Allergen Strategy

Every food business must handle allergen information responsibly. storekit provides several options - the right choice depends on your service type, risk appetite, and how much friction you’re willing to add to the ordering process.

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The Trade-off

More allergen protection = more friction for guests. A customer with no allergies doesn’t want to click through warnings or answer questions. But a customer with a severe allergy needs you to take it seriously. Your job is to find the right balance.

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Option 1: Store Notice Before Checkout

Display a modal that customers must acknowledge before completing their order. How it works:

1. Go to Stores → your store → Settings → Store Notices and create a notice with your allergen information
2. Under Show on, tick Checkout Popup
3. Customers see the notice before checkout and select Continue to proceed

See Store Notices for every notice option. Best for: Reminding all customers about allergen policies without blocking ordering. Example text:

Allergen Information
Our kitchen handles all 14 major allergens. If you have a food allergy, please call us on 020 1234 5678 before placing your order so we can discuss your requirements.

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Option 2: Allergen Gate (Disable Ordering)

Ask customers upfront if they have an allergy. If yes, disable online ordering and direct them to staff. The gate is only available on order & pay (in-store) stores. Delivery and pickup stores do not have this setting. Turn it on:

1. Go to Stores → your store → Settings → Operations
2. In Checkout fields, turn on Custom checkout fields
3. Turn on Disable ordering for customers with allergens, below the in-store fields table
4. Select Save

What customers see:

1. When a customer opens the menu, a modal asks “Do you have an allergy?”. It stays open until they answer
2. If they answer yes (“Yes, I have an allergy”), the add-to-basket buttons are hidden on the menu and in item details, and a banner on the menu reads “Online ordering is disabled due to your allergy, please order with a team member”
3. If they answer “No”, they can order normally
4. After a yes answer, customers can change it by tapping the banner (“Click here to change your answer”), which reopens the modal
5. There is no banner after a “No” answer. The modal opens again whenever the menu page is reloaded, so customers can answer again then

Default text:

• Modal title: “Do you have an allergy?”
• Modal description: “If you do, we take your safety very seriously so we kindly request that one of our amazing managers personally takes your food order”
• Disabled message: “Online ordering is disabled due to your allergy, please order with a team member”

Best for: Dine-in and pay-at-table where staff are present to take orders from allergy customers.

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Option 3: Allergen Modifier Group

Add a required modifier group to products (or all products) asking customers to declare allergies. How it works:

1. Create a modifier group called “Allergen Declaration” or similar
2. Add options like:
   • “I have no food allergies”
   • “I have allergies - please contact me”
3. Make it required on relevant products
4. Review orders with allergy declarations before preparing

Best for: Capturing allergy information per-item while still allowing online ordering. Example options:

• “No allergies”
• “I have allergies (we’ll call you)”
• “Nut allergy”
• “Gluten intolerance”
• “Other allergy - see order notes”

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Option 4: Order Notes

Rely on the order notes field for customers to communicate allergies. How it works:

1. Customers type allergy information in the order notes
2. Staff review notes when preparing orders

Best for: Low-friction stores with operationally mature teams who always check notes. Risks:

• Customers may forget to add notes
• Staff may miss notes during busy periods
• No structured data for reporting

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Allergen Display on Menu Items

Separately from the ordering flow, you can control how allergen information displays on menu items.

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Display Options

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How Allergens Work

storekit supports the 14 major UK allergens as defined by the Food Standards Agency: Celery, Gluten, Crustaceans, Fish, Eggs, Lupin, Milk, Molluscs, Mustard, Nuts, Peanuts, Sesame, Soya, Sulphites Each menu item can be tagged with:

• Contains - The item definitely contains this allergen
• May contain - The item may contain traces (cross-contamination risk)

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Allergens on Modifiers

Modifiers can also have allergen tags. As guests select modifiers, the allergen display updates in real-time to reflect the complete allergen profile of their customised item. For example, if a burger has no nuts but the guest selects a “Satay Sauce” modifier that contains peanuts, the allergen list will update to show peanuts as they make that selection. This ensures guests always see accurate allergen information for exactly what they’re ordering, including all their customisations.

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Allergen Filtering

Customers can filter the menu to hide items containing specific allergens. This helps customers with allergies browse safely, but should not be relied upon as the sole protection.

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Choosing Your Strategy

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Combining Approaches

You can use multiple approaches together:

1. Store Notice to inform all customers about your allergen policy
2. Extended allergen display so customers can see allergens on each item
3. Allergen modifier on high-risk items only
4. Order notes as a catch-all for specific requests

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Legal Considerations

In the UK, Natasha’s Law requires food businesses to provide full ingredient lists with allergen information emphasised for prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food. Your online ordering strategy should complement your in-venue compliance.