A woman who developed a life-changing service for allergy sufferers after her friend was served nuts, is hoping it will help save thousands of others.
Juliet Moran, the founder of AllergyMenu.uk created the service following an incident where her friend almost suffered a severe allergy attack whilst on holiday.
Whilst in Amsterdam, Juliet’s friend Kate informed the front-of-house staff about her allergies – including nuts.
Despite getting the message across in both English and Dutch, the first dish to arrive was Kate’s meal, rich in peanuts. And, without thinking, she put her fork to her mouth about to take a bite.
It wasn’t until her husband pushed his arm across Kate and shouted, ‘Stop!’, that she realised the dish could have sent her into an anaphylaxis shock.
The restaurant had included nuts in Kate’s meal, despite being told that she was severely allergic.
After speaking to her friend, Juliet realised this was a communication issue between front-of-house staff and restaurant chefs.
She created a website and app to help save those suffering from allergies – customers can now see which items on the menu they should avoid and which dishes are safe to consume.
With the number of those suffering with food allergies on the rise, Juliet hopes AllergyMenu.uk will be a life-changing addition for those eating out.
It also helps restaurants streamline their booking services by flagging any allergy issues before diners arrive.
Juliet said: “I was out at a restaurant with friends including Kate who suffers with a nut allergy, and we were talking to the staff to make them aware of it.
“We were having a few glasses of wine and chatting away when Kate put her fork in her food, about to eat it when her husband suddenly put his arm over her and shouted ‘Stop!’ He’d realised the restaurant had put nuts in her dish.
“I was really taken aback about how serious it was and spoke to her about all these problems and came to the conclusion that it seems like a communication problem between the front of house staff and the restaurant chefs.
“Most businesses already have a chart with all the allergen information on – but we’ve found that the real problem is that the chefs aren’t communicating with the front of house staff about what exactly is in the food.
“But putting the allergens into a proper computer system and giving the information directly to the consumer who downloads the app or looks on our website can instantly see what food substances are in their dish.
“Everytime I speak to users of our service, their only frustration is that not every restaurant is on it. I created this app to help solve this problem – and I’m doing this because I think it can help people out like my friend Kate.”
https://allergymenu.uk/