Mad Greens, an 11-unit chain based in Denver, is offering a website tool to help its customers who have food allergies more easily navigate its menu. The move aims to increase guest traffic among its current diners with allergies, as well as attract new customers looking for food allergy-friendly brands.
The chain, which operates counter-service restaurants in Colorado serving made-to-order salads, soups and sandwiches, said that its Interactive Allergy Menu software is now live on its website and available through some smartphones.
Marley Hodgson, Mad Greens founder and chief executive, said the chain is “based on the idea of a transparent and healthy menu,” and that the new software “allows the growing number of Coloradoans with food allergies to make the right choice for their health.”
Customers who access Mad Greens’ Interactive Allergy Menu program first peruse a list of ingredients to note their allergies. Next they direct the software to compile a list of standard menu items they can safely order, as well as notes about other offerings that can be customized, such as eliminating nuts or an ingredient with gluten. The program also flags dishes users should completely avoid.
Because some food allergy reactions can result in death or serious physical harm, Hodgson said that when offering an allergen analysis tool, “liability is a big issue.”
“The application is a guide for people with food allergies, and the system does have a disclaimer that recommends customers ask questions about food preparation while at the restaurant,” he said. “There is always still the possibility of cross contamination or human error during preparation, so it is vital to continue to warn customers of potential [food allergy] dangers and to make staff training in this area a top priority, which we do.”
Hodgson said that his company’s earlier work in gathering the ingredient information and recipe details needed for a website nutrition calculator meant that “we’d already done most of the heavy lifting” in terms of the data gathering needed for the allergen database.
The issue of food allergens has moved into the mainstream in recent years, as restaurant chains add complete ingredient lists to websites and in-restaurant brochures, and consider how to better serve guests with food allergies. These moves respond to increasing consumer knowledge of food allergies; the apparent loyalty of consumers to allergy-friendly restaurants; and conversations in local, state and federal law about the responsibility of businesses to help safeguard individuals with allergies.
“We project more customers with allergies coming to Mad Greens since they can identify their ideal meal before visiting the restaurant,” Hodgson said. “We [also] anticipate current customers with allergies may come in more regularly, since they can play around with different combinations of menu items that meet their allergy needs.”
The operator said the company has not been using the system long enough to determine its effect on sales or traffic. But he added that with “one in 25 Americans reporting food allergies of one kind or another, we think that a significant number of our customers will use the [software] … Perhaps as much as 7 to 10 percent over the long term.”
Hodgson, whose daughter has a severe tree nut allergy, said he has been told many times by people with allergies or members of their families that the allergy sufferer’s needs dictate where the group dines.
Mad Greens’ Interactive Allergy Menu information is expected to soon be available through mobile applications for Apple and Android operating system smartphones being distributed by Gipsee Inc., Mad Greens’ technology services provider for the allergen project. The Gipsee In My Pocket mobile app lets users compile a list of allergy-aggravating foods and apply it to the menus of numerous chains, independent restaurants and some schools to generate a list of suitable and unsuitable menu items.
Gipsee officials said Mad Greens is the first chain to list all of its ingredients for users to interactively choose the best menu options based on their dietary restrictions.
Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].
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