As more consumers are looking for healthier meal options, gluten free frozen pizzas are becoming more and more popular. With a large market share, gluten free pizzas are certainly in high demand, creating a big market niche for frozen pizza manufacturers to fill. However, do they have the right equipment to make this type of pizza?
Gluten free pizzas differ from traditional pizzas– the dough is tougher and thicker. As a result, equipment and production processes may need adjusting to facilitate this new specific type of dough. However, not all automated pizza equipment is up to the task.
Here, we’ll explore what gluten free pizza equipment options are available to simplify gluten free manufacturing. We’ll also explore how gluten free pizzas differ and how to find your market share for gluten free pizza eaters.
Connecting With Gluten Free Pizza Eaters
Connecting with gluten free pizza eaters is a must for continued success in the food manufacturing industry. The gluten free frozen pizza market reached almost 3 billion dollars in 2023, and the market share is expected to continue increasing. At nearly 3 billion dollars, brands can significantly miss out on realized value if they don’t compete in the gluten free frozen pizza market.
Still, connecting with gluten free pizza eaters may challenge typical production processes. If your brand doesn’t employ adaptable or versatile equipment, your assembly lines may struggle to create gluten free pizzas. From gluten free pizza dough to easy maintenance between ingredients, gluten free frozen pizza production has unique demands, different from typical pizza production. But, when your brand employs equipment that makes gluten free pizza production possible, it can rely heavily on marketing and package design to promote its new product offering. Showcasing your new gluten free options is a simple, yet effective way to connect with gluten free pizza eaters, allowing your brand its part of the market.
Since the gluten free frozen pizza market is quite considerable, it’s critical that your brand can make such products to meet demand. Successful gluten free frozen pizza production starts with understanding the differences in the production process. The differences in crust content could change how a company can use its automated production equipment. Let’s take a look at how gluten free pizza dough and topping assembly may differ from “regular” pizza assembly.
Gluten Free Pizza Dough: What’s the Difference in Make and Manufacturing?
Gluten free pizza dough can be made with rice flour, almond flour, or potato starch. Because it doesn’t contain gluten, gluten free pizza dough has a much different consistency and texture– they are often crispier. These crusts are also heavier and more crumbly when baked. Gluten free pizzas can also be plant-based pizzas– pizzas that don’t contain any animal products, which also result in different consistencies and textures. Dough texture and contaminant management differ between gluten free and traditional pizza manufacturing.
Managing Texture
If a label’s pizza equipment may not be able to facilitate tougher dough, the machinery can get clogged up, resulting in downtime, and potentially causing costly repairs and extended delays. These disruptions can impact overall efficiency and compromise product quality, ultimately affecting a label’s bottom line.
Contaminant Management
Ensuring a fully gluten-free production process by avoiding contamination can also help your brand connect with more customers. This ensures that no part of the pizza comes in contact with ingredients or equipment that have gluten in them. Avoiding cross-contamination keeps gluten free products safe for customers who rely on them. Employing separate equipment or equipment that is very easy to clean can reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Any gluten can potentially cause serious health effects, so it’s of the utmost importance to prevent cross-contamination.
Managing texture and contaminants makes gluten free pizza manufacturing different from traditional manufacturing. So, what can your label do to achieve an efficient gluten free process? Next, we’ll explore gluten free pizza equipment that meets these unique manufacturing needs.
Finding Gluten Free Pizza Equipment
Your brand can still make iconic pizzas with gluten free crusts by employing adaptable and versatile equipment. Some steps in the manufacturing process may need to be changed in order to accommodate gluten free products. At Quantum, we design our equipment to be flexible and adaptable, allowing brands to easily create gluten free pizzas. Our circle placers, infeed conveyors, topping applicators, and pizza cutters are all built to handle the challenge of gluten free pizza assembly.
Circle Placers
We’ve developed our Quantum Circle Placers to apply cardboard circles, rectangles, and squares of different sizes onto conveyors. These cardboard pieces serve as strong bases as pizzas progress through an assembly line. They are especially helpful for gluten free crusts because of their tougher consistency. Quantum Circle Placers keep pizzas aligned, allowing assembly lines to maintain production pace.
Infeed Conveyors
Infeed conveyors also keep pizzas aligned with topping applicators, ensuring that manufacturing remains orderly and productive. Since gluten free pizzas differ in texture and consistency, infeed conveyors can help maintain consistent orientation and topping application. Quantum Infeed Conveyors are designed to increase product quality through precision alignment technology.
Topping Applicators
Quantum topping applicators include Sauce Applicators, Cheese/Topping Applicators, Meat/Pepperoni Slicers, and Dry/Granular Ingredient Applicators. They are all adaptable and versatile, allowing them to efficiently apply toppings to gluten free pizzas, as long as the products fit under the application area. Our topping applicators can dispense a wide range of ingredients to gluten free pizzas, helping your brand diversify its product line.
Pizza Cutters
Lastly, Quantum Pizza Cutters can accurately cut through the tougher gluten free dough with the same precision as they cut traditional dough. Even slices improve the customer experience, and customers should receive aesthetic pizzas regardless of dough type. Your brand can count on Quantum Pizza Cutters for consistent and uniform slices for your gluten free products.
Quantum gluten free pizza equipment is built to withstand the challenges of frozen pizza manufacturing, including gluten free frozen pizza assembly. Our automated solutions offer simple maintenance and wash-down capabilities, allowing your brand to avoid cross-contamination. Although texture and consistency may differ, our equipment can handle gluten free dough so your brand can make excellent meals that reach a wider customer base.
Connect with More Customers With Quantum
At Quantum, we understand the endless possibility of connecting with customers through innovative recipes. Our industry-leading solutions don’t end at making traditional pizzas. Since gluten free frozen pizzas are becoming more and more popular, we’ve built our automated pizza equipment to facilitate gluten free pizza assembly. Contact our team today to learn more about our gluten free pizza equipment!