Wall St Journal-general Mills "wheat Free" Push

[babysteps]

Here's the link to the article, although it may require a subscription to see the whole thing:

Open Original Shared Link

Basically, General Mills figured out that people who eat gluten-free are very loyal customers. So their marketing costs for gluten-free can be low - some booths at gluten-free events, a little targeted advertising on gluten-free websites, and away they go. Article says General Mills tests their production facility to "assure a gluten free environment" and that they expect to charge about $2 more per box of gluten-free Betty Crocker mix vs. non-gluten-free.

While the headline says "wheat free", the entire article is about gluten-free (including a sentence about increasing diagnosis of celiac disease).

There's also a graph that cites "Mintel Global New Products Database" as source that shows almost 6,000 new products in 2008 claimed to be gluten-free, but that less than a quarter of those were US-based.

I have a subscription and it lets me email an accessible link of the article, if you are interested in reading the whole thing and the link doesn't work for you, send me a pm (I am about to head out for a long weekend, so if you don't hear from me before Monday Jul 6th don't get worried).

[kenlove]

Thanks for posting the link. Been hearing about this all day. COUld nto see the whole story but the comments were interesting!

ken

Here's the link to the article, although it may require a subscription to see the whole thing:

Open Original Shared Link

Basically, General Mills figured out that people who eat gluten-free are very loyal customers. So their marketing costs for gluten-free can be low - some booths at gluten-free events, a little targeted advertising on gluten-free websites, and away they go. Article says General Mills tests their production facility to "assure a gluten free environment" and that they expect to charge about $2 more per box of gluten-free Betty Crocker mix vs. non-gluten-free.

While the headline says "wheat free", the entire article is about gluten-free (including a sentence about increasing diagnosis of celiac disease).

There's also a graph that cites "Mintel Global New Products Database" as source that shows almost 6,000 new products in 2008 claimed to be gluten-free, but that less than a quarter of those were US-based.

I have a subscription and it lets me email an accessible link of the article, if you are interested in reading the whole thing and the link doesn't work for you, send me a pm (I am about to head out for a long weekend, so if you don't hear from me before Monday Jul 6th don't get worried).

[daphniela]

Here's the link to the article, although it may require a subscription to see the whole thing:

Open Original Shared Link

Basically, General Mills figured out that people who eat gluten-free are very loyal customers. So their marketing costs for gluten-free can be low - some booths at gluten-free events, a little targeted advertising on gluten-free websites, and away they go. Article says General Mills tests their production facility to "assure a gluten free environment" and that they expect to charge about $2 more per box of gluten-free Betty Crocker mix vs. non-gluten-free.

While the headline says "wheat free", the entire article is about gluten-free (including a sentence about increasing diagnosis of celiac disease).

There's also a graph that cites "Mintel Global New Products Database" as source that shows almost 6,000 new products in 2008 claimed to be gluten-free, but that less than a quarter of those were US-based.

I have a subscription and it lets me email an accessible link of the article, if you are interested in reading the whole thing and the link doesn't work for you, send me a pm (I am about to head out for a long weekend, so if you don't hear from me before Monday Jul 6th don't get worried).

I haven't found the Betty Crocker gluten free mixes yet. I just live without desserts unless, I make it from scratch. If its $2 more, I will never buy it. A lot of times the stores around here have 5 for $5 sales on Betty Crocker mixes. If that's not going to include the gluten free mixes, I will live without.

[Mskedi]

Here the Betty Crocker mixes were $1 more than the other mixes, so I bought them for a reasonable price. Not bad. I haven't tried them yet... I don't actually often make desserts, but I was so excited to see them that I couldn't resist.

That article was interesting. I didn't think about how much they could save on marketing costs since they can depend on a pretty loyal market for their gluten-free products.

[Maddy1]

Here the Betty Crocker mixes were $1 more than the other mixes, so I bought them for a reasonable price. Not bad. I haven't tried them yet... I don't actually often make desserts, but I was so excited to see them that I couldn't resist.

That article was interesting. I didn't think about how much they could save on marketing costs since they can depend on a pretty loyal market for their gluten-free products.

A friend just found them for me in her local Roche Bros. They were on special for 2/$7. It's a little steep when they're not on sale though.

But let me tell you.........DELICIOUS and very easy! I've had the brownies and the chocolate cake, which I made cupcakes with and froze the extra for later. Nobody, not even my very picky husband knew they were gluten-free. Making the cupcakes made sense for freezing and portion control.