536: 5 Ways to Better Serve Those With Food Allergies with Shandee Chernow

Raised in the Washington D.C. area, Shandee Chernow attended Vanderbilt Uinverstity and graduated Magna Cum Laude. Later in life, as a sales woman, Shandee developed food allergies, which made taking clients out for dinner burdensome. She thought to herself, "There has got to be a solution!" Not long after, CertiStar was created. CertiStar's mission is to protect and improve the safety and dining experience of patrons vulnerable to food allergens.

Today we are here to discuss real challenges and best practices when it comes to accommodating individuals with food Allergies

Show notes… Favorite Success Quote or Mantra.

"Don't worry about being successful, but work towards being significant and the success with naturally follow."

In this episode with Shandee Chernow from Certistar, we discuss:

• The real challenges that exist around food allergies.
• How if we're proactive, we can prevent the industry from becoming over regulated.
• The potential that you could be held liable if someone becomes ill from food allergies in your restaurant.
• How if you become known for catering to individuals with special dietary needs it can really help your bottom line. There is a niche to be filled here.
• The 5 ways to better serve those with food allergies.
  1. Encourage Conversation
     • making people feel welcome
     • getting the data.
     • Don't ask how severe the allergy is.
  2. Knowing the Basics.
     • Breads, chips, salsa... the staples in your restaurant.
     • Having a minimum of one staff member on the floor at all times who is very knowledgeable on all ingredients on the menu.
     • Keeping a list of menu items and ingredients accessible at all times.
       • Make sure everyone knows where it is!
  3. Going Purple!
     • Use the color code system
     • Get your Purple Cutting Board Here!
     • Rule of thumb: treat food allergy surfaces like raw chicken surfaces.
     • All surfaces need to be washed when being used to serve someone with food allergies.
  4. Allergy friendly salads.
     • Arranging items in salad units in a way the prevents 8 common food allergens (eggs, peanuts, milk, fish, nuts, soybean, shelfish, and wheat) to not cross contaminated other containers.
  5. Separating Fryers and grills.
     • If you have dedicated grills and fryers for food allergens you're opening your restaurant up to more business.
• What to do when someone has a server food allergen reaction in your restaurant.
• What the future of managing food allergies in your restaurant looks like using certistar.
• Why if you are super accommodating to those who have food allergies and aversion, you should be marketing it.

Resources mentioned

• Certistar
  • Be sure to use promotional code "UNSTOPPABLE" Shandee has agreed to kick back 10% of proceeds to the Restaurant Unstoppable mission!
• Allergy Eats
  • Also check out my episode with the founder! Warning this is some OG content...
• Purple Cutting Board

Today's Sponsor

Soundtrackyourbrand.com Lets You Play 250 Music Channels Guaranteed to Fit Any Type of Business. An Easy-To-Use Dashboard Lets You Find Great Music, Control All Your Locations and Schedule Your Sound.

wisetail.com, A Premier Learning Management System, Wisetail Grew Up Alongside Some of the Most Recognizable Restaurants In the Industry. This Has Helped Shape Their Product and its Functionality Through Real-World Feedback and Rigorous Testing.

Contact Info

Certistar.com

Be sure to use promotional code "unstoppable" Shandee has agreed to kick back 10% of proceeds to the Restaurant Unstoppable mission!

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining today! Have some feedback you'd like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

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Huge thanks to Shandee Chernow for joining me for another awesome episode. Until next time!

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