Executive Carl Stealey smiled as he recalled one of the most successful R&D projects the New York Bakery brand has ever undertaken: Gluten-Free Texas Toast.
“This is a fun anecdote,” Stealey told The Food Institute. “We were working with a grocery buyer, and she had been told by her spouse not to bring home any more gluten-free bread products, because he would not eat them.
“Last time we saw her, for the last three months they had eaten nothing but our gluten-free Texas Toast – and he had no idea it was gluten-free,” added Stealey, president of the retail division at New York Bakery’s parent company, T. Marzetti.
Currently, New York Bakery’s Gluten-Free Texas Toast is available at retailers like Walmart and Publix, as part of a phased roll-out. By all accounts, the product appears to be a gluten-free game-changer.
New York Bakery expects the gluten-free category to grow by no less than 10% over the next decade, largely due to growing awareness of food allergies.
Marzetti’s research indicates that as many as 25% of consumers currently follow a gluten-free diet.
For years, gluten-free products “were brittle, they were mushy, they were lacking taste, they were lacking texture,” Stealey said. “Many have tried. None have succeeded.
“We knew there was a consumer need,” he added. “We dedicated resources. We formulated a patent-pending recipe. We took the process, and instead of having the traditional, batter-based gluten-free options, we made an actual alternative to dough – that is the huge breakthrough.”
After considering a gluten-free bread product for nearly a decade, New York Bakery’s thorough R&D process resulted in a gluten-free Texas Toast that boasts chewiness reasonably similar to traditional bread. That has proven to be no easy feat for most brands.
“Gluten-free bread consumers complain about taste or an unacceptable texture,” Stealey said. “And it doesn’t have that full, rich bread experience.”
So far, though, consumer response to New York Bakery’s gluten-free product has been quite positive.
“We do product testing in a blinded format,” Stealey said. “Our gluten-free product actually tests as well as many national non-gluten-free products. We have significant wins (versus) every player in the marketplace today – I’m talking 2X-type wins.”
Stealey said the product is manufactured in a gluten-free-only facility and has attained a gluten-free certification. The gluten-free Texas Toast will expand to retailers throughout the U.S. in March.
“What we’re hearing,” Stealey said, “is that we’re filling a much-needed void in the marketplace, of providing consumers the taste and texture that they want, and really desire, in a bread product.”
The Food Institute Podcast
Is it possible to balance a legacy brand and innovative ideas for a food company? Bibie Wu, chief communications and technical development officer with Del Monte, shares how her company respects its past while looking to the future, and how her dual roles in marketing and product development inform each other and improve the company.
