Restaurants and allergy. AIBU?

[Hannahpandle]

Genuinely not sure what’s an appropriate response - went out for tea last night to a national chain restaurant. As we were seated, the waitress asked if we had any allergies and I said yes, soya intolerance. We ordered, and when the food arrived I could feel my mouth tingling. It certainly wasn’t a dish you’d expect soya to be in, so I looked on their website and sadly it says on the allergens page “contains soya beans.”

So we called the waitress over and she said “oh I’ll go and ask.” Then she came back and said “chef says it doesn’t contain soya.” I said I could FEEL that it did and it also says it on the website too, and she said “well chef says it doesn’t.” I showed her where it says “contains soya beans” and she said “well what do you want me to do about it?” I asked for the manager and she said she wasn’t in but she would get the supervisor. By this point I was uncomfortable and itchy. The supervisor was suitably embarrassed and said I wouldn’t have to pay for my meal and would I like something else but I didn’t want anything by then.

We finished up quite quickly, and asked for the bill. The supervisor said she had rang her manager who said she would write the bill off on this occasion but please could I leave my name and address and phone so she could phone me tomorrow.

Came home and had rotten tummy ache all night after it and am still a bit itchy today.

could they have handled it better?

Politely report to trading standards, complain to head office if they are a chain, and get something in the press! They should have double checked the item, surely that is the point of asking if there are allergies!

No it says on their own website that it contains soya. That particular pizza in that particular brand of that particular chain.

Normally the chain restaurants ask you to sign your life away if you have an allergy/coeliac. They won't advise anything and just hand you a special menu. If you push the point too much they'll often advise they can't serve you at all.

Say you were unwell and needed time off work of you did , quote your daily rate and ask them to compensate you for it and then report it to the food standard agency. This is very serious.

Id be concerned that this type of behaviour would just lead to more restaurants saying they cannot guarantee that food is allergy free so they won’t serve people with allergies. My sister has some severe ones, and that’d be horrid for her - she already misses out on a lot.

I absolutely agree that it’s serious and I’m surprised the waitress didn’t just give you the allergy menu when you mentioned the allergy, but I wouldn’t be lying about financial impact, I’d just be making it really clear how dangerous this was and asking how they’ll change their processes to fix it.

@Hannahpandle So why didn’t you check that menu if it’s a serious concern for you? I’m surprised you don’t. You are not getting highly trained staff in pizza joints!

But why ask, then? What is the point of the waitress asking about allergies if the kitchen staff are not going to take a blind bit of notice?

https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/allergen-guidance-for-food-businesses

@Zimunya Because they are
insufficiently trained or intelligent enough to put 2 + 2 together. Asking is patter. They didn’t know anything because a pizza “chef” in the kitchen didn’t know. They are not making this pizza from scratch. What would they do if someone listed 10 allergies?

I strongly think, if it’s vitally important, and the info is easily available, you read it. A waitress (probably a student) and a person shoving a pizza in an oven are not going to know the full ingredients of a pizza or anything else in sufficient detail and, frankly, peanut or nut allergy is the usual one they worry about . Are you honestly surprised that these staff don’t know all the allergy details?

What restaurants should do, is tell ALL diners where the allergy menu can be found and give a hard copy on site if there’s doubt. Diners also have some responsibility to themselves but courts probably don’t agree, hence the move to not cater for allergies.

The food packaging will say so, and a chain would have access to the manufacturer's list of ingredients. To be honest, a chain restaurant is probably going to be far hotter on this sort of thing than an independent.

I’m an allergy parent and my approach is: notify of the allergens, ask to review the allergen menu (often this is presented in a book or now on a tablet via link) and then reconfirm with the waiter to make sure they have notified the kitchen. I’d hope that food comes out flagged with an allergen notification too, so I can be really confident that the kitchen prepped it with the right level of awareness. I will check again at the point it arrives.

Sometimes I have to go really deep - like a food contains oat milk, which brand is it and can I check the ingredients as peas is one of our allergens and it’s in some
brands of oat milk.

The restaurant should have guided you through this approach. Not all normal menus list allergens so the presence of them in the food needs to be validated through the formal allergen menu. In this case they are BU for not doing that, but I do think that there is a responsibility on the person ordering to ask for the information in the correct format as a safeguard for yourself/your child or whoever you’re ordering from. Then once you’ve done that, the responsibility shifts to the establishment to enact the right protocols to keep you safe.

