Are you able to instantly give your customers Allergen information?
With Allergy Awareness Week 2016 just around the corner, a new report highlights that restaurants could and should be doing more – not only to be legally compliant with the legislation, but also to support this growing customer base. Here we look at how you can protect your business and take responsibility for your customers with allergies.
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It’s over a year since the EU FIC legislation made it a requirement for food businesses to make information on 14 allergens available to consumers. Yet a report out today from the Food Standards Agency in partnership with Allergy UK reveals that 68% of consumers said front of house staff lacked knowledge on what was on their menu, and 56% of allergic consumers have been made to feel like an inconvenience.
The report goes on to say, “If anyone encounters a food business not providing information on the 14 allergens, they should report it to their local authority who will investigate. The survey showed that those affected are currently more likely to report it to staff in the first instance (69%) or complain on social media after the event (23%).”
Having a robust system in place that is accessible by all members of the team, is not only important to be legally compliant and provide a seamless service for your customers, but also to protect your brand. A customer suffering an allergic reaction as a result of misinformation or lack of information is no excuse and the resulting bad publicity and social media chatter will be damaging for your business.
How can Kitchen CUT help?
Using Kitchen CUT in your operation gives you:
- Track allergens from source to service – whenever an ingredient with an allergen is present it will be tagged in that dish, whether in a sub-recipe or a recipe
- Automatic dish wide updates when individual ingredients are updated
- Alerts let you know when dishes have been updated and new allergens are present so you can brief your front of house teams
- Automatically build your allergen profile as you create your dishes with instant tagging
- Easy-view for front of house, on-screen or on-paper – a professional looking summary
- Organise your dishes by order of suitability, creating Kosher, Vegan, Low Carb and more…
- Protect your business from risk and fines. Hold brand integrity and give the customer the information they deserve
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Kitchen CUT Founder John Wood explains:
“During service it can get very busy and it’s unreasonable to expect the chef to be able to recall the allergen contents of each dish and answer questions from the service teams if a customer requires it. That’s why Kitchen CUT offers a ‘front of house’ viewing option/service sheet which details out all of the dish details, ingredients, allergens and nutritional information so that this can be clearly, concisely and confidently communicated to the customer. By accessing the information from an ipad or phone, teams will always access the most up to date information. And what’s more, the information is beautifully and clearly presented so your customers will feel confident and appreciative of the clarity of the information.”
Coming soon…
We will shortly be launching our new ‘digital menu’ which will allow Executive members and Network members to publish their menu with allergen and nutritional information straight to their website.
A lot of diners like to look at menus and pre-select what they want/can have. For customers with dietary or allergy requirements, or those following a particular diet plan it makes it easier for them to research the menu in advance so they can make an informed choice.
To find out more, why not sign up now for a free 14 day trial to see how easy it is to manage your allergens and keep your customers happy!
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For more information, email info@kitchencut.com or call 01491 845543.
The full report can be read on the Food Standard Agency’s website HERE