For over seven years I checked in with the owners of My Friend's Place re: the chance they might start offering gluten-free bread. The location nearest us was owned by some people that were not too happy when I went into to order the egg and chicken salads to-go back in 2007. They apparently thought it was a pain to get new containers of the food and use clean scoops in order to ensure the salads remained gluten-free. I wasn't that bummed when that location went out of business since I eventually stopped going there due their lame attitude.
Fast forward to a couple of months back when I checked the MFP website and saw a huge gluten-free bread notice and a photo of Udi's bread in the home page. It said something like 'now offering gluten-free sandwiches' - how exciting! There was only one problem. As I started dialing location after location of MFP, I quickly learned that very few of them actually had gluten-free bread. Worse than that, several people I spoke to seemed more than annoyed by the question about the new gluten-free bread. One manager went so far as to say 'we don't get any requests for gluten-free sandwiches so it's not cost effective for us to have it'. The problem with that comment is that his location is DIRECTLY across the street from a Jason's Deli that I regularly meet gluten-free friends for lunch at. But of course, he could be right. Maybe everyone knows to go to Jason's for fab gluten-free sandwiches (and chicken fingers, baked potatoes and ice cream!) and bypasses My Friend's Place.
It took some time, but I finally found out that the company is rolling out gluten-free service to ALL locations eventually. But it's going to take some time as they have to train everyone on proper gluten-free service before they can safely offer gluten-free options. And the company is definitely interested in doing it right which I very much appreciate. As of now, the only location I'm aware of that has gluten-free sandwiches is the Norcross location. The one in Augusta might as well, but be sure to check in advance at your location before assuming you can get gluten-free sandwiches there. And if you want to move the gluten-free service process along, be sure to request gluten-free bread at your location by sending the company's corporate office an email (click here). The phone number is also on the page.
It didn't occur to me to take a screen grab of the MFP website to prove they did have the gluten-free bread announcement and it's now gone. But it was there and hopefully, it will be there again soon!
Fast forward to a couple of months back when I checked the MFP website and saw a huge gluten-free bread notice and a photo of Udi's bread in the home page. It said something like 'now offering gluten-free sandwiches' - how exciting! There was only one problem. As I started dialing location after location of MFP, I quickly learned that very few of them actually had gluten-free bread. Worse than that, several people I spoke to seemed more than annoyed by the question about the new gluten-free bread. One manager went so far as to say 'we don't get any requests for gluten-free sandwiches so it's not cost effective for us to have it'. The problem with that comment is that his location is DIRECTLY across the street from a Jason's Deli that I regularly meet gluten-free friends for lunch at. But of course, he could be right. Maybe everyone knows to go to Jason's for fab gluten-free sandwiches (and chicken fingers, baked potatoes and ice cream!) and bypasses My Friend's Place.
It took some time, but I finally found out that the company is rolling out gluten-free service to ALL locations eventually. But it's going to take some time as they have to train everyone on proper gluten-free service before they can safely offer gluten-free options. And the company is definitely interested in doing it right which I very much appreciate. As of now, the only location I'm aware of that has gluten-free sandwiches is the Norcross location. The one in Augusta might as well, but be sure to check in advance at your location before assuming you can get gluten-free sandwiches there. And if you want to move the gluten-free service process along, be sure to request gluten-free bread at your location by sending the company's corporate office an email (click here). The phone number is also on the page.
It didn't occur to me to take a screen grab of the MFP website to prove they did have the gluten-free bread announcement and it's now gone. But it was there and hopefully, it will be there again soon!
