Chartwells Partners With Equipment Maker on Gluten-Free Initiative

Chartwells Higher Education Dining Services and Bready North America have announced a partnership on a gluten-free dining initiative for Chartwells' college dining customers. It will allow Chartwells to provide customers suffering from celiac disease or gluten sensitivity with freshly made, moist, flavorful bread and cake products made without gluten ingredients through the use of Bready's countertop-sized robotic baking system, the first fully-automatic bread machine approved by the Celiac Sprue Association.

The Bready machines were piloted at select college and university dining halls in conjunction with Chartwells' made without gluten program. They included the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, University of Miami, Quinnipiac University, the University of Nevada Reno and the University of Maryland Baltimore Count.

Bready's system produces freshly baked products on-site within about two hours. They include a dozen different bread and cake mix selections such as olive and sun dried tomato, pecan spice, apple cinnamon and chocolate, as well as burger buns and pizza crust. Mixes come in pre-sealed biodegradable bags that eliminat product exposure to the environmen, a critical consideration when defining foods labeled as made without gluten.

"We're excited to partner with Chartwells to provide unique, great tasting, fresh baked foods to a growing student population who must adhere to a gluten-restricted diet," says Bready North America President/CEO Holly Smith-Berry. "Bready is a turnkey baking solution that combines patented software and mechanics to automatically knead, rise and bake our all-natural, proprietary mixes—all in a compact machine. The finished products are soft, evenly textured breads, cakes, pizza crust, buns and muffins."

A variety of Chartwells recipes have been introduced to resident dining and catering operations on campuses specifically for gluten sensitive guests. A solid recipe set was also developed from foods that naturally do not contain gluten.

Chartwells nutrition experts and regional chefs from the Chartwells Culinary Network have also created a training program around the recipes about proper preparation and serving techniques when feeding guests with gluten sensitivity. Some recipes include cinnamon French toast, vegetable pakoras, tikka fish skewers with yogurt and pappadams, korma chicken curry and spicy Middle Eastern meatloaf.

"Many commercially pre-packaged, pre-manufactured products have a high price tag and are not affordable for many students," explains Chef Michael Lemon, Chartwells' vice president of culinary innovations. "With our made without gluten batch cooking, students with gluten sensitivity now have many more meal options and are no longer destined to eat at the salad bar every day."

Since gluten particles can become airborne, truly dedicated gluten free dining facilities have not made their way onto college campuses yet; although, special food preparation areas are being examined and utilized at this time.

"Over the years we have received increasing inquiries from parents and students about food sensitivities along with requests for our menu cycles to see what foods are edible," explains Laura Lapp MS, RD, Chartwells' director of nutrition. "Now, not only does the Chartwells made without gluten program accommodate current students' needs with regard to this particular food protein sensitivity, but it also provides a valuable resource for recruitment and retention efforts for our clients."