Free-from baking
Having Your Cake and Eating It Malcolm Jack meets the folk behind Lazy Day Foods, Lanarkshire’s free-from specialists
F
rom Tunnock’s HQ to Border Biscuits, it’s fair to say Lanarkshire’s got a serious sweet tooth. Which could make life all the more frustrating for people in the area with food intolerances – be it wheat, dairy, gluten or egg. That is if it wasn’t for Lazy Day Foods, a fast-growing luxury baker run by a pair of inventive food scientists, specialising in freefrom treats so delicious you can’t tell the difference. Based out of a custom-built kitchen in Chapelhall, North Lanarkshire, the company was founded by Dr Sally Beattie and Emer Bustard in 2006, partly in frustration at a lack of quality products suitable to their personal dietary requirements. ‘Our kids both had problems with various foods too,’ says Bustard, ‘so we felt there was an opportunity to use our knowledge.’ What Lazy Day recognises in particular is that intolerances often come not individually but in combinations. So their Belgian dark chocolatedipped ginger snaps, millionaire’s shortbread and Belgian dark chocolate tiffin all come free from the full suite of major problem ingredients – and vegans can indulge too.
‘The start point hopefully people recognise,’ Beattie says of their precision baking process, ‘and the end part hopefully people recognise. But the middle part is a little bit different. That’s where our training has really come into its own.’ The Lazy Day range has proven hugely popular not just locally but increasingly further afield too, with delicatessens and health food shops, cafés, hotels and three major supermarkets now stocking them – and they’re also beginning to ship abroad to Ireland, Dubai and the US. They’ve won several awards, and not just in freefrom specific categories. Certain anecdotal evidence tells the Lazy Day ladies that there’s a strong appetite for what they do. ‘We’ve had a couple of our customers say that they have to buy boxes and hide them at the back of the cupboard because the rest of the family will eat them,’ laughs Beattie. ‘Before, they could leave them right on the work surface and nobody would have touched them. So we take that as a real compliment.’ ■ lazydayfoods.com
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