Food allergy order ticket and kitchen alert procedure: from the guest to the plate
Most allergy mistakes don't happen because nobody knew the dish had nuts in it. They happen between people: the server heard "allergy" but typed "no nuts pls" in a note the printer cut off, the cook read it after the garnish went on, and a runner who didn't know took the plate to the table.
Two of our earlier posts cover what's in each dish and what to ask the guest. The allergen matrix template is the reference, and the server and cashier hiring guide has the questions. This post is the procedure in between: how one allergy order travels from the guest to the kitchen and back, with a ticket layout, a step list and a log.
This is general information, not legal or medical advice. Your health department enforces its own edition of the Food Code.
What the Food Code expects
Section numbers are from the 2022 FDA Food Code; the 2026 edition keeps them.
- Trained staff. The person in charge makes sure "EMPLOYEES are properly trained in FOOD safety, including FOOD allergy awareness, as it relates to their assigned duties" (§2-103.11(O)).
- Cross-contact is the risk. The Food Code's notes explain: "Cross-contact describes the inadvertent introduction of an allergen into a product that would not intentionally contain that allergen as an ingredient" (2022 edition, Annex 3, under §4-602.11).
- Clean when contamination may have happened. Food-contact surfaces and utensils are cleaned "At any time during the operation when contamination may have occurred" (§4-602.11(A)(5)).
- Hands and gloves. Food employees wash their hands "Before donning gloves to initiate a task that involves working with FOOD" (§2-301.14(H)), and single-use gloves are "used for only one task" and thrown away "when interruptions occur in the operation" (§3-304.15(A)).
The Annex also suggests that allergen training cover "Food establishment specific procedures, processes, communication and controls for allergen management". That's what the rest of this post is.
The allergy ticket
Whatever your POS calls it, an allergy order needs to print or show the same way every time, at the top of the ticket, before the items. If your POS has an allergy button or modifier, use it, and test what it looks like on the kitchen printer or screen. If it doesn't, make an "ALLERGY" modifier the first line on every item it applies to. A free-text note is the last resort, because notes get cut off, missed or ignored.
What the ticket carries:
Line | What goes on it |
|---|---|
ALLERGY | In capitals, first line |
Allergens | Each one by name: milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts (which), peanuts, wheat, soy, sesame, or other |
How strict | "Shared equipment is a problem" or "ingredient only", in the guest's words |
Seat or name | So the plate goes to the right person |
Items | Each item, with the change that makes it safe ("no pesto, plain oil") |
Checked against | Matrix, recipe card or label, and who checked |
Server | Who took it, who will deliver it |
The procedure, step by step
Print this and post it at the pass and at the server station.
# | Step | Who | What "done" looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ask and check. Ask the questions; check every item against the matrix, the recipe card or the label. If you can't be sure, say so and suggest something you can be sure of. | Server or cashier | Every item checked, nothing answered from memory |
2 | Ring it in as an allergy. Use the allergy button or modifier, first line. | Server | Ticket shows ALLERGY at the top |
3 | Say it out loud. Tell the kitchen lead: table, seat, allergen, items. The lead repeats it back. | Server and kitchen lead | Read-back heard |
4 | Reset the station. Wash hands, put on fresh gloves, use a clean and sanitized board, knife, pan and utensils. Take ingredients from containers that haven't been shared with the allergen (no common scoop). | Cook | Station reset before the first item is touched |
5 | One cook builds it. The same cook makes the allergy items start to finish. No shared fryer oil, grill spot, toaster or garnish tray unless the matrix says it's free of that allergen. | Cook | Items made apart, then marked (a colored pick, plate or sticker) |
6 | Check at the pass. The lead compares the plate with the ticket: allergen, items, changes, garnish, sauce, side. | Kitchen lead or expo | Ticket initialed |
7 | Hand-deliver it. The server who took the order, or a manager, carries it alone, sets it in front of the right guest and names the allergy ("this is the one without sesame"). Nobody runs an allergy plate who didn't hear step 3. | Server or manager | Guest confirmed |
8 | Log it. One line in the allergy log. | Server or lead | Line written before close |
If the kitchen can't make it safely, step 3 is where that's said, and the server goes back to the guest before anything is cooked.
Counter service: the same steps, shorter
In a café, the cashier is step 1 and 2, and the barista or cook is 4 to 6.
- Cup or bag sticker. The cashier marks the cup or the bag (a colored sticker or "ALLERGY: milk" on the label) as well as the order.
- Milk at the bar. Steam wands, pitchers, blenders and shakers are shared. Purge and wipe the wand, use a clean pitcher, and rinse the blender jar, or don't offer the drink.
- Bakery case. Use clean tongs and paper for the guest's item, and say so if the items touch in the case.
- Hand-off by name. The person who made it calls the name and the allergy at the pickup point.
The allergy order log
Keep it on a clipboard at the pass, or as a form on a tablet. It's how you spot a step that's being skipped.
Date | Time | Table / order | Allergen(s) | Items | Checked by | Built by | Pass check | Delivered by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Read it at the weekly manager meeting: how many allergy orders, any step left blank, any dish the kitchen couldn't make safely (a candidate for a menu change, using the menu change rollout checklist).
If something goes wrong
Write this part down before you need it, and make sure every shift lead knows it.
- Stop. If anyone realizes a mistake before the plate is eaten, take it back. Remake it from step 4.
- If the guest has eaten it, or has symptoms, tell them straight away and get the manager. Don't wait to see what happens. The FDA says "Symptoms of anaphylaxis may start out as relatively mild but, if not treated promptly, symptoms can become life-threatening in a short amount of time", and "Any allergic reaction has potential to lead to anaphylaxis" (FDA, Food Allergies: What You Need to Know). Your policy: call 911 for any reaction, and let the guest use their own medicine if they carry it.
- Keep everything. The plate, the ticket, the labels of the ingredients used.
- Write it up the same day, with an incident report: what was ordered, what was served, who did each step, what happened.
- Fