Droppa & Droppa Limited is celebrating ten years of trading on 5th May. From humble beginnings as an artisan gluten, wheat and dairy free bakery, the business has grown and diversified to include training on catering for gluten free diets. To celebrate the anniversary, Droppa & Droppa is running a competition with the following prizes: a two nights’ stay for two in The Red Lion Hotel, Clovelly; Afternoon Tea for two in The Chesterfield Hotel, Mayfair; and entrance and lunch for two in Marwood Hill Gardens, Barnstaple. If you are a food business then there are ten DVDs of the training to be won. The competition will run from the 1st to the 18th May 2015 inclusive. To win one of these great prizes, entrants can either go to wwwdroppaanddroppa.com on Facebook and like and share its last post, or alternatively find droppaanddroppa on Twitter and re-tweet the last post.
Ferenc and Jocelyn Droppa set up their micro bakery after giving up the rat race in London and moving to Devon in 2004. Ferenc initially contracted back to London in his previous job as a Customer Services Project Manager for a financial printing company, whilst Jocelyn looked after their two small children. The couple spent the first six months getting used to their new surroundings and pace of life, whilst they decided what they wanted to do. Having no family to assist with childcare locally, it was an obvious choice to work from home. Jocelyn, having been diagnosed as a coeliac (an autoimmune illness where the only ‘cure’ is adherence to a strict gluten free diet for life) ten years prior, had always baked bread, cakes and pies, so it was a natural progression to try and sell them locally.
They began with a few local clients and over time built the business up to selling to hotels, cafes, pubs and restaurants throughout the country. The Free From business has grown massively in the past ten years and Droppa & Droppa has seen many changes. “Initially, the industry consisted of a handful of small manufacturers and one or two large companies,” said Director Ferenc Droppa. “Gluten free food was long life and either was available at specialist health food shops or on prescription if you were a diagnosed coeliac. Now the market has opened up and free from food aisles can be found in every supermarket – there’s fresh bread, cakes, pasta, biscuits…..the list is endless.
“This rapid growth has had an impact on small manufacturers like us. However, the advent of recent Allergen Laws has heralded even greater change. In January 2012, the EU issued a directive with regards to food labelling and it re-classified the definition of gluten free. Then in December 2014, it became compulsory for all food service providers to declare any allergens (there are 14 recognised allergens) present in their food.
“We realised caterers would require training and as experts in gluten free we set about assisting the food service industry in managing the gluten free offering. We began by running training seminars back in 2011. After the success of these face-to-face seminars we developed a DVD and an on-line version, so that businesses could access the material wherever they were based. Crucially, users can re-visit and watch the DVD and / or on-line training as often as required, and at their own pace. This facility to view the course material multiple times offers a cost effective means of training new, temporary and / or seasonal staff. It’s not just about selling a gluten free meal it’s also about how it’s handled from the kitchen right through to the front of house."
