Core feature
Allergen Safe Menus for Restaurants
AllerIQ turns your existing menu into a clear, filterable allergen-safe digital menu. Guests select their food allergies and see only dishes that are safe for them — reducing confusion, supporting informed choices, and helping your staff answer allergy questions with confidence.
What is an allergen-safe menu?
An allergen-safe menu is a digital or printed menu that clearly communicates which dishes contain — or may contain — common food allergens. Unlike a standard menu that simply lists ingredients, an allergen-safe menu is structured specifically to help guests with food allergies make safer, more informed choices.
For restaurants, an allergen-safe menu also serves as a training resource. Rather than relying on staff to memorize ingredient lists across dozens of dishes, an allergen-safe menu creates one consistent, verified source of truth for the whole team.
AllerIQ creates allergen-safe digital menus that guests can filter from their phone via QR code — covering all nine of the FDA's major food allergens.
Why restaurants need allergen-safe menus
Food allergy prevalence is significant and growing. An estimated 33 million Americans have food allergies, and many more follow allergen-restricted diets for medical or dietary reasons. When a guest with a food allergy visits your restaurant, they need to trust that your menu communicates allergen information accurately.
Without a structured allergen-safe menu, restaurants face several problems:
- Staff give inconsistent answers about allergen content across shifts
- Guests have to rely on verbal assurances that may be incorrect or incomplete
- Menu updates can introduce new allergen risks without staff awareness
- "May contain" cross-contact risks are often not communicated at all
- Peak-hour allergy questions slow service and create stress for kitchen teams
AllerIQ's restaurant allergy menu software addresses all of these points with a single, continuously updated digital menu.
How AllerIQ creates allergen-safe menus
AllerIQ takes your existing menu — whether it's a PDF, a spreadsheet, or a POS export — and builds a fully filterable digital allergen menu from it. Here's how it works:
1. Import your menu
Upload a PDF, paste your menu text, or connect your POS system. AllerIQ's parser reads your dishes and ingredient lists automatically.
2. Auto-map allergens
Every dish is cross-referenced against the FDA Top 9 allergens. Wheat, dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, fish, shellfish, and sesame are flagged automatically. "May contain" disclosures are added for shared-kitchen ingredients.
3. Review and publish
Your team reviews the allergen mapping once — a quick process that typically takes 10 to 20 minutes. Once approved, your allergen-safe digital menu is live.
4. Share via QR code
Print your unique QR code and place it on tables, at the host stand, or on your printed menu. Guests scan it, select their allergens, and instantly see a filtered view of dishes safe for them.
FDA Top 9 allergen coverage
The FDA identifies nine major food allergens that account for the vast majority of food allergy reactions. AllerIQ is built around these nine allergens as a baseline: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame.
This means every allergen-safe menu built with AllerIQ is automatically structured to support FDA Top 9 allergen disclosure — without any manual setup required from your team.
Learn more about FDA Top 9 allergen menusBenefits for guests with food allergies
Guests with food allergies often experience anxiety at restaurants. When allergen information is unclear, incomplete, or only available by asking staff, it creates uncertainty and reduces the dining experience for a significant portion of your guests.
An AllerIQ allergen-safe menu helps guests:
- Filter your entire menu by their specific allergies in seconds
- See clear "contains" and "may contain" labels on every dish
- Make more informed meal choices without relying on staff memory
- Feel more comfortable dining at your venue
- Share the filtered menu view with their dining companions
The QR code allergy menu is accessible on any smartphone with no app download required.
Important: AllerIQ helps restaurants organize and communicate allergen information, but it does not replace proper food safety practices, ingredient verification, staff training, or cross-contact prevention procedures. Restaurants remain responsible for their own food safety standards.
Related resources
Restaurant Allergy Menu Software
Full-featured allergen management for restaurants.
QR Code Allergy Menu
Share your allergen menu via scannable QR code.
FDA Top 9 Allergen Menu
Build a menu structured around the FDA Top 9.
Allergen Menu Template
Get started with a ready-to-use allergen template.
What Is an Allergen-Safe Menu?
In-depth guide for restaurant teams.
How to Create an Allergen-Safe Menu
Step-by-step walkthrough.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a menu allergen-safe?
An allergen-safe menu clearly communicates which dishes contain, or may contain, common food allergens. It labels every dish with relevant allergen information based on verified ingredients — not assumptions — and discloses cross-contact risks in shared kitchens.
Which allergens does AllerIQ cover?
AllerIQ covers all nine of the FDA's major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. These cover the vast majority of food allergy reactions in the United States.
Can I create an allergen-safe menu for multiple locations?
Yes. AllerIQ supports multi-location restaurant groups. Each location can have its own menu while sharing allergen data and templates across your account.
How do guests access the allergen-safe menu?
Guests access AllerIQ menus through a QR code you display at your restaurant. No app download needed — the menu opens instantly in any mobile browser.
Does AllerIQ replace staff training on food allergies?
No. AllerIQ helps restaurants organize and communicate allergen information clearly, but it does not replace proper food safety training, ingredient verification, or cross-contact prevention procedures. Restaurants remain responsible for their food safety standards.
How long does it take to set up an allergen-safe menu?
Most restaurants complete their first allergen-safe menu in under 30 minutes. Upload your existing menu file, review the auto-mapped allergen data, and your digital menu is ready to share.
Create your allergen-safe menu today.
Import your existing menu, auto-map allergens, and give guests a clearer way to filter your dishes. Free plan available — no credit card required.