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Is “Jane Q Diner” responsible or is the counter person?

June 16, 2011 by Betsy Craig — pres, menutrinfo.com

Recently I had the pleasure and challenge of doing what I would call a “mystery dine” on a concept near the town where I live. This desire to go play Food PD came about because I met the CEO of the concept (not naming names) back in Chicago at the National Restaurant Association's “Big Top” Conference last month and had a hard time being clear about what I liked and what I didn’t like about his concept.

After grabbing his card and promising to e-mail what I really thought about his places, I looked to see when and with whom would be the best location for me to visit.

After some speculation I decided on a gluten-free dining friend as a partner in crime for lunch on Day 1 and my husband joined me for dinner on Day 2. To keep the test fair and equal I decided to order the exact same thing, the exact same way, at both meals to see what happened.

Day 1 ~ Location 1 ~ I took along “Gluten-Free Dee,” a new friend who is a serious card carrying member of all things GF! When she ordered her gluten-free dish, she was asked by the counter server about her GF choices. The counter person then suggested a new dish for her to try that would also be GF. The suggested item was one that appealed to Dee so she ordered it and the staff member then offered to put an “allergy alert” on Dee’s meal. Not sure what an “allergy alert” is officially, but it sounds helpful for those with special dining needs.

On my turn to order and I picked a dish on the menu board above and asked for it without mushrooms (a preference not an allergy). The gal behind the counter said it could come without mushrooms so I was thinking I was good to go. I was not asked if I wanted the “allergy alert” and when I got my meal it showed up with mushrooms.

On Day 2, the meals I ordered were the exact same thing and this time the server asked if I would like to substitute another veggie for the mushrooms. I loved that.added extra tomatoes and this time, at the second location, my meal was perfectly mushroom free.

This started me thinking, what if I was allergic to mushrooms and not just a picky eater? Would that hourly wage employee be responsible for making me sick? Where does my (Jane Q Diner’s) personal responsibility start and where is the restaurant staff expected to be accountable? How about a Nutritional Ingredient Guide of some sort? Should the restaurant have a reverse look up for the staff to help get it right?

About Betsy Craig

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To date MenuTrinfo is responsible for menu nutritional information at over 100K US restaurants, food allergy and gluten free ANAB accredited training for hundreds of thousands of food service professionals. AllerTrain is the chosen food allergy training by NEHA providing continuing educational credit hours for those that take and pass its course. Finally, MenuTrinfo delivers food allergy confidence and allergen transparency to today’s food allergic consumer through its onsite division offerings, AllerCheck, Certified Free From allergens for spaces and food products which is an ISO 17065 certification and expert consultation and incident response support when needed.

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