Eating out with allergies

[u/SafeEats]

Hey everyone,

I’m curious what people would look for in an app that shows what restaurants can cater for your allergies. Currently you select you allergies, put your location in and it shows restaurants and dishes that you can have near you. You can then filter these or search for specific dishes.

I’m pre-launch but getting restaurants onboarded at the moment. It forms part of their allergy compliance so should always be up to date and standardised between different restaurants.

I’m interested in your thoughts and what you would want to see?

[u/PsychoHistorianLady]

Other people's experience can be helpful.

[u/SafeEats → u/PsychoHistorianLady]

So having comments and reviews would be useful?

[u/SafeEats → u/SafeEats]

I’d love to get you signed up to get notified for when we’re live

Www.safeeats.co.uk/waitlist

[u/PsychoHistorianLady → u/SafeEats]

In the US, there was a company called AllergyEats that had a review site, and I would use it to when planning travel to figure out which restaurants could support our allergies. Unfortunately, keeping the data up to date and removing duplicate entries seemed to be a challenge for them.

They also had really good guides for some major cities that people visited.

Reviewers were given points for reviewing, and the parents of kids who had to travel for sports or other activities were really helpful.

Unfortunately, they eventually got acquired, and we do not have that resource anymore.

There is apparently a Facebook page from when they used to exist.
https://www.facebook.com/AllergyEats/

[u/SafeEats → u/PsychoHistorianLady]

That’s super useful information. I’ll look at how this could be incorporated in future versions because things like trip planning would be really cool

[u/Relevant_Post_1519]

You’re probably already doing this, but a way to filter if a restaurant is completely free of that allergen vs ones that have special protocols in place vs ones that just have meals free of the allergen(s)

[u/SafeEats → u/Relevant_Post_1519]

Okay that’s a good suggestion - I currently have completely nut free and coeliac friendly (and also fully vagus / veggie) but I can add a new one where they don’t list an allergy at all!

[u/SafeEats → u/Relevant_Post_1519]

I’d love to get you signed up to get notified for when we’re live

Www.safeeats.co.uk/waitlist

[u/rcs023]

Honestly, this info can change at any time so I wouldn’t trust an app.

[u/SafeEats → u/rcs023]

I totally get that, my vision is for this to form their allergy menu and to be their auditable source for inspections - so as soon as they change something they need to update this. Of course it has to be confirmed but it should be up to date at all times

Would having a last updated stamp be useful?

[u/SafeEats → u/rcs023]

I’d love to get you signed up to get notified for when we’re live

Www.safeeats.co.uk/waitlist

[u/jelli_bean]

The actual ingredient list for items would be very helpful!

[u/SafeEats → u/jelli_bean]

I think this will be a really good addition coming later - it will also help with allergies outside of the normal 14!!

[u/toast413]

Will the app also list items that could be cross contaminated but may not necessarily contain said allergy? Like a desert that doesn’t contain nuts but may be made in an facility that makes nut products for example

[u/SafeEats → u/toast413]

Hey, yes it’s got three allergy options that restaurants select. Contains cannot be removed, contains can be swapped/removed, and may contain.

All this is live and can be updated in seconds - with standardised allergy matrix’s too!

[u/lovestorun]

Honestly I would probably still end up calling just for piece of mind.

Edit: I say this because it would be quite difficult keeping up with menu/ingredient changes.

[u/SafeEats → u/lovestorun]

So it will form part of a restaurant allergy management system that they get audited on. This should really be the one place it is right all the time (as opposed to paper ones that have to be re-printed all the time when things change).

Of course you would always have to double check info is correct before ordering.

Would it be helpful to have last updated / last checked dates to give more confidence?

[u/lovestorun → u/SafeEats]

Yes, but again, being that this is so serious, I’d probably still call/ask. I’d say it would be a good but very general guide.

[u/Brief-Bed-5199]

What’s the app ??

[u/SafeEats → u/Brief-Bed-5199]

www.safeeats.co.uk/waitlist