GF Madison WI

Tim · Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 64

I had a great experience in Madison this past weekend.

Using the Madison Celiac website I found a couple great spots. One is a chain, Biaggio. An upscale Olive Garden with GF pasta, pretty decent sized GF menu and wait staff and kitchen staff that knew what do to. I prefer advance reservations for GF dining because they'll set the kitchen up for the night GF if they have advanced warning. I was told that they would accomdate GF dining w/o reservs but it might take longer to eat because they have to modify the kitchen.

The best stop was place called Bunky's Cafe. They bill themselves as Mediterenean - Italian. They have GF beer, pasta, pizza crust, garlic bread. Plus a lot "shouldn't be gluten" menu items. I asked the owner/hostess how I could tell the GF stuff on the menu and she said there are only two things on the menu that could not be made GF. They also have extensive vegan selections.

The owner told me she had someone working on GF ravioli and gave us their try at GF cheesecake (I'm not as sweet tooth, but I'd never turn this stuff down. My glutinous wife thought it superb as well)

The best part of Bunky's is that the owners have no personal connection with Celiac. They started having GF food after customers starting asking for it. Now they are experimenting on what else to put on the menu for us.

Bunky's was by far the most pleasant dining experience I've had in the last 6 months.

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8506 Location: WI, USA

Hey thanks Tim!! I see a trip to Madtown in my future Smile

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Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

gluten-free-mike · Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 349 Location: Cleveland, OH

I had a lady from Madison, WI order my cookbook recently, and she also hinted to me in an Email how she planned to look around for possible restaurant locations -- places where she could open a place of business up there in Madison. She wants to open a restaurant dedicated to gluten-free foods, so here's hoping she finds the demand for it, and a place to set one up! Keep your eyes open, there may be a new GF place in the future near you.
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Mike
GF Since 2003
Severe weakness for Desserts

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8506 Location: WI, USA

Thanks for the heads up Mike. Madison would be the place to do it! Milwaukee too. Any of the larger cities.

If I had big enough b___s, I'd step out and do it here in my hometown of < 8000. My heart fully believes in "Build it and they will come", it just has to convince my head and the bank! Wink

LOL
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Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

gluten-free-mike · Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 349 Location: Cleveland, OH

Al, as with any specialty-market to target, the trick is reaching critical-mass close enough to wherever you open such a place of business. That'd probably be a bit rough in a town of 8000 or so, even if every (statistically affected with CD) person was aware of their condition. I'm finding it hard enough to get a broad-reach even over the internet, especially since I am not selling via Amazon or another major player.

I can only imagine how difficult it'd be to get a GF business up and running in a relatively small town. I'd have to believe you would need to develop a good-sized mail-order business to complement the local demand in order to make it. I'm a firm believer in a concept I call "micro businesses", which basically is to not just jump headfirst into a high-risk adventure like opening a retail presence, without first having modeled the business on a small/micro-level out of your house or such first. Spread the word that you are distributing a few wonderful GF products or whatever you have in mind, work out a deal with a couple wholesalers, and start connecting with buyers. If it works out on a small scale, it may just grow into something larger. And, it eliminates that risk of saying "I quit" at a job prematurely Smile

Sure, the downside exists in that it is tough to put enough time into the idea early on, but it'll give you a way to guage demand. When my book was still in "concept mode", the thing that convinced me to push to the finish line was all the great feedback from retail places that were looking forward to selling it, and from people that we talked to and had on an interested-parties list very early on.

So Al, if it's something you really want to do... I sure hope you get your chance to do so. I already can recommend at least one product you can sell when you are ready Smile

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Mike
GF Since 2003
Severe weakness for Desserts

operater · Joined: 06 Apr 2006 Posts: 61 Location: Northern Illinois

You need to check out this bakery there it is the greatest. The muffins are to die for

http://www.sillyyakbakery.com/index3.html
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Jan

aklap · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 8506 Location: WI, USA

Here's a list from a local support group:

http://www.glutenfreemadison.org/Restaurants.html
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Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

GFPolarBear · Joined: 07 Mar 2007 Posts: 279 Location: WI