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It would appear that the very sad Pret headlines have had an impact. Jnr is dairy and soy intolerant yet usually we are able to ask staff for options.
He was out the other day with his grandparents, and the same question was met by straight refusal to serve him a meal. No option, just a “no” - from 4 different outlets. Anyone else’s experience this? I suppose it’s a knee jerk reaction but blimey, it a bit strong.
I guess it’s a low risk policy being applied, but it’s hardly fair.
It’s close to impossible to 100% seperate ingredients in a real kitchen when prepping from scratch. You can get to 97% but that still leaves a business open to law suit on the back of an honest mistake while trying to help out. Don’t take a side but I understand why they take this approach. Many of the places rejecting will be doing so on the back of bad past experience / spurious no win no fee legal claims.
Just got to know who can handle allergies / intolerences and spend your money there. Try Bill’s if with kids. Got dragged there by an allergy suffer recently - Not my kind of place but seemed 70% full of families with some kind of intolerence who all loved it and they seem to be popping up everywhere.
My son has a string of allergies, some with serious potential consequences (nuts & eggs). We've not had a refusal yet, although a couple of places have been a bit 'off' when asked to produce their allergy info.
I'll probably get slated for this, but if we need to eat out due to a day trip or similar we just head for Mcdonalds. All their allergy info is clearly published on their website, and because of their type of business, the food is exactly the same everywhere and from the same sources. It's pretty much the only place other than home we don't need to worry about it.
Kid's parties and school trips on the other hand are a sodding nightmare.
We have a coeliac, not been refused service recently. Food businesses are legally obliged to provide allergen information, So while they are not, as far as I know, compelled to serve you, I would be tempted to ask for the allergen information just to make a point.
To be fair though, I would be reluctant to eat anywhere that had such a low level of confidence in their own food preparation methods that they blanket refused to serve anyone with an allergy.
If they can't be bothered to deal with cross contamination issues, can they be bothered with the basic hygiene drills?
There will be some places who are scared now about any contamination. There are probably also places that are contaminated.
Dairy and soy should be one of the easier allergens to find an alternative to...
hopefully all of the noise will create a positive environment with guidelines and help for restaurants rather than one where companies are too afraid to serve people
I fear (with two coeliacs in the house) that today’s manslaughter case will result in a greater fear to serve anything rather than a willingness to adapt (even although you can’t kill a coeliac with accidental gluten contamination). I do wonder though if refusing to serve (and make reasonable ajustments) is an issue under the equality act?
When I heard about the manslaughter case my first reaction was allergy sufferers will find it hard to get served anywhere. Why would a a food place owner risk it? Some cross contamination outwith your control and you're in court
I've been running pubs/bars/restaurants for the last14 years. Full allergen information, separate gluten free menus, ingredients lists, yet if we screw up there is a chance someone can die and I can go to prison.
It can be hard, it can be stressful and there is always a fear that things could go wrong.
But then we do have a regular who has allergies to pretty much everything gluten/dairy/onion/garlic/fructose/etc which is perfectly manageable if your sensible