A Dunfermline city centre cafe owner has revealed why her business went 100% gluten-free – and how she is changing “bad impressions” with her home baking.
Jiordia Wragg opened Plaza Real on Douglas Street in July 2024 alongside her husband, Nathan, who has coeliac disease.
Initially, she planned on serving a 95% homemade and gluten-free menu, with the rest bought in from external suppliers.
However, she soon realised that the cafe was too small to avoid cross-contamination and decided to cut out all gluten products within weeks.
Dunfermline cafe owner says customers ‘can’t tell the difference’ after going 100% gluten-free
Jiordia told The Courier: “We’re 100% gluten-free with no cross-contamination at all.
“Everything is completely homemade in the shop, we don’t buy any of our food from suppliers or outsource anything.
“We decided to go 100% gluten-free as we knew the risk of cross-contamination would be an issue.
“Thankfully with our food, you can’t tell the difference anyway.”
Jiordia will often spend more than 10 hours a day at the cafe and has been known to start work at 2am to ensure everything is ready.
She makes most of the goods herself – from the cakes to her sausage rolls.
She said: “Everything is homemade except the bread but I have been thinking about making bread myself.
“We are also selling cakes to other businesses – our best-selling item is our brownies or our dairy-free and gluten-free loaf cake.
“When people walk into the shop they will see the shelves overflowing with cakes.
Customers travel from all over to visit Dunfermline gluten-free cafe
“Store-bought, gluten-free products have definitely created a bad impression around gluten-free foods.
“For example, baked goods are often dry and crumbly, but I make sure ours aren’t like that.
“We were both students before opening and both from working-class backgrounds so it was a huge risk, but despite the less-than-ideal economy things are improving consistently.”
Jiordia believes the cafe is also helping boost tourism in Dunfermline, with customers travelling from all over to sample her goods.
She added: “It is very overwhelming and it is hard to believe people are visiting just to come here.
“Hopefully more people, coeliac or otherwise, will see the value of having an independently owned gluten-free cafe.”
In December, Jiordia told of her shock after receiving racist abuse from a teenager while working in the cafe.
Police have since confirmed a 13-year-old boy was charged in connection with the incident.
The Courier previously looked at five places to find gluten-free food in Fife.
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