How to label allergens in a digital menu — step by step

Building an allergen list takes one afternoon. Keeping it true for a year is a different job — and that is where most venues come apart.

The mechanism is always the same: the list is created as a separate document while the menu lives its own life. A recipe changes, a new supplier arrives, the seasonal menu comes in. The menu gets updated, because the guest sees it. The list does not, because it sits in a binder.

This piece is about setting it up the other way: allergens as part of the menu, not a document beside it.

The legal basis, the 14 allergens and the permitted forms of information are in the allergens on the menu guide. Here we deal only with execution.

Why electronic form is permitted

Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires the allergen information to be available to the guest before ordering, in written or electronic form. It does not dictate the medium.

That means a list at each item in a menu opened from a QR code meets the requirement as well as a printed table does. The condition is practical, not formal:

• the guest must have access before ordering, not after,
• access must not require installing an app or creating an account,
• the information must be legible, not buried in terms at the bottom of a page.

What is still not allowed: informing verbally only. "Please ask your server" as the sole method does not satisfy the duty, whether the menu is paper or digital.

Step 1: gather the data once, properly

Before anything goes into a system, you need the complete picture. This is the part that cannot be rushed.

1. List every item on the menu — including drinks, sides and sauces served separately.
2. For each item, break out the ingredients from the labels, not from memory. The biggest surprises come from prepared goods: spice blends (celery, gluten), stock cubes (celery), soy sauce (wheat), mustard in a dressing, soy lecithin in chocolate.
3. Check the drinks. Wine is almost always sulphites, beer is gluten.
4. Mark the cross-contamination points. Shared fryer, board, toaster, flour in the air. A typical kitchen has 3–5 of them.

Step 2: attach allergens to the item, not to a document

This is where the line runs. The setup survives a year, or drifts within 3 months.

Wrong: a separate allergens.xlsx on the manager's drive, printed occasionally and left at the bar. On a 60-item menu that is 60 rows somebody has to remember to keep in step.

Right: allergens are a field on the dish — where the dish has its name, price and description. One recipe change is one edit.

In WMenu you tick the allergens present at each item, and the guest sees them directly under the dish name — in their own language, because the labels are translated along with the menu.

Step 3: set up how the guest sees it

Three things worth thinking through:

Visible without clicking. Allergens belong at the item, or one tap away from it. A list hidden behind 3 taps formally exists and practically does not work.

Filtering. If the system allows it, a "gluten-free", "lactose-free" or "vegan" filter is what a guest with an allergy reaches for first. It is also a good answer to the growing group of guests on elimination diets.

Cross-contamination information. One sentence somewhere visible describing the real risk. Do not add "may contain traces" to every item — the information then stops meaning anything, and a guest with coeliac disease orders nothing at all.

Step 4: write allergens into the menu-change procedure

Without this, everything above ages within months. Three rules are enough:

1. A dish cannot be added without allergens. If the system allows an empty field, make it an internal rule and check at publication.
2. Recipe change = allergen review. The same procedure as costing the dish — we described it in seasonal menu updates. It takes 2 minutes per item.
3. Supplier change = review every dish using that product. This is the most common moment when a list quietly stops being true.

Step 5: prepare the team

An inspection checks not only that the list exists but whether staff know where it is. A document in the office that a server does not know about does not do its job.

A 15-minute briefing is enough. The minimum every person on the floor has to manage:

• show a guest where the allergens are in the menu,
• know that saying it out loud does not replace the list,
• know the cross-contamination points in their own kitchen (the shared fryer is the classic),
• know who to ask when a guest has a question the list does not cover.

Common mistakes when moving allergens into a system

1. Retyping the old table without verifying it. If the table was a year old, you are retyping a year of errors. This moment is the best opportunity to check the labels again.
2. Skipping drinks, sides and sauces. The wine list and the extras carry the same duty.
3. Forgetting takeaway and delivery menus. The duty covers platform sales and your own ordering channel too.
4. No allergens in the other-language versions. Information given only in the local language does not do its job for a guest who does not read it.
5. A daily special with no list. Items that change every day need allergens from day one.

What you get beyond compliance

Compliance is an obligation, but three things come with it:

• Shorter service. A guest with an allergy who can see the list themselves does not hold a server for 5 minutes at every question.
• A wider group of guests. People on elimination diets pick venues where they do not have to run an investigation. And they usually decide for the whole table.
• A quiet inspection. A list updated together with the menu is by definition consistent with what you serve.

You can see how it works on the electronic restaurant menu page or in real venue menus.

Frequently asked questions

Does a QR-code menu satisfy the allergen duty?

Yes. Electronic form counts the same as written. The condition: access before ordering, with nothing to install.

Do I need a paper table alongside it?

There is no such requirement if the electronic version is available to the guest before ordering. Many venues keep one spare menu for a guest without a phone — that is practical, not formal.

How do I label allergens on a daily special?

Exactly as on a fixed item. On a digital menu the special is an ordinary item, so the list is added along with it.

What about dishes modified at the guest's request?

The list covers the dish in its standard version. For a modification the team has to know what changes — which is why staff should know the ingredients, not just the allergen list.

Do allergens have to be labelled on a takeaway menu?

Yes. The duty covers takeaway and delivery-platform sales as well.