With the pandemic placing more pressure on our hospitality sector than ever before, Coeliac UK’s Catering Officer, Ella Brace, explains how we’re helping venues to keep gluten free on the menu.

“As a Catering Officer in Coeliac UK’s Commercial team, my role is to help support businesses who wish to improve the safety of their gluten free offerings. I help them work towards gaining our GF accreditation and to complete our online training course.

“As part of accreditation, businesses have to meet a set of evidence based standards to ensure that gluten free dishes remain gluten free - from when they are choosing ingredients, to preparation of dishes, right through to serving the customer.

“To make sure businesses are meeting these standards, external audit providers carry out an annual audit, assessing kitchens for everything from staff training, food storage, preparation and cooking to cleaning, personal hygiene, monitoring of procedures and communicating with staff and customers.

“The pandemic has been a huge blow to the hospitality industry, forcing many food businesses to reduce their menus. However, we’ve continued to work closely with our accredited partners to ensure they can maintain safe gluten free offerings for our community.

“Although the majority have managed this, some businesses have made the difficult decision to reduce or (in rare cases) temporarily stop their gluten free menu.

“It may seem strange that some are able to carry on with the usual offering whilst others cannot, but from working closely with our partners, I can reassure you that the circumstances leading to these difficult decisions are often complex.

“These may include:

• Reduction in kitchen work surfaces: To enable staff in the kitchen to meet social distancing requirements, some kitchens have been unable to dedicate a safe area for gluten free food to be produced away from gluten containing dishes.
• Reduction in staff: Again, due to social distancing measures, most venues have reduced the number of staff working at any one time, requiring a reduced menu so the staff can keep up with demand.
• New services: Many businesses have introduced new services since the beginning of the pandemic, such as click and collect or delivery. This has often led to reduced menus as venues try to keep up with the higher demands of these services whilst ensuring the safety of both staff and customers.
• Supplier changes and closures: Some food businesses have been unable to obtain their usual supply of gluten free ingredients which has led to gluten free menu reductions or availability being patchy.
• Financial losses: Although it seems unfair that financial losses should impact gluten free offerings, it is a factor that cannot be overlooked. We all know that the hospitality industry has been hit incredibly hard by the pandemic, and this has affected businesses being able to offer their usual wide range of choice.   

“We have done our best to help GF accredited venues to find solutions to these problems, and I’m happy to say that the majority have continued their gluten free offering – but they need your support.

”Whilst venues cannot open for eat in at the moment, many are offering delicious gluten free dishes to takeaway directly from the venue. By using their services as regularly as you can, you’ll help them to remain open and, crucially, increase the incentive for keeping gluten free on the menu. (Just remember that our GF accreditation scheme only covers delivery or takeaway when it is delivered by the accredited food business itself, not via a third party, so please take care when using third party delivery services).”

“By supporting venues our gluten free community will continue to find a choice of safe, gluten free options, and your favourite GF accredited venue will still be there for you when business goes back to normal. I for one can’t wait to go out and have a meal that someone else has cooked for me!”

Plan your next big night in: There are over 3,300 GF accredited venues across the UK. Click here to check find a GF accredited venue offering home delivery and collection services near you, and support your local businesses.