Rise and rise of gluten-free loaf

GENIUS Foods, based in Edinburgh, has confirmed its meteoric rise by usurping Mother’s Pride in the list of Britain’s best-known bread brands.

The company, which was founded only three years ago, has been ranked in 9th place in The Grocer magazine’s index of best-selling bread brands.

Genius gluten-free bread entered the chart with a 27.6 per cent increase in like-for-like sales to £10 million.

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Founded three years ago by Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, Genius Foods has grown rapidly. Last spring she struck an agreement with Glutino Food Group of Quebec to distribute the Scottish firm’s bread in Canada and the United States

Bruce-Gardyne scored another major coup last year when she landed an exclusive deal to provide Starbucks with gluten-free sandwiches in hundreds of outlets across the UK.

The mother of three from Trinity, Edinburgh, spent three years perfecting the recipe for Genius bread.

She got the company off the ground following a chance meeting with the father of one of her son’s friends, Cairn Energy chairman Sir Bill Gammell, who suffers from a gluten intolerance.

He put her in touch with a brand management firm that helped her build the company. Within the first eight months of Genius’s launch she had sold more than 1.5m loaves.

Bruce-Gardyne intends to double her workforce as she prepares to expand the product range in the UK and branch out into Europe.