GF Naturals at Costco?

You may recall that I had written about some great chicken nuggets I had at the GIG  conference in June.  At that time, they were only being sold to food service companies.  🙁

However, GF Naturals breaded chicken products can now be found in some smaller health food stores.

But the big news is that they are working with Costco!

Have you bought gluten-free chicken nuggets in the past?  Did you think they were really expensive?  Were you one of the unfortunate people who bought nuggets packaged as gluten-free, but weren’t?

We had the opportunity to try the chicken tenderloins from GF Naturals at the September North Texas GIG meeting.  The COO, Robert Hapanowicz, and I had some good discussions as he cooked the chicken next to my book table.

GF Naturals is certified gluten-free by the GFCO.  That means that you can eat them with confidence that they are truly gluten-free.  They are breaded with whole grains (brown rice and millet, if I recall correctly), and are also milk/casein/lactose free and peanut-free (each certified by independent laboratories).

If GF Naturals can get their products into Costco, then they estimate the price will be around $3.50 to $4.00 a pound.  Yep, that’s what I said.

Costco representatives like the taste of the products, and think they are great products, but they are not sure what kind of a market there is for them.

So, what does that mean for us?

Well, one of the ways that Costco stores choose which products they will carry is based on customer feedback.  If there are a number of people who ask for a certain product, then they will be highly likely to carry it.

So head to your nearest Costco, or even multiple locations, and let them know that you are interested in GF Naturals breaded chicken products.  Simply fill out a customer comment card.  It’s that easy.

Not a Costco member?  I’ve been told that anyone can fill out those cards.  Perhaps you might even want to write on it that you would be more likely to purchase a Costco membership if they carried a wider variety of gluten-free products.

It probably wouldn’t hurt to send an email to corporate, either.

It’s exciting to see the new gluten-free products that are coming out on the market.