Well, I know normally, that a year-end summary is a cheap way to add to a blog BUT forgive me for thinking that the end of 2011 & “THE NEW YEAR” really must be noted for us at www.gluten-freeshop.co.uk
It was almost exactly 6 months ago that we became the “new ” & very proud owners of the Gluten-Freeshop Ltd. Julian had decided his future lay in his core business & we had a great interest in providing Gluten-free foods & Gluten-free Beer which tasted good, had a broader appeal than what seemed available in the supermarkets & was both good tasting & good value.
We really only knew 2 things for certain:
- Coeliacs & other gluten intolerant people get a somewhat raw deal. as they can’t always get, what is nice tasting or “normal” flavoured or even consider consuming some products which they liked before diagnosis & which are out there, without it being a full-time researchers job.
- We only were scratching the surface by taking on GFS Ltd.
We did have, however, some very definite ideas on what we should & hopefully could do to change this!
- As we are not all Coeliac, we could compare the tastes & textures of various foods/brands & styles, without the worry that we’d all be ill or doing ourselves major internal damage.
- We would get the range altered to meet the preferences of our customers, where generally the Supermarkets can’t tread because it is outside their profit/business plan parameters. Why? because as long as we ONLY OFFER Gluten-free everything, there is no risk to our customers & we don’t have shareholders to worry about only us.
- There is a vast range of good gluten-free foods & a world wide range of Gluten-Free Beer to try, to offer and to provide if only People knew about us & helped us get the stuff they wanted rather than just the basic staples usually seen in the small section on supermarket shelves.
- We could get near the prices (we might even sometimes beat) supermarkets & specialist shops charge, because we can supply & deliver a whole range of shopping & so delivery costs end up as no more & probably less than the cost of petrol & time it takes our customers to “shlep” around all the shops buying one bit here & one or two bits there & we could make it convenient!
- We also believed that although we must be an “On-line” business, if we were available at the end of a phone, those who would rather deal with a person than a machine could be helped, & so we have both a land-line Number 01455 213344, a mobile to receive texts & talk when we’re not at a desk 07969 150104 & of course a fax so mistakes in orders can be minimised.
Well we’ve begun, we’ve changed some of our foods, hopefully for better tasting and/or better value products. We’ve started call backs & tracking of deliveries & pre-emptive actions to ensure deliveries work out better & faster & of course we’ve reduced the delivery time & cost/wieght all over the country but particularly to Scotland which often suffers with higher delivery costs than is truly necessary.
We do still have a long way to go, new beers are coming in the very near future, new foods are being added all the while, we want to add information for our customers or just the interested in Gluten-free foods, & this is on-going BUT we’ve made a start! This blog being part of it.
WE NEED YOUR HELP… please let us know what we should offer & how we are doing otherwise we won’t know!
Let us have your thoughts to pass on to Coeliacs everywhere through the blog & for our info pages & of course:
- if you’ve not tried us, come & try,
- If you have come back again,
- if you found us wanting et us know so we can put it right
- & if you have ANY chance to spread the word PLEASE DO,
- Follow us on twitter & facebook, spread the good stuff & stupid comments they are meant to be funny or Poignant.
- we are committed to helping all lead a First class lifestyle not limit Coeliacs as many seem to do.
Thanks for your support & ALL THE VERY BEST for a Happy, Healthy & Prospreous 2012 & beyond.
Mart, Sandra, Bob & the Team