I Want To Own A Gluten Free Rest.

[puggirl]

Wouldnt it be great if someone opened a Completely Gluten Free Restuarnt and made it into a Chain so everyone can enjoy it! It could have Gluten free waffles, pancakes, biscuits! and Lunch, sandwiches, soups, and croutons for salad! oh my goodness, i wish i had money lots of money! Dinner, burgers with a BUN! and Hotdogs and noodles, pizza. Desserts! Cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies all the goods! my mouth is watering! yikes!

just a thought anyone want to loan me a million dollars!?

[*lee-lee*]

well i don't have any money to loan ya but i'd totally eat at your restaurant!

[ptkds]

I second that!!!

[Juliebove]

We had one here for a while, but it wasn't any good. Oh the food tasted good. That wasn't the problem. The service was lousy and slow and there were constant screwups. If you had any additional allergies, this wasn't the place to go. Worse yet, the owner lied to us about what the food contained. I couldn't figure out why my daughter kept getting sick when we ate there. Then I found out that the egg free brownies she baked had eggs in them. I got the feeling she would just tell you anything to get you to buy stuff. She has since re-opened in a different location. I think it is billed as a bakery with additional food items. I haven't bothered to go.

I have thought about opening a restaurant to accomodate people with food allergies, but that would be too difficult. People can be allergic to just about anything. It's always something.

[Generic]

That said place in now a glorified mocha-latte' store w/ some baked goods. I bought cinnamon rolls from there and they were awful. Super dry. I haven't been back.

I also experienced "interesting behavior" from the owner when she had the full restaurant. She didn't lie to me, but was rather rude. We waited for awhile to get a refill on my pop. Waitress never came to check on us. So we waited a little longer for the check. Finally we just got up and had to wait by the register for 5 minutes before someone came back in side. It was the owner. She had the nerve to lecture us that they had closed 20 minutes ago, etc. etc.

Next time we went, we went to the register right away to get the bill. Her grandaughter kept screaming and hitting her on the butt trying to get her attention. She finally screamed for her daughter to come take her. It was very ackward. We didn't go back.

The sad thing is it is safe to eat there, but I won't give her my money, again. I gave her 3 chances.

[dksart]

I agree that you (or anyone) should open up a totally Gluten-free restaurant right away. I am pretty sure the best possible location would be on New Orleans northshore in Slidell, Louisiana. I can guarantee at least one loyal customer!

[puggirl]

Where was the restuarant that you are talking about with the horrible owner? I hate people like that!

Well.. i guess i have to start planning everything.. it might take a couple years! haha we'll see

[Generic]

Just North of Seattle.

[Juliebove]

I agree that you (or anyone) should open up a totally Gluten-free restaurant right away. I am pretty sure the best possible location would be on New Orleans northshore in Slidell, Louisiana. I can guarantee at least one loyal customer!

It had Seattle in the name but I believe it was really in Edmonds. Hard to say because I used to live in that area and I know it was right on/near the boundary lines.

[Generic]

You are correct, it is now in Greenwood on HWY 99. I said N of Seattle for anyone unfamilar with the area.

[bakingbarb]

I still plan on a gluten free caf

[home-based-mom]

Do diligent research on this, no matter how good of an idea it seems to be.

There used to be a restaurant chain called Skinny Haven that served low calorie foods and many items were also low fat and/or low sodium. Many items also plugged easily into Weight Watchers and diabetic diets. You could get salads and steaks and regular stuff like that so non-dieting family members who refused to eat "that diet stuff" could still find something to eat. I ate there several times (BGF) and the food was actually pretty good. Not gourmet, but tasty. Service and prices were OK, too.

They had desserts that were to die for.

That concept would seem like a place that would NEVER run out of customers, but the chain is gone. Out of business. Don't know why, but do your research.

[Chicklet]

I have done this, I own a gluten free tea room and gift shop. We serve light lunches and snacks. We are in Alberta, Canada.

I have two kinds of bread that I serve, we have a few people who eat there that are not gluten-free. Some of the non gluten-free people don't care for the bread and that is fine. I probably sell close to 6 loaves of bread a week sometimes more. Our brownies sell wonderfully as do our muffins. We do not however rely on food sales to keep our business going. We have gifts and will be bringing in dry goods as it has been requested by our celiac customers.

The tea is the biggest seller and we are getting known for that.

We opened in August 2008 so we are still new and still working out kinks and stuff.

Owning a tea room and gift shop has been a dream of mine for a long time, I'm glad to be able to do it and to reach out to the celiacs. We get wonderful reactions when they find out we are totally gluten-free.

[ksymonds84]

Do diligent research on this, no matter how good of an idea it seems to be.

