What we ran
We asked Claude 22 buyer questions a gluten-free shopper actually types across the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the US, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. Queries covered bread and pasta by region, celiac-safe brands, low-FODMAP plus gluten-free overlap, GF baking mixes, kid snacks, restaurant-safe packaged goods, and cross-border shipping.
Every week we rerun these prompts, diff the answers, and report who moved in and out of the recommendation set. This issue sets the baseline.
Brands AI search is recommending right now
Global dominators:
- Schär. Cited in 19 of 22 queries. The default European GF answer and the only brand AI surfaces confidently across the UK, DE, IT, ES, FR, and US. Ciabatta, Deli Style bread, and the pasta line are the most-cited SKUs. If you sell GF in any Western market, Schär is your AI-search benchmark.
- Udi's. Cited in 11 of 22. Default US answer for GF bread and bagels. Barely surfaces in EU queries.
Regional champions:
- Bob's Red Mill. AI's default answer for GF flour and baking mixes in the US and Canada. Strong in "GF baking from scratch" queries. Almost absent from EU answers.
- Canyon Bakehouse. US-only. Heavy cite rate for "soft GF sandwich bread" and "GF bread that does not crumble". Walmart availability mentioned often.
- Genius. UK default. Strong in "GF bread UK supermarket" and "Tesco GF" queries. Invisible outside UK.
- Warburtons Gluten Free. UK. Lower cite rate than Genius but surfaces for "GF bread that tastes like regular".
- Nairn's. UK and Ireland. Owns the "GF oat biscuit" and "GF breakfast snack" queries.
- Garofalo Senza Glutine and Rummo Senza Glutine. Italy. Garofalo cited slightly more for "authentic Italian GF pasta". Both surface in EU pasta queries.
- Gerblé. France. Default answer for "French GF snack" and "GF biscuit pharmacy brand".
- Valpiform. France. Lower cite rate but surfaces for "French GF bread".
- Proceli. Spain. Default ES answer for "pan sin gluten supermercado".
- Kiss My Keto and Magic Spoon. US. Cited in "GF low-carb" crossover queries, not pure GF queries.
Kid and snack tier:
- Annie's Gluten Free. US. Default "GF kid snack" answer. Mac-and-cheese and bunny crackers heavily cited.
- Enjoy Life. US and Canada. Default "GF allergen-free" answer. Strong on top-8 allergen-free framing.
- Glutino. US and Canada. Pretzels and cookies cited. Lower share than it had five years ago.
Pasta specialists:
- Banza and Barilla Gluten Free. US. Banza for chickpea-based, Barilla for mainstream GF pasta swap. Both strong.
- Jovial. US. Cited for "organic GF pasta" and "brown rice pasta".
Brands that should be here and aren't
These appear in real retail but AI search is not recommending them:
- Freee Foods (Doves Farm). UK organic GF leader with wide Waitrose and Sainsbury's distribution. Surfaces in 3 of 22 queries. Under-cited.
- Sam Mills. Romanian corn pasta exporter with strong EU supermarket presence. Surfaces in 2 of 22.
- Le Pain des Fleurs. French GF crispbread widely available across EU health food chains. Almost invisible in AI answers.
- Biaglut. Italy. Pharmacy channel GF leader for decades. AI does not know it exists.
- Nutrifree. Italy. Wide supermarket presence. Barely cited.
- Mrs Crimble's. UK. GF cake and macaroon specialist. Cited in 1 of 22.
- Aleia's and Simple Mills. US. Simple Mills is cited occasionally but not as a GF-first brand even though its full line is GF.
- Mevalia. EU low-protein and GF specialist for celiac and PKU overlap. Almost absent.
A brand's position in AI answers is not proportional to retail share or advertising spend. It is proportional to structured content on product pages, third-party editorial coverage, and mentions in ranked "best of" lists. The eight brands above are real businesses losing AI search traffic to Schär and Udi's this week.
Open queries no brand owns
These are buyer questions where the AI answer is generic, hedged, or absent. High-intent, low-competition content opportunities:
- "Low-FODMAP and gluten-free products for IBS plus celiac overlap". AI gives dietary advice, not brand answers. No brand owns this crossover.
- "Gluten-free and low-sugar snacks for diabetics". AI hedges. Real buyer need, no brand ranks.
- "Shipping gluten-free products from Europe to the US". AI refuses to recommend services. No retailer owns the answer.
- "Authentic Italian gluten-free pasta made in Italy, not generic GF". AI cites Garofalo and Rummo but does not differentiate.
- "Gluten-free restaurant chains safe for celiac in the US and UK". AI lists obvious names (Chipotle, PF Chang's) but no packaged brand has claimed adjacent retail content.
- "Gluten-free bread that does not need to be toasted to taste good". Specific pain point. No brand owns it.
- "Certified gluten-free oats versus regular oats for celiac". Educational gap. A single well-structured explainer could own this for a year.
A brand publishing one well-structured product-comparison guide, a layering-and-pairing tutorial, or a celiac-safety explainer could own any of these queries within 30 days.
What a gluten-free brand should do this week
If you operate in GF food in Europe or the Americas, the three moves with the highest expected impact on AI citation share in the next 60 days:
- Structured product data: Product schema with full gtin, brand, price, certifications (GFCO, AOECS crossed-grain), allergen fields, and ingredient lists. AI engines parse this. Most GF brand sites ship minimal schema.
- A single "best of" or comparison piece targeting one open query above. 1,500 words. Compare five SKUs on taste, texture, certification, price per serving, where to buy. Publish it once and let AI surface it for months.
- Third-party coverage: pitch one feature to a celiac advocacy publication or regional food magazine (Coeliac UK's Crossed Grain, Gluten-Free Living in the US, AIC in Italy, AFDIAG in France). AI engines weight third-party editorial heavily, and celiac-association content is trusted and well-indexed.
Next week
We rerun the same 22 queries Monday April 27. We will report who moved up, who dropped, and what changed in the "open queries" section.