Is the Gluten-Free Market Over Saturated?

Atlanta is probably the most gluten-free friendly city in the Southeast. Dining-out options here are too many for one person to experience unless they eat out most every day. It seems that each week brings another new gluten-free menu or gluten-free pizza option. There is not a 100% gluten-free bakery here yet but one is opening here soon!

When speaking to someone at the health food store where I get most of my gluten-free items, the guy working there asked me why I bought gluten-free products. We discussed both celiac and gluten intolerance and he then shared that 2 of 10 adults shopping there are buying gluten-free food. That is 20% of the customers there and we know only 1% of the population has celiac. Since most of them don’t even know it yet, the diagnosed number is much less than 1%. That means that a LOT of people who don’t have celiac are buying gluten-free food. Some buy it for their autistic children and others buy it to treat their arthritis or migraines. There are actually a host of health issues that people treat with a gluten-free diet.

The store mentioned above was where I overheard two women complaining about the gluten-free tags everywhere. One of the ladies actually said, “what’s with all this gluten-free stuff, it’s taking over the store!”. I had to stop myself from bursting into laughter when I heard that. Maybe that woman now knows how we feel at most mainstream grocery stores where the shelves, bakery racks, and freezers are filled mostly with gluten products.

Actually, the woman’s comment reminded me of how aggravated I was when Atkins-approved items started popping up everywhere in the store, several years back. I was not ever on the Atkins diet and found it ridiculous that every week a new item was marked “reformulated – now Atkins approved!” These days I wonder if food companies are going overboard jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon. How many gluten-free products do we really need? There are more gluten-free baking mixes available here than gluten ones. Most food shoppers are not following the gluten-free diet, yet you’d think half of the people shopping at Whole Foods were eating gluten-free, based on all their gluten-free tags that line the shelves and freezers at our location these days.

Personally, I love variety so I’m not complaining that there are too many products for us to enjoy. I just wonder if the market can sustain itself or if we’ll wake up eventually to find many of our favorite foods off the market. Larger companies will buy some of the old favorite brands. In fact, it seems that some of the larger companies are already buying some gluten-free products from popular gluten-free brands, but due to non-disclosure agreements, none of the companies involved in this practice will go on record about it.

What is unfortunate in my opinion, is that people in large cities have so many gluten-free food options while those in smaller communities have hardly any. Do we need 10 gluten-free waffle options before others have one? It’s all about supply and demand, of course. More people eating gluten-free equals more choices for them than in areas with very few people following the gluten-free diet. Last year we visited a grocery store where no one working there knew what gluten-free meant. Obviously, that store did not have one single gluten-free replacement food. It was kind of shocking and sad at the same time. All I could think about was the people who lived there that might be living gluten-free.

Everyone in the gluten-free community benefits when the market size grows. Even though we’re not on a trendy diet, like Atkins followers were, the gluten-free market is growing so quickly that it’s hard to imagine that it can sustain this kind of growth long term. The problem is that the mainstream food companies that are paying attention to our market (finally!) tend to follow diet trends. Soon enough there will be a new diet trend for them to jump on. Even though most people on the gluten-free diet are not being trendy, it seems unclear if mainstream food companies completely grasp that concept. Hopefully, the powers that be will read this Progressive Grocer article that explains the gluten-free market is here to stay.