Costa wins FreeFrom Eating Out Award for its Gluten-Free Product Range

Costa, the nation’s favourite coffee shop chain took away the prize for the best gluten-free product range in the Coffee House Chain category at the FreeFrom Eating Out Awards on Wednesday (18^th November).

Introducing its first gluten-free savoury product in May this year, Costa’s British Chicken and Basil Salad Wrap was developed to allow customers with gluten intolerances the opportunity to still be able to enjoy a delicious lunch option to go with their cup of coffee. The wrap was also dairy-free and licensed by Coeliac UK to carry the Crossed Grain symbol on the packaging to highlight the product’s gluten-free credentials.

The wrap added to Costa’s existing gluten-free offering, which includes a Gluten-Free Brownie and Gluten-Free Cherry Bakewell.

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Hannah McKay, Savoury Development Manager for Costa said of the coffee brand’s win:

“It feels amazing to have won the FreeFrom Eating Out Award in the Coffee House Chain category, being recognised as having a delicious range of gluten-free products across both our savoury and sweet food ranges.

By listening to customer feedback we’ve managed to provide our Coeliac customers with what they were looking for, a delicious range of gluten-free products that allowed them to still enjoy a delicious lunch or snack with their cup of coffee. By working with Coeliac Society UK our food development team have managed to create a delicious gluten-free range that our gluten-free customers absolutely love.”

FreeFrom Awards Director, Michelle Berriedale-Johnson said of the awards:

“The standard of the entries was exceptionally high while the enthusiasm and commitment of the chefs and owners was really heart warming. We are very excited about the possibilities offered to the food service industry by the FreeFrom movement and expect FreeFrom in food service to grow at an even faster rate than the 15% year on year that it has achieved in the retail market.”

The FreeFrom Eating Out Awards are run by the same team as run the very successful FreeFrom Food Awards (now in their 8th year) and the FreeFrom Skincare Awards (now in their 4th year)

Costa have continued to expand their gluten-free offering including the launch of a Coeliac Society Approved British Turkey, Bacon and Cranberry Wrap and the return of the Christmas Cake Slice for Costa’s festive campaign.

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About the FreeFrom Eating Out Awards:

FreeFrom food – food free of gluten, wheat, dairy, soya, nuts and other allergens – has become seriously big business in the retail sector with the market set to grow to over half a billion pounds in the next three years.

But, the rapidly growing number of those who either need or choose to eat ‘FreeFrom’ have long complained that, while good FreeFrom food is now relatively easy to find in the retail sector, eating out ‘FreeFrom’ remains difficult and frustrating. This is partly due to the lack of choice but mainly because so few people in the food service industry understand about food allergy and coeliac disease.

The team behind the FreeFrom Eating Out Awards has worked in ‘FreeFrom’ for over 20 years. They run one of the web’s largest informational resources for allergy and intolerance, FreeFromMatters with over three quarters of a million unique visitors a year

.• The team is headed up by FreeFrom expert, food/health writer Michelle Berriedale-Johnson who presents regularly on FreeFrom and has written over a dozen books on allergy/FreeFrom food alone.

For the last seven years, they have also run extremely successful retail Freefrom Food Awards which have done much to drive innovation and excellence in the retail FreeFrom offer.

The FoodMatters Live event at Excel in November is a new annual event exploring the links between health, food and nutrition – one of the most important challenges of our time.