We recently received several Facebook messages and emails regarding customer trips to other "famous" GF bakeries around the country. The support they showed for Gluuteny is a wonderful reinforcement for every new item and store improvement that we make. One customer swore that our famous competitor couldn't hold a candle to our baked goods and pastries!
I like to hear about the expansion of GF options whenever and where ever they pop up, but the standards to which we bake our products reflect how I feel about these new allergen-friendly businesses: quality should always be more important than quantity. Just because you are the only GF bakery in town doesn't mean that you should settle for good enough. Our customers are tired of the same old grocery store freezer section products- the ones that feel like a brick and taste like cardboard. When the people asked for more options, they meant options that you actually WANT to eat!
I really do wish our competitors well, because I want to see GF businesses (and awareness) grow along with the different choices that are becoming available. I love our products, but I still want to continue improving so that we can provide our customers with the variety that they would otherwise miss out on. We have experimented with a lot of failed recipes, and I'm not shy about saying that. I'm more proud to say that we have high standards, and sometimes we decide that certain items don't make the cut. It gives us more experience for the future, and I think it's one of the reasons that we have lasting power. We get compliments on our cute cookies and decorative cupcakes, but we don't rely on trends or one specific item to keep us in business. I'd love to visit some of the GF bakeries in other cities, but just like at the end of a long trip, I know there's no place like home.