AT THE TABLE: Allergy-friendly desserts

How do you cater to customers with allergies or lactose intolerance?

"We quite often get asked if we do dairy-free, vegan and the most commonly asked question, do we do gluten-free? We keep it pretty simple and stick to what we know, which is lots of flour, sugar and butter. As the market is growing there are specific markets for all of these things now so we cater for what we enjoy making and what I’m also good at. Doughnuts, cheesecakes, pies, slices and good old classic baked goods."

"Very easily. Jenna and I are chefs by trade, so we have always had customers asking if we can change their dishes to suit their needs. With that experience, it has helped us to be able to cater for all allergies and dietary requirements even vegans, diabetics, keto dieters. Being able to cater to everyone was very important to us as well, as we wanted everyone to enjoy our products."

"Being an authentic French patisserie and wanting to share both our passion and experience with all New Zealanders, we have limited options when it comes to allergies. We will cater for mostly gluten-free, as going dairy-free or catering to those who are vegan or lactose intolerant would remove the true nature of our work. There are fine establishments that are more suited than us for this."

"Catering for customers who have special dietary needs can be very tricky. Here at Piper & Doornuts HQ, we are a kitchen which is surrounded by flours, dairy, nuts and other allergens. However, we do offer a few of our American style cream pies as gluten-free and have a wonderful vegan doughnut too. But we do communicate with those customers and let them know that there is the possibility of cross-contamination."