread is more expensive, it just is.

It cant really be stored fresh and still be worth eating for more than a day or so, which means either a lot of wastage or having to defrost what you need each time.

It also needs to be kept separately from other bread products due to the crumby nature of bread. Done right separate butter etc should also be used which again increases the costs of offering gluten free options.

Dairy free milks are very popular and have long fresh storage lives. The risk of cross contamination from other milks stored near them is low.

Most other allergens involve taking something out rather than replacing it with something more expensive so those people lose out in a different way.

As a celiac I would happily pay an extra 50p for a gluten free option, I find the menu choices in the uk dire compared to many countries where a gluten free option is standard. I recent came back from Australia where I was able to eat anywhere, even pizza takeaways offered gluten free which sadly is not the case in the uk 😞

Dominoes, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, Bella Italia, Papa Johns etc all do gluten free in the UK

Pizza and pasta restaurants (plus many takeaways) are often the best bet for finding GF options in the uk. You’d think otherwise, but GF pizza is definitely not hard to come by.

Ooo I hadn’t thought of dominos, no pizza place around me does a gluten free option but there is a dominos not to far away, thanks for the suggestion

You don't pay extra for them making sure it's not cross contaminated.
GF bread costs more. Vegan cheese too so there is usually mark up too. There is a standard base price and then additional. It sucks that you basically have to pay more for being allergic, but it's not restaurant's fault.

Glad you like the menu there. Hope you enjoyed the food

I know quite a few people that say they are gluten intolerent, but don't have coeliac disease, and several of those will wolf into buttered toast/chocolate cake or whatever when it suits them - so more of a lifestyle choice than genuine allergy/illness.
Not only is gluten free bread a lot more expensive, if it's not requested often, presumably more wastage.
If people want a more expensive option, why should I pay for it?
And apologies to those with coeliac or genuine allergies.