November 09, 2017
Michael Rivera/Creative Commons
Jersey Mike's location in Valdosta, Georgia.
National hoagie chain Jersey Mike's will introduce a gluten-free roll next month as the expanding franchise seeks to provide safe options for customers with gluten intolerance.
The Manasquan-based restaurant, named the second fastest-growing restaurant chain in 2016, now has more than 1,300 locations across the country. Known for baking its bread in-house, Jersey Mike's has partnered with Colorado-based Udi's, a gluten-free specialist, to offer pre-manufactured rolls at locations nationwide, according to Restaurant News.
The company has reportedly been testing the bread at about 200 locations over the past two years and will move forward with a full rollout of the offering on Dec. 4.
Jersey Mike's previously attempted to bake its own gluten-free rolls with dough from a wholesaler but found that consistency was too difficult to achieve while meeting standards to avoid cross-contamination.
This time around, the company worked with the Gluten Intolerance Group to develop employee training and other procudures for the new rolls.
The regular gluten-free rolls may cost an extra $1.50 and "giant" gluten-free rolls another $3.
Jersey Mike's CEO Mike Manzo said he'd like to see the new rolls account for about 5 percent of sales going forward.
