Allergens on the set menu when the dishes change every day

The duty is the same

In the UK, food law based on EU Regulation 1169/2011 requires you to tell customers about the 14 allergens in the food you serve, whether it’s the main menu or today’s specials. You can print them on the menu or give the information verbally, as long as you have it in writing and a visible notice tells customers how to ask. Since 2025, the Food Standards Agency’s best practice guidance asks businesses to offer it in writing and encourage a conversation too.

In the US, the FDA recognises nine major allergens (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame). There’s no single federal rule for restaurant menus, but the 2022 FDA Food Code asks for written notice of major allergens in unpackaged food wherever your state or county has adopted it.

A menu that changes every day doesn’t exempt you: it just means you need a system. If you have doubts about your case, ask your local authority’s environmental health team (UK) or your local health department (US).

The trick: fixed recipes, rotating menus

Even if the menu changes daily, you rarely invent new dishes: you rotate through a repertoire of soups, fish pie, roast chicken, a risotto, a curry… Make the most of it.

• Write one recipe sheet per dish, once: ingredients, the brands of any bought-in products and their allergens.
• Keep the sheets together, in a folder in the kitchen.
• When the dish comes back, the sheet is already done. You only check whether anything has changed.

Twenty or thirty sheets cover most of your menus.

On the menu or on the chart

There are two ways to work, and you can combine them:

• Allergens on the menu itself, as numbers (1–14) next to each dish. They take little space, print well in black and white and fit on an A5. The key goes at the bottom.
• A daily chart with every dish and all 14 allergens, plus a note on the menu: “Allergen information is available. Please ask a member of staff.”

The safest option is to do both: numbers on the menu for anyone who wants to check at a glance, and the chart to answer questions in detail.

How MenuDesign’s history helps

When you type a dish you’ve used before, MenuDesign autocompletes it with the allergens and labels you gave it last time. For a new dish, the app can suggest allergens from words in its name (aioli, battered, béchamel…).

Both are aids, not guarantees. You decide the allergens, with the recipe in front of you. If something has changed, correct it and next time the app will suggest the new version.

The daily (or weekly) chart

From the same menu data, download the allergen chart on A4: dishes in rows, the 14 allergens in columns and space for the date and a signature.

1. Download it as soon as the menu is done.
2. Check it with the kitchen and sign it.
3. Leave it in its usual place, in the dining room or behind the bar.
4. File previous days’ charts in a folder, in date order.

There’s more on building one in the allergen matrix template guide.

What changes without you noticing

Allergen mistakes on a daily menu rarely come from the dishes; they come from the details:

• A new supplier of bread, sausages, stock or passata with a different recipe.
• The sauce that’s thickened with flour one day and cornflour the next, or finished with butter.
• Sides that change without going through the menu: chips one day, a salad with cheese the next.
• Bought-in desserts instead of homemade ones, or the other way round.
• Shared frying oil for battered food, fish and chips.

If any of these change, update the recipe sheet and the menu.

Front of house

• Everyone on the team must know where the chart is and check it before answering.
• Never say “I don’t think it has any”. If you’re not sure, ask the kitchen.
• If the kitchen can’t guarantee it either, say so clearly. It’s better for the guest to choose another dish than to take a risk.