Allergen Labelling: How to do it right

Q: There have been lots of legal changes recently, including the need to label all the allergens in food; my chef says we should use this as a marketing ploy for the restaurant, but I’m not sure – it’ll be a lot of hassle!

I have to agree with your chef on this one, but also know that you need to implement something like this in a way that supports sales rather than being a hassle or cost. Fifteen years ago, those with allergies were most likely identified by their EpiPen and would be ultra-cautious in a restaurant if they went out at all.

According to Allergy UK there are now 25 million people with identified food allergies and intolerances in the UK and whilst most aren’t life-threatening, they can be very uncomfortable; people still want to be able to eat out, but they want to know it’s an environment where they will be well catered for.

Obviously, the new allergen rulings mean an ability to detail all the ingredients is mandatory, coupled with adequate training for the chef, which makes implementing an allergy-friendly menu that much simpler. Collectively, including food sold in supermarkets and restaurants, the ‘free-from’ market is forecast to be worth £561m by 2017, so wouldn’t you like a piece of that gluten-free pie?

There are a number of ways you can approach this from a marketing perspective;

• You can simply alert people to the fact you are an allergy-friendly restaurant, able to cater for all; a simple line on the menu, in your adverts and on your website should suffice; unfortunately however the legislation means your competitors are too, so you are relying on them to forget to promote it.
• You can create a dedicated allergy section to the menu, or even a separate menu entirely. You’ll need to work closely with your chef on this one, to make sure you’re not creating two entirely separate menus in terms of ingredients and complexity (it must be manageable), but it’s entirely possible to have two complementary dishes – in fact, they may include the same dishes, with some simple tweaks. With this, you should actively promote your allergy-menu/choices as a distinct offering; knowing friends with allergies and intolerances, they will identify and visit restaurants which are allergy-friendly, and as long as the food is good, will remain loyal, returning again and again rather than risking someone with poor standards or poor dishes.
• You can create an entirely allergy-friendly menu; just because something is missing ingredients doesn’t mean it somehow has to taste awful. My daughter has a dairy allergy and when visiting a restaurant recently, opted for a chocolate and mango brownie – no egg, gluten, dairy, nuts or any of the fourteen, yet actually, it was the best pudding of all we ordered. It will be a challenge to plan and test these dishes in the first place, but once you’ve nailed it, you’ll have a delicious menu that won’t be a compromise for allergy sufferers or their friends and family. If you do opt for this, make sure you keep promoting it – get journalists to visit from local press, enter awards, write a blog from the chef, and regularly update parts of the menu so people keep coming back.
• Run allergy-friendly events if you can’t do the whole menu, or struggle having too many dishes on offer. Days where all dishes made will be free from the fourteen allergens for example will create a unique talking point without committing you to long-term process changes. Although it’s not a restaurant, our local fish and chip shop runs gluten and dairy free days a few times a month, coinciding with an oil change, when no batter has been cooked yet. It’s immensely popular and so simple.

I appreciate you need to pick the idea that is right for you and you also need to check out your local market, but as long as it follows the national trend, you’ll probably find the allergen customers flock to you and stay loyal too.

 Allergen Labelling; what you need to know…

At the beginning of 2014, The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and DEFRA mandated a change to food allergy labelling laws with effect from December 2014. As well as affecting the way ingredients and nutritional values are displayed, the changes mean that any food producer or vendor, including hotels and restaurants will have to provide information on all food, not just things which are pre-packaged. Under the new guidelines, restaurateurs, hoteliers and chefs:

• Can no longer state that ‘they do not know’ if an allergen is present
• Can no longer state that foods ‘might’ contain allergens
• Must make written ingredient overviews available, as oral statements will no longer be enough

This feature first appeared in the March 2015 issue of Hotel Owner