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Last year I started a letter writing campaign asking restaurants  to serve  
gluten free food.  I just got this response. And, for  all you Chicagoans it  
is 
only good news for us!!! The Francesca's  chain now carries gluten free 
pasta. 
I have no idea about anything else  there. I have eaten the mushroom  pasta 
twice and it was  great. 

Here is the  correspondence 

Ms.  Smith, 
Don’t know if you are  on our email list, but I wanted to let you know that 
we didn’t forget about  you.  Hope to see you in our restaurants soon! 
Kurt  Lefler 
Director of  Operations 
Francesca’s  Restaurants 
     

I am a frequent diner at your  restaurants and it is always a struggle to 
find things that are gluten  free that I can eat. I sit ck to the salads. Last 
time I did bring my own  pizza crust and they sauced it up and it was great. I 
would like your  restaurant to be aware of the national campaign, "Gluten-free 
is Good for  Business." There are currently 2.2 million Americans that are 
affected by  Celiac disease. These 2.2 million diners seek out restaurants with  
gluten-free menu items. Restaurants seeking to improve sales can do so by  
offering gluten free menus in addition to their standard menus.  Gluten-free menu 
items can only increase traffic and referral business.  Adding these menus, 
prevents customer loss to restaurants that offer  gluten-free menus. 
Gluten-free menus expand the number of diners beyond  those who order the gluten- free 
choices. We have family, friends, and  co-workers who dine with us. When we go 
out to eat, the restaurant chosen  is one that will accommodate the Celiac in 
the group. We take clients out  to lunch and they take us out. Our companies 
have holiday parties. We have  family reunions, we have weddings, and we have 
baby showers. We celebrate  birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines Day, and 
Mother's Day. Only one diner  of the 5, 25 or 100 diners in the group may order 
from the gluten-free  menu. But, you can be sure we chose that restaurant because 
they had a  gluten free menu. Several national chains now have gluten-free 
menus. P.  F. Changs, Bonefish Grill, Wild Fire, and Outback Steak House all 
have  gluten-free menus. They make it easy for Celiacs to dine there and those  
Celiacs bring other diners with them. One gluten-free diner may bring 5 or  6 
diners ordering from the standard menu. See this recent article, "More  
restaurants offering gluten-free menus; increasing awareness of people  with 
incurable wheat allergies " http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9144025/  Thank you. Diane 
Smith 
___________________________________________________________       
     
     
   
  
   


     

 (http://www.francescarestaurants.com/) 

     
     
  
Gluten-Free Pasta  has arrived! 
Francesca's  is happy to announce the arrival of our newest addition  to the 
menu, gluten-free pasta!

One in 300  American's is not able to enjoy traditional pasta  because of a 
severe allergy to gluten - don't these  folks deserve a bowl of Francesca's 
piping hot pasta  just the same as anyone else? We think they do! So we've  made 
gluten-free pasta available with a bevy of sauces  to choose from!

Join us soon and remember to  mention "gluten-free" when making you  
reservations.

 
     



    













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