2 Million Users, 2 Employees: How Find Me Gluten Free Built a Community-Powered Directory for Celiac Disease
295K
Monthly Visitors
$11.1M
Traffic Value/yr
DR 68
Domain Rating
2M+
Users
What if dining out could make you sick for days?
For the millions of people with celiac disease, that's reality. A single crumb of gluten—found in bread, pasta, sauces, and countless other foods—can trigger severe symptoms that last for days. Eating out isn't just stressful; it's genuinely risky.
In 2010, Jason Elmore had just been diagnosed with celiac disease. He quickly discovered that finding safe restaurants required hours of research—calling ahead, reading reviews, hoping staff understood cross-contamination. There had to be a better way.
So he built one.
Find Me Gluten Free is now the #1 app for finding gluten-free restaurants, with over 2 million users and 1 million reviews. And here's what's remarkable: Jason grew it to that scale with just two full-time employees, running one of the leanest successful directories on the internet.
The Challenge
When you have celiac disease, eating out isn't a casual decision. It's a calculated risk. Cross-contamination can happen anywhere—shared fryers, cutting boards, even airborne flour. A waiter who doesn't understand the difference between "gluten-free preference" and "medical necessity" can accidentally make you sick for a week.
Before Find Me Gluten Free, people with celiac disease relied on calling restaurants ahead of time, scouring general review sites, word-of-mouth from other patients, or simply avoiding eating out altogether.
Jason Elmore knew this frustration firsthand. After his diagnosis, he wanted a reliable way to find restaurants where he could eat safely—not just restaurants with gluten-free options, but places that understood the seriousness of the condition.
Directory Overview
| Website | findmeglutenfree.com |
| What It Does | Crowdsourced directory of gluten-free friendly restaurants |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Founder | Jason Elmore |
| Current CEO | Jen Cafferty |
| Users | 2+ million |
| Reviews | 1+ million |
| Employees (at scale) | 2 full-time |
Key Metrics (Ahrefs, January 2026)
Monthly Traffic
294,725
Dominant in gluten-free restaurant search
Traffic Value
$11.1M/year
$37.68 per visitor—medical necessity drives value
Domain Rating
68/100
Strong authority from 15 years of community trust
Referring Domains
6,112
Celiac community and health organizations link here
Traffic Sources
What The Numbers Tell Us
Community of Shared Experience: Users with celiac disease understand the stakes. They review restaurants not for fun, but to help others avoid getting sick. This shared mission creates unusually reliable content—1 million+ reviews contributed by people who genuinely care.
Medical Necessity Drives Loyalty: People with celiac disease don't stop needing gluten-free options. Unlike trendy diet apps, Find Me Gluten Free serves a permanent, recurring need. Users don't churn because they can't.
Word-of-Mouth in a Tight Community: The celiac community is well-connected. Dietitians, support groups, and online forums recommend Find Me Gluten Free because it's built by and for people with the condition.
Mobile-First for On-the-Go Decisions: Dining decisions happen in the moment. The mobile apps let users find safe options right when they need them—traveling, on business trips, or spontaneously going out.
Monetization Strategy
Premium Memberships
Users can upgrade for enhanced features like advanced filtering, offline access, and priority support—features that make traveling with celiac disease easier.
Restaurant Partnerships
Restaurants with strong gluten-free programs can partner with Find Me Gluten Free for enhanced visibility—verified listings that signal safety to the community.
Advertising
Gluten-free product brands reach their exact target audience—people who actually need gluten-free products, not casual dieters.
Why This Model Works
Find Me Gluten Free serves a community with a real, ongoing medical need. This isn't a diet trend—it's a permanent requirement. The community contributes content for free because they benefit from each other's contributions, making the directory incredibly lean to operate.
Build Your Own Directory Success Story
Find Me Gluten Free grew to 2 million users with just 2 employees. The secret? Building for a community with a genuine, ongoing need.
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SEO & Content Strategy
"Near Me" Intent Dominance: Find Me Gluten Free ranks #1 or #2 for virtually every "gluten free [near me/restaurants]" search. These are high-intent queries from people actively looking to eat out safely.
User-Generated Location Pages: Every restaurant reviewed creates a location-specific page that can rank for "[restaurant name] gluten free" searches.
Trust Through Specialization: General review sites like Yelp cover gluten-free as one filter among many. Find Me Gluten Free is 100% focused on this need, making it more trustworthy for the community.
15 Years of Accumulated Content: 1 million+ reviews across 15 years means comprehensive coverage that newer competitors can't match quickly.
| Top Keywords | Volume | Position |
|---|---|---|
| gluten free restaurants | 57,000 | #1 |
| gluten free near me | 33,000 | #2 |
| gluten free restaurants near me | 23,000 | #1 |
| gluten free food near me | 18,000 | #2 |
| find me gluten free | 2,600 | #1 |
Key Lessons for Directory Builders
1. Medical/Essential Needs Create Loyal Users
People with celiac disease don't have a choice—they need this information. Building for essential needs creates stronger retention than building for preferences.
2. Community-Powered Content Scales Lean
With 1 million user reviews, Find Me Gluten Free has content no editorial team could create. The community does the work because they benefit from each other's contributions.
3. You Don't Need a Big Team
Jason scaled to 2 million users with 2 full-time employees. The key was building systems where the community creates value, not the staff.
4. Founders Who Have the Problem Build Better
Jason and his team have celiac disease themselves. They understand the stakes in a way no outside observer could. This authenticity shapes better product decisions.
5. 15 Years of Consistency Compounds
Find Me Gluten Free has been the go-to resource for 15 years. New competitors face an insurmountable content gap and established community trust.
6. Mobile-First for Real-World Utility
Dining decisions happen on location. The iOS and Android apps meet users where they need help—standing outside a restaurant, deciding if it's safe to enter.
Conclusion
When you build for a community with a genuine, ongoing need, they'll help you build it.
Jason Elmore created Find Me Gluten Free because he needed it himself. The community contributed 1 million reviews because they needed it too. This mutual necessity created a directory that scaled to 2 million users with just 2 full-time employees.
The core insight: Find a community with a real, ongoing problem. Build for them, with them. Let their contributions become your content moat.
What community needs a directory they'd be willing to help build?
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Sources: Ahrefs (traffic data, January 2026), Find Me Gluten Free about page, A Gluten Free Podcast, Tracxn.