An allergen app for Irish restaurants, pubs and cafés

A customer at table six says she's allergic to sesame and asks whether the chicken salad is safe. The server doesn't know. She goes to the pass, the chef is plating eight mains, the allergen folder is in the office and last updated in spring. Meanwhile the dressing changed supplier three weeks ago.

That's the moment allergen information goes wrong in most Irish restaurants, pubs and cafés. Not because nobody cares, but because the right answer is in one person's head or in a folder nobody can find during service.

What Irish law requires

Allergen information for food sold loose, the food you serve in a restaurant, café, pub or deli, is covered by S.I. No. 489 of 2014. The FSAI explains what that means in practice. The information must:

• be given in writing at the point of presentation, sale or supply;
• be in English, or in Irish and English;
• be easy to find before the customer orders: customers must not have to ask for it;
• relate to each specific dish ("Spaghetti Bolognese: contains milk, celery, wheat"), not a general line such as "our food contains allergens";
• be legible, handwritten or printed.

A QR code on its own is not enough, and a "may contain" statement doesn't take the place of good practice to prevent cross-contamination. If you take orders by phone or online, the information has to be available in writing before the order, and again in writing or verbally on delivery.

The 14 allergens are cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin and molluscs. The FSAI notes that you name the actual cereal (wheat, not gluten) and the actual nut (almond, not nuts). Our full guide to allergen rules in Ireland covers the detail.

Where an app helps, and where it doesn't

Be clear about this. The written allergen information on your menu, specials board or allergen folder is the operator's legal duty, and no app replaces it. If a customer can only find out by asking, or only by scanning a code, you don't meet the rule.

What goes wrong in real kitchens is usually the step before and after the written information:

• the recipe changes and the menu doesn't;
• a supplier swaps a brand with a different ingredient list;
• the specials board goes up without allergens on it;
• a server is asked a follow-up question and guesses.

An allergen app is the working record behind the written information, and a fast way for staff to answer from the floor.

How ShiftComplete handles allergens

ShiftComplete is a roster and operations app for hospitality. It runs in the browser on any phone or tablet, so every server already has it in their pocket.

Every dish mapped to the 14 allergens

Each menu item is mapped against all 14 allergens. That gives you one accurate list to write your menu and board information from, and to check it against.

Grouped by course

Starters, mains, desserts, sides, bar food, Sunday lunch, kids' menu: dishes are grouped by course, the way your team thinks about the menu.

Searchable from the floor

A server can search for a dish or check a dish's allergens in seconds, without leaving the floor or interrupting the pass. The customer at table six gets an answer that matches what the kitchen actually puts on the plate.

Manager-only editing

Staff can read; only managers can edit. When the dressing supplier changes, the head chef or manager updates the dish once, and every phone shows the change.

Part of the daily routine

Add a check to your opening checklist ("Specials board: allergens written for every dish") so the written information is checked every day, named and timestamped. Checklists can differ by weekday, so the new Thursday specials get their own check.

A specials board in a city bistro (an example)

Picture a 55-cover bistro that runs a daily specials board as well as a fixed menu, with 16 staff.

• Monday: the head chef adds two new specials in ShiftComplete and maps their allergens: the hake with mustard and fish; the salad with sesame and soy.
• 10.30am: the opening checklist includes "Specials board written up with allergens for each dish". The supervisor ticks it and adds a photo of the board.
• Lunch: a customer asks whether the chips go in the same fryer as the fish. The server checks the dish in the app, then asks the kitchen the follow-up rather than guessing.
• Thursday: the bread supplier changes. The manager updates three dishes. Every phone has the new list before dinner.

The rest of the food safety record

The same app keeps temperature logs with out-of-range readings flagged, cleaning and closing checklists, incidents and maintenance, risk assessments, and the staff roster. It helps you keep the records an EHO from the HSE asks to see, in one place. See our food safety records app page for how that works.

Pricing

€1.99 per active staff member per month, every feature included, from allergens to the roster. A 16-person bistro pays €31.84 a month. The first 60 days are free with no card and no contract, and there's a free 15-minute set-up call if you want help entering your menu.

From our own hospitality group

ShiftComplete was built inside our own hospitality group, Kirkham Hospitality, which runs The Lounge in Oswestry and Knock & Snitch. Owner Graeme Kirkham:

"The rota stopped being a Sunday-night argument the week we switched over. The chef stopped being the only person who knows what's in the kitchen. And the EHO turn up to a screen, not a box file." Graeme Kirkham, Owner, The Lounge Oswestry & Knock & Snitch

Who it's for

• Restaurants and bistros with changing specials.
• Food pubs where bar staff take food orders.
• Cafés with a counter full of items that change weekly.
• Groups that want the same dish to carry the same allergens at every site.

Prefer to start on paper? Use our free allergen matrix template.