Supporting Local Gluten Free Business — *How to support your local gluten free businesses in a tough economy*

Coeliac Awareness Week 2025 is between Thursday 13th - Thursday 20th March. Let’s dive into a super important topic and one we’ll be focussing on this week at A Gluten Free Family: the cost of the gluten free diet and helping small gluten free businesses in these financial times.

Having coeliac disease and being restricted to a 100% gluten free diet for life is hard enough. For people living with coeliac disease, a strict adherence to a lifelong gluten free diet is the only known management.

It’s not a lifestyle choice - it’s a medical necessity. This requirement presents many challenges. Throw into the mix the need to pay a gluten free tax on these foods, and matters are further complicated.

Surveying Inflated Gluten Free Food Costs

It’s well known in the gluten free community that we pay so much more for basic necessity items like breads and pastas. Many who live with coeliac disease sometimes have no choice but to buy more expensive alternatives or premium brands as those companies can often afford to sport a gluten free label.

Some of the latest gluten free prices are shocking. Dr. Kelly Lambert, a researcher from the University of Wollongong, recently compared the prices of gluten free and regular shopping baskets using a variety of data from supermarkets in the NSW region of the Illawarra.

They found the cheapest Woolworths gluten-containing loaf to be $2.70 while the cheapest gluten free option was a whopping $6.25! Unfortunately these inflated costs come as no surprise to the gluten free community.

Gluten Free from a Small Business Perspective

However, while we’re viewing this issue through the perspective of the consumer, there is another really important perspective to take into account. How do small local businesses who deliver quality and safety assurances for our gluten free food achieve the right balance?

To get a real first-hand insight into these challenges, Ben sat down with Sandra Hudson, founder of Hudson’s Bakery, on A Gluten Free Podcast. The bakery is located in Bondi Junction with Sandra and her team selling freshly made gluten free bread and treats across local Sydney markets.

With cost of living pressures on the rise, catering to a niche market that includes an additional gluten free tax is no small feat. So, how hard is it operating as a small gluten free business in these current financial times?

“For the first time last year I was like ‘I can’t do this anymore,’” Sandra admitted. “It’s too hard… The ingredients in our products are premium ingredients. That costs a lot of money and we don’t use preservatives so we don’t keep stock.

“If we don’t sell it, it gets thrown away… I feel bad for families who want gluten free bread and they’re willing to pay for it but they’re struggling financially.”

Understanding Gluten Free Food Prices

*Sandra from Hudson’s Bakery talks openly about running a gluten free small business*

Without any prior knowledge or context, it’s easy to understand general consumer frustration. Sandra often encounters customers in shock at the price of her bread.

“I can’t tell you how many people come in and they go ‘$15 for a loaf of bread… what!?’ And they’re so rude. I have to bite my tongue because I want to ask ‘what’s your salary?’ because I haven’t had a salary in five years.”

Aside from the added ingredients and protocols needed to prepare her stock, Sandra highlights the rationale behind these prices.

“Our plain loaf is $15, but if you look after it, you can have every single slice in top quality condition. That is going to be more beneficial for your children and your family than that preservative-filled cardboard from a major retailer.”

Some customers don’t understand the huge costs involved with running a small business - paying tax, employees, insurance, rent, rates, etc. That’s before looking at small businesses operating within the gluten free market.

Every facet of the business adds pressure. From the cost of purchasing premium ingredients, ensuring coeliac-safe protocols, Coeliac Australia accreditation or endorsement and the education of staff for training purposes, owners are faced with constant hurdles to overcome.

Sandra confronts these obstacles each day, outlining how Australian businesses in the gluten free space are doing it tough. “For any business right now it’s hard. You see so many businesses closing. It’s not just gluten free. But with the gluten free side of things there’s that extra (cost).”

Forging Ahead with Consistent High-Quality Community Service

Despite these costs, Sandra and other gluten free business owners are pushing on, focused on providing safe coeliac-friendly food for their community. This is where true customer loyalty is fostered: showing up consistently to deliver delicious and safe food options that businesses may choose not to offer.

“It’s got to actually help people,” Sandra explained. “It’s not just about making money. For me it’s about making someone’s life better.”

That level of commitment is not always evident in the hospitality industry. As we know for coeliacs, access to quality snacks and meals means so much more than just enjoying something to eat. If there are providers who go above and beyond for us, making themselves a reliable point of contact, then that high-quality service should be rewarded and acknowledged.

How Customers Can Support Small Gluten Free Businesses

So, how can we support these great small gluten free businesses? Obviously making a trip to their shop front or purchasing their products online is extremely beneficial. But what if we’re strapped for cash ourselves or want to help out in other ways? Ben posed the question to Sandra.

“Word of mouth! Tell your friends, tell your family. Everyone knows someone who’s diagnosed (with coeliac disease). Posting in Facebook groups, telling people your experience.”

Social media is a great resource. Share those gluten free businesses who you think are doing a great job catering to the gluten free community. Leave Google reviews and website reviews.

Contact a gluten free business owner to tell them they’re doing a great job and you really appreciate what they do. That might be just what they need to hear at the moment.

Practical Support Advice for Gluten Free Brands

There are simple steps that all of us can take to spread the word and help out those who are making an effort to expand to the gluten free market. The work is not only limited to those who are exclusively gluten free.

Visit locations that have gluten free offerings in a shared kitchen. If they demonstrate knowledge of coeliac disease and showcase the right safety protocols, then we need to walk through the doors, give them a review, and a shoutout if they merit it. Tell your family and friends about the gluten free places who are doing a great job, especially those living with coeliac disease.

We’ve got a long way to go for coeliac disease and gluten free awareness, but highlighting businesses looking after us and going out of their way to help our community will lead to improvement.

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