The past several years had seen allergies to gluten and other ingredients increase with customers, making it a higher concern more than ever for restaurants. Thorough and clear communication through utilisation of your staff and the information you provide to your customers is essential for properly communicating allergens.
First and foremost, educating your staff is essential. Whilst your employees may be varied in skills, there may be gaps in knowledge regarding specific areas. For example, prior to training, a server may not know the difference between a food intolerance (certain foods not being processed or digested properly) and a food allergy (an allergic reaction that can be severe or even life-threatening). Customers can easily become uncomfortable eating in a restaurant if there is any doubt the staff’s allergen knowledge isn’t up to date.
Some customers may not notify their servers of their allergies and order a dish with allergens without realising it. Make use of your signage and menu’s wherever possible to encourage customers to discuss with their servers which dishes will be safe for them to enjoy. Additionally, customers may feel the need to know the full list of ingredients in a dish to safely eat a restaurant’s food. Make sure that your serving staff know that if they’re not 100% sure themselves, they should be completely honest and find the information from the chef or a restaurant manager.
Another effective way to communicate allergen information would be to have an on-staff expert on allergens at all times. An example would be one of the managing staff, who can be notified when a customer has an allergy. The expert would then be able to recommend alternatives and work with the serving and kitchen staff to ensure a safe dining experience for the customer.
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