I agree largely, and the main reason that I tend to prefer chain places with my multi allergic son is that there usually is an official written allergy menu so you don't have to rely on serving staff going backwards and forwards to the kitchen to ask questions. . Online allergy menus are great because you can consult them even before you make a booking. We have a few "safe" choices at the common chains (dull I know, but unproblematic) but still check the allergy menu every time in case of changes. The staff still need to know about allergies to minimise cross contamination risk and they should therefore have some knowledge about the major allergens in their dishes but I don't expect someone who basically puts stuff that comes from a central production facility in the oven to know every detail off by heart. They should have access to and know how and when to get that information though.
The restaurant staff are still at fault here. Yes, you could argue that the OP should have consulted the website before she ordered, and personally I would almost certainly have done so. But the fact that she didn't doesn't absolve the restaurant from their responsibilities. She notified the server of her allergies at which point I would have expected her to either be given a hard copy of the chain's allergy information or pointed in the direction of the online information which obviously exists as the OP later found it. But that didn't happen. This does indeed suggest that at least some of the staff in that branch are insufficiently trained. That might not be their fault as individuals and I wouldn't be demanding the server's head on a plate, but it does imply that correct safety procedures are not being followed in the restaurant. The OP would not be unreasonable to take the matter higher if she isn't satisfied with the local manager's response.

I agree with this.

Next time someone could die and a poor waitress could be up for manslaughter.

They need to sort their processes and training out.

I wouldn’t expect most people reheating a pizza they didn’t make to understand or memorize the ingredients.

They don't need to understand or memorise them. They could consult a pre-prepared list of ingredients with the allergens highlighted once they have been told there is an allergy. They are arguably in a better position to manage this than the customer, who might not have internet access, know about the kitchen's setup re cross-contamination, or understand that they need to without being explicitly told.

@MrsAvocet I think that’s balanced and reasonable but if you have allergies I think checking really is a good idea. Yes, server should know where to look and point op in the right direction. Yes, she should say something to head office but I would put notices in all menus about where to find the allergy one because they really cannot check multiple allergies with a chef but people, as I said aren’t that bright or sensible!

They are absolutely at fault here.
if it’s a national chain I’d escalate it.

There was no mention of an allergy menu etc, here is what the actual menu says.

They probably just cook the food that is in their order I honestly don't think this is a chef/cooks fault the menus had no mention of the soya on the pizza, as I said the chain is probably negligent as they didn't update their physical menus.

I'm confused, did you check the allergy menu that breaks down all the allergens, or not?

My children have allergies and I would never order anything without a full breakdown of ingredients.

Also, if you are having an immediate reaction then you don't have an intolerance you have an allergy

They don't have to include every ingredient in their physical menu as long as it is detailed in the allergy menu

My children have allergies and we would never just look at the main menu. Allergy menu every time.

Always ask for the allergy menu. Never order unless you know all the ingredients. I have walked out of many restaurants with my children

“I don't expect someone who basically puts stuff that comes from a central production facility in the oven to know every detail off by heart. They should have access to and know how and when to get that information though.”

I have bolded the key point in @MrsAvocet’s post - when a customer says they have an allergy, I wouldn’t expect the staff in a chain restaurant to know off the top of their heads which dishes contained that allergen, but I would expect them to have that information available, and I would expect them to look it up.

I didn’t know that there even WAS an allergy menu! I looked up the dish online and it brought up the infographic I’ve posted (awaiting approval) but the staff didn’t seem to have access to such a thing until the supervisor was called and fished a book out of a little cupboard, which revealed the same graphic. There was no mention of soya on the menu. Lots of stuff about gluten though, and calories.

That was my expectation too - she had asked if I had any allergies and intolerances, and yet when I told her, did nothing and then argued with me.

Always ask for the allergy menu.
If they don't have one , don't order there.

I am not saying the restaurant couldn't have done things better but it is also important to take responsibility for yourself. My children know never to eat anything unless they have the details of all the ingredients.

You also need to describe it as an allergy not an intolerance when people ask. It's clearly not an intolerance if you have an immediate reaction.

You don't have an intolerance - you have an allergy. Allergies aren't just anaphylaxis. Also as your symptom was immediate itching in your mouth please go to the GP and discuss it, as that is a symptom that can suddenly worsen without warning and be full blown anaphylaxis next time.

The waitress should have given you a special menu - I've had it in paper form, or sometimes on a tablet where you filter to exclude dishes with your allergen.

It's appalling the chef didn't know or check what was in the food. You check every time even if you think you know.

I would absolutely talk to the manager and tell them how dismissive they were and that they actually gave you false information - repeatedly! They could kill someone. It's that serious and they need to realise that.