Eating out is a flat out risk, but over the years I’ve come to realize that we eat out more than ever. Why? Partially due to my son out growing many allergens, (egg, dairy-he can consume baked dairy, fish, shellfish, pumpkin-sunflower-flax seed and lemon), and that some restaurants now realize there is lost revenue by folks like us eating at home. I am beginning to believe that the power of the food allergic consumer is stronger than we think. I’m sure you are noticing more and more restaurants acknowledging allergies and attempting to accommodate our community. Although, I think we can influence and restaurants to embrace the food allergic community deeper. We represent millions of dollars in lost revenue monthly. I pulled together a short list of tools that might help restaurants make understanding food allergies better and influence them to create policy. If each of us share one tool with our favorite restaurants, or establishments that we would like to visit, then we might see continued change.
Note: top image courtesy of stockimages via freedigitalphotos.net
SafeFARE-Dining Out With Food Allergies– The Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) organization has created a powerful triangle of three partners to create a new ground breaking restaurant program:
- NRA’s ServSafe Online Training Program. Partnering with the National Restaurant Association (the mother ship for all restaurants national wide), there is now an easy to understand online training course that addresses the front of the house (food servers and hostess) and the back of the house (cooks and anyone preparing food). The course highlights the severity of food allergens and precautions to be taken!
- MenuTrinfo’s Allertrain® Service, offers in classroom training courses, live and online webinars taught by an instructor. This program is directed at chefs and food service staff regarding safe handling of allergens and is a more advanced program that covers topics such as regulations and standards, law, emergency protocol, food handling storage and preparation, etc.
- MenuTrinfo also offers courses directed at restaurant owners, COOs and management, courses to support establishing policy in addition to programs for chefs in designing menus and universities dealing with dining halls and students with dietary needs.
- Allergy Eats is the final leg in this triangle to help restaurants and our food allergy community come together. Allergy Eats offers a wonderful online restaurant search tool and smart phone app. I use this tool constantly to search for restaurants that might be allergy friendly. Folks like us, post their rating and experience at the restaurants they visit. I use this tool often when I travel. Allergy Eats hosts a blog and recently shared a list of the top allergen friendly chains.
YoDish is another tool that restaurant owners should pay attention to–in addition to Allergy Eats–these Apps help guide consumers to restaurants that are allergy friendly. This app invites users to “Enter your dietary constraints to tag your dish reviews and find dishes near you that fit your diet”-as their website states. Basically, you take a photo of your dish, share the photo along with some quick data about your diet and the restaurant and boom, our food allergy/dietary needs community connected and sharing!
We all know that no meal is ever risk free–even meals cooked in our own homes, my hope is to keep reducing risk by educating the restaurant community.
Would you consider challenging one restaurant to look deeper into serving allergen safe foods? Even if you are simply asking a restaurant to work with you so that you may include their establish or dish on the Allergy Eats or YoDish app.
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
Honestly? I’d challenge them all, but I’d probably start with a major chain that is easily recognizable like McDonald’s or Taco Bell. If you’re gonna challenge, make it count, right? Just imagine the positive publicity that would come out of it for them? I mean, a national chain going allergy-friendly? That would be HUGE! The business that would pour in and the positive effect that would have. I tell ya, it would be amazing! How would we do it?
Julie,
That’s it exactly! Imagine the PR and being the hero good guy a restaurant can generate? Honestly, I think if we simply write and call these restaurants to ask for change. Then, when they do, we shout out our thanks loud and clear on social media, on our blogs, via personal conversation, etc. The power of word of mouth has value!
Happy Friday Julie
Happy weekend to you, Caroline! Yes, I think bombarding a restaurant/business with letters would be a good start. Might have to just write a generic one and post it on my blog and ask others to send it along, kinda a copy/paste/send campaign kinda thing. Whatcha think? Worth a shot, right? 🙂