SektorCepte · 2026-10-26
Allergens and Contents on a Menu Page
Write what is in the dish, and the allergen, on the menu page. A sheet in the kitchen does not reach the person reading on a phone. When the recipe changes, the line changes that day.
A person with an allergy looks at what is inside before they order. The place they look is not a sheet in the kitchen. It is the menu page on their phone. If the page holds only the name of the dish, they write the question to you, or they leave without writing. A contents line is not a polite extra. It is part of the order. It is written short, it is written true, and it changes the day the recipe changes. An old line is more dangerous than a new recipe, because the person trusts it.
1. Name what is in each line
Under the name of the dish, write the main things you use. Flour, milk, egg, nuts, sesame, fish, soya. If it is there, its name appears. If it is not there, do not stretch a list of absences. A list of what is missing, longer than the list of what is present, goes unread. The sauce is a separate item. If the sauce holds mustard or milk, that should be visible on the dish's line as well. If the side changes, write the side too. If the rice holds butter, say that beside the rice. A person looks at the main dish and skips the side. If you write both, the question gets shorter. You do not have to give a weight. The name of the item is enough. The grams can stay in the kitchen book.
2. Say cross contact plainly
In a small kitchen the same counter, the same oil, and the same oven are used. A knife that cut hazelnut later sees bread. Hiding that does not make the line clean. One short sentence is enough: nuts and sesame are also handled in the kitchen, and there is no separate line. This sentence sits once under the menu. It is not copied onto every dish. If you do have a separate line, say that too. Writing as if a separate line exists, when it does not, turns trust the wrong way. The people serving should know the sentence on the page by heart. Do not give one answer on the phone and another on the page. Two answers leave a person in doubt, and you no longer know which word will be kept.
3. Change the line the day the recipe changes
On the day you move from oil to butter, the line changes too. When a seasonal item comes in, it is added to the line. When it leaves, it comes off. For a weekly dish, doing this on Monday morning is enough. On a fixed menu the change is rare, and it is still forgotten. If the person who changes the recipe is not the person who writes the page, put a note between them. Without a note the page keeps describing the old recipe. The old recipe is the wrong door for a person with an allergy. The photo should change with the recipe. If the sauce visible in the photo is missing from the line, the person believes the photo. Photo and line should show the same plate.
4. The page should be readable on a phone
The contents sit directly under the dish, not inside a file that opens and closes. A person does not download a file and hunt for a kitchen list. The line should stay inside two lines. A long paragraph is not read on an empty stomach. The heading is the name of the dish, under it the contents, and at the bottom the shared warning. This order stays the same for every dish. If one sits at the bottom and another at the side, the eye misses it. Keeping the menu as a page lets you correct a single line at each change. MenuLab is a way to keep that page current, dish by dish. If you print a paper menu, you print the page as it stands. If the paper is a separate list, two menus are born.
5. Tie the question back to the page
People will still write: is there milk in it. Your answer should be a repeat of the line on the page. If it is there, it is there. If it is not, it is not. The cross contact sentence says what it says. If you do not know, say you do not know and look in the kitchen. Do not guess. A guess is the most expensive answer. If the page is wrong after you look, correct the page first, then write the answer. If the answer goes out and the page stays old, the next person reads the same mistake. At the end of the day, look at the allergy questions that arrived. If the same question came three times, the line is not visible enough. Move it directly under the name of the dish.
This evening, open the lines of the three dishes you sell most. If milk, egg, nuts, or sesame are inside, see whether the name is written. If it is not, add it. If the shared-counter warning is missing under the menu, put one sentence there. The question that will be asked tomorrow should already be standing on the page tonight.