Restaurants Catering to Allergies

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that approximately 12 million American’s suffer from food allergies

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that approximately 12 million American’s suffer from food allergies; that’s about 1 in 25, and although food allergies are fairly common, allergy sufferers encounter various problems when eating out. Luckily, due to greater allergy awareness, and an increasing number of consumers interested in the ingredients and nutrition facts of their meals, more and more restaurants are providing the information; posting allergen information on menus, creating separate menus for each allergen, or have allergen information readily available in house or on the web. And we couldn’t be happier! Finally food allergy sufferers can enjoy anxiety-less dining!

Below we included a short list of restaurants that can be found throughout the United States - some are more concentrated in certain parts of the country- so if you, or someone in your family is traveling, eating out with an allergen does not have to cause unnecessary anxiety. All of the restaurants listed below either post information on their company websites or have allergen, sensitivity, ingredient and/or nutrition information available at the individual locations:

Arby’s 
Boston Market 
Burger King 
California Pizza Kitchen 
Carl’s Jr. 
Chili’s Grill & Bar 
Chuck E. Cheese’s 
Culvers 
Denny’s
Johnny Rockets 
McDonalds 
Olive Garden 
Outback Steakhouse
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro 
Subway 
Taco Bell 

If you have time before you head out to eat, check the internet for allergy free menus at your favorite local restaurants, or when you visit, ask your server if they have the menu’s allergen or nutrition information - You might be surprised to learn that they do have this information available. If restaurants do not have specific allergen information you can most often get a full list of the ingredients used in each dish. This can get a little tricky though, because some allergens are disguised in other ingredients - so make sure you are aware of these. Allergy sufferers should also be warned of cross-contamination.

To avoid any problems, you should always inform your server about your allergy, regardless if you are ordering from an allergen free menu or not!

Just in case your dining destination does not have an allergy free menu, SupermarketGuru.com has an Allergy Buddy Card - which makes eating out with a food allergy a breeze!