Well most bloggers will try and claim their complete impartiality when reviewing products. I am going to start this post by declaring my complete bias for this company, Perkier Foods. I just completely love everything about them, apart from one small thing that I will cover later. The company was founded by coeliac Ann Perkins and partner Steve Turner, who have been producing fabulous gluten free products since 2012.
I first got to hear about Perkier following my first visit to the Allergy and Free From Show in London. I’d somehow managed to miss them at the show, but kept hearing good things about them on Twitter. I subsequently had the chance to meet owners Ann and Steve at a couple of the “Tweet-Ups” I went to in London. They are such a lovely couple and always so generous!
I subsequently ordered delicious brownie, cake pops and rocky road off them whilst they were doing limited orders via email. The products were great, but the only trouble was that living all the way down in Plymouth and the goodies were not easy to get hold of! I made trips to Whole Foods to stock up on Perkier goodies on my next few trips to London.
But it’s not just the products that suck you in. Perkier have such fantastic, colourful and distinctive branding too. The other thing I love about Perkier is the way they engage on social media. These guys really are part of our gluten free community, and over the last couple of years I have shared much (too much?!) banter on Twitter and Facebook with them, and a few other Tweeters (you all know who you are!). They are always running fun competitions, and they are just such a fun company.
This year has been a real breakthrough year for Perkier. Earlier in the year Tesco began to stock their range of porridge and cereal flakes across the country. Whilst not a porridge fan, I was really delighted and maybe even a little proud that these guys had hit the big time. I was also pleased that fellow Perkier fan David was able to review the porridge on Gluten Free by the Sea at the time. The porridge pots have also recently arrived in Sainbury’s. I have tried the fruity berry flakes and they are really good.
Th
e real breakthrough for me though was recently when Tesco started stocking Perkier Tiffin, and most importantly my favourite Rocky Road! The Rocky Road is crunchy biscuit and soft marshmallows enveloped in milk chocolate. I just absolutely love this stuff, I could eat it not stop to be honest. The contrast of the crunchy biscuit with the chewy marshmallow works really well for me, and the chocolate that glues it all together is delicious too. There’s a statement on the pack from one of the “Guinea Pig Network” that says “Amazing! You don’t need to be gluten free to love these” which perfectly sums up my feelings, largely as it’s my quote. Yes I love this stuff so much I even have a quote on the pack!
As for the Tiffin, this is also delicious. This consists of crunchy biscuit, honeycomb and raisins covered in milk chocolate. This one is a bit of a conflict for me as I love honeycomb but hate raisins! The highest praise that I can give the Tiffin is that it is the ONLY thing in the entire world that I will eat that contains raisins. Oh yes, that one small thing I don’t love about Perkier? The raisin fairies at the Yummery. Raisins in the Tiffin, raisins in all the porridge and raisins in the fruit flake. Maybe next year Ann and Steve might consider swatting some of those raisin fairies for me 😉 Both Rocky Road and Tiffin are available in pots of bite size chunks or individual bars.
I’d like to finish with a personal thank you to Ann and Steve. They’ve provided great support to Gluten Free by the Sea through social media and their website and more than a few free samples over the year. They also provided an absolute massive mound of free samples for our recent Coeliac UK Plymouth meeting and I can’t tell you how grateful I was for that. I hope you both have a fabulous Christmas and an even more successful 2014.
If you don’t have a Tesco near you, you can visit the Perkier on-line shop. The products are also available to buy on-line via Amazon, Ocado and Goodness Direct. If you buy some though, just beware of the #snafflers.
Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea
Gluten Free By The Sea 
It is so encouraging seeing small companies with fabous free from products do so well in such a tough market. I am always torn when it comes to Perkier. I am delighted to see them doing so well but always a little disappointed I can’t eat more of their yummy products. Being gluten free, dairy free and lactose free means that sometimes when gluten free peeps rave about Perkier I’m a little more sad than usual as its a product thats only half way accessible to me. Congratulatipns to Perkier on a fab job so far. And pretty pleade can we have some gluten free and dairy free in the yummery next ?
We have just eaten a tiffin bar, ever so moreish! I love Perkier products!
Good article Kevin and I agree that Perkier products are great, having met Ann & Steve twice now, at the Coeliac AGM food fair in 2012 and the Allergy Show in London this year. Am pleased to say I have seen some of the products in some of our local Tescos in Cornwall and Devon although don’t get to them very often myself, as bit of a trek on a regular basis.
However, for your info, and something I found very surprising the 99p Store in Launceston has a stack of 2 flavours of Perkier Porridge (sell by dates of 2014) and they are selling for 99p each. I was there last Saturday. I don’t eat oats but have bought a couple of packs for a Christmas stocking in the family. Do you have one of these stores in Plymouth Kevin – if so, go check it out. First time I’ve ever seen anything specifically gluten free in one of these bargain shops.
Thanks Sue, we have a couple of pound shops in Plymouth which I’ve never even thought about checking. I’ll take a look!
It was the ’99p Stores’, as opposed to Poundland.I see on their website there is one in Plymstock. Hope you find some.
Thanks for the info Sue!
Thanks for sharing this Kevin, I don’t usually shop in Tesco so probably why I’ve missed seeing these in the shops. Just checked one product out and it doesn’t appear to have the obligatory breakfast cereal nut quota – might even be OK for me! Will check them out. There is a poundstore where I work so I might even find it at a bargain price! Though not sure how that works out well for perkier 😦
I will definitely look into them! Thanks for the tip!
Can you please advise if the Tiffin and rocky road bars are coming back into stores these bars were amazing