Allergen resource
An allergen matrix should do more than list ingredients once. It needs to stay current, flag cross-contact risks clearly, and be readable by the person actually answering a customer's question.
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One row per menu item. One column per regulated allergen. Cross-contact flagged separately.
Only useful if it gets updated — menu changes, supplier swaps, and seasonal items all need to feed back into it.
The front-of-house team needs to be able to use it, not just the kitchen.
Menu item rows
One row per dish or product. The list needs to stay current — anything not on here is invisible to whoever's answering an allergen query at service.
All 14 regulated allergen columns
Celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soya, sulphur dioxide, tree nuts — each one has its own column, marked clearly per item.
Cross-contact column
Separate from declared allergens. Where shared equipment, surfaces, or ingredients create a cross-contact risk, it needs its own field — not buried in a note or assumed to be obvious.
Version date and reviewed-by field
A matrix without a date is hard to trust. This field shows when it was last reviewed, so whoever's relying on it knows whether it's current.
A matrix usually starts with recipe information. But it only becomes operationally useful when it also reflects shared tools, shared stations, and what gets verified before service. A lot of businesses get the first part right and skip the second.
Most teams build a matrix once and then let it drift. New suppliers, substitutions, seasonal changes — any of these can invalidate an entry without anyone noticing. The businesses that handle this well have a process: recipe changes trigger a matrix review, not a separate task that gets done eventually.
The matrix isn't just for auditors. It's for the person at the pass when a customer says they have a nut allergy. If it's not readable under pressure, or it hasn't been updated since last season, it fails at the moment it matters most.
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