There used to be a restaurant chain called Skinny Haven that served low calorie foods and many items were also low fat and/or low sodium. Many items also plugged easily into Weight Watchers and diabetic diets. You could get salads and steaks and regular stuff like that so non-dieting family members who refused to eat "that diet stuff" could still find something to eat. I ate there several times (BGF) and the food was actually pretty good. Not gourmet, but tasty. Service and prices were OK, too.

They had desserts that were to die for.

That concept would seem like a place that would NEVER run out of customers, but the chain is gone. Out of business. Don't know why, but do your research.

Yes definitely do tons and tons of research. My husband and I own two restaurants (both have gluten free menu's) and have been doing restaurants for over 20 years. Restaurants are the toughest businesses to own. We see many well intentioned people open restaurants and within 6 months go bankrupt. There's a lot more to them than just having good food. You need to know about cost control equaling labor costs, food costs, marketing, qualified staffing and knowing how to manage them. My husband (who has been the restaurant association for many years) always gives this advice when asked if opening a restaurant is a good idea..."don't do it unless you've worked in a restaurant first and you have to be very good with numbers". Normally, we are sitting very pretty because our restaurants are tourists destinations in the summer and I have a local celebrity chef in the fine dining one, but because of the recession, we are just getting by every month and watching fellow business owner's close shop...its a sad time in the restaurant world. When people are feeling the pinch...going out to eat is the first thing they will cut. Because my husband always plans ahead, we will make it through to next summer but it sure is tough going! Do your homework, talk to restaurant owners, and if you've never worked in one, it would be a good idea to do so for at least 6 months. Not trying to burst anyone's bubble but giving the reality of being a restaurant owner.

[Rondar2001]

I love the idea of a gluten free restaurant, but please realize that the service still has to be there.

We have a gluten free restaurant here that we used to eat at a couple of times a week. That was until some new owners took it over. They let go the only experienced waitress there so that you now need to have 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours for lunch or dinner. They also changed the portion sizes (and not for the better) while raising their prices (although the food is very tasty).

I would support a gluten free restaurant in our city but I expect to get my moneys worth and have decent service (as I would with any place, gluten free or not).

[glutenada]

This is something we're planning to do.

We're starting small and will be getting one of those small coffee hut type buildings later in the year and will be offering fish & chips and chicken strips. We live in a coastal town in western WA and there are no real fish & chip places here.

The plan is to bill it as just fish & chips (and chicken strips too) and that oh, it happens to be gluten-free. We're not looking to push it as a gluten-free place to eat. I routinely make these foods for family and friends and everyone sucks it down, claims it's better than the gluten-containing version.

From there, we're looking to eventually move to the greater Seattle area where I would like to open a diner. Again, just yummy food that appeals to everyone.. and oh, it happens to be gluten-free.

I am the only celiac in my family (so far anyway) and I consistently cook for the entire family (13+ people) and make everyone eat gluten-free. Even my picky picky dad loves what I create and that's where I figured that if *he'll* eat it and love it, so will the general public!

Anyway, I can hardly wait for mid-summer when we have things ready. It's been a dream of mine to open a restaurant since I was a teen. Selling the mixes and baked goods is great, but my real longing is to serve food for meals!

[Eric-C]

We had considered this also.

We thought what would work best is a multi-ethnic restaurant. We eat a lot of Arabic, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, etc because a lot of their food is gluten free and with the way its prepared you lower the risk for CC. Mexican is a perfect example. The main flour ingredient in a Mexican kitchen is the tortilla which comes pre-made and pre-packed most places there is there very little loose flour floating around.

Still gotta avoid the deep fryer but you know the corn products are not getting flour in them free floating in a kitchen.

If we could create a place that served a few items from each group there would be wide appeal. We cook all this at home and there are a lot of similarities and common ingredients.

Trying to make a gluten free Italian restaurant would be a tough job...but if you could serve 2-3 items and focus on them from each group and maybe run a special of the week to include a 4th I think there is a big market for it.

The hard part is those who have multiple allergies. I'm very lucky, I have no dairy, cassein, or other allergies. Trying to cater to a group like that would move things too far from having a large enough group to support business.

[gheidie]

I am hoping to do just that... a bakery (oh totally gluten free) and then server soup and bread/cornbread for lunch. I hope to be open in the next year. I am in the planning stages and working on a bus plan a bit over whelming for me, but I am already selling quite a few of my baked goods.. to gluten free people and non gluten free people. I am very particular about my baked goods!!

I am and hour or so N of Seattle.

[lizard00]

There's a place nearby that opened about 6 months ago that is gluten free, peanut free and shellfish free.

I'm assuming these are allergy/intolerances that the women's children have, but either way, it's been a huge benefit to me.

I'm sure that you would need to look at the demographics and since it would be specialty, see if your area has enough population to support it. This woman also does not cook or anything, she hired 2 professional chefs. I'm sure that in itself helped to give her more credibility when she was marketing her place.

Anyway, this is her website if you want to check it out. I'm sure you could also contact her if you wanted.

www.rosiesplate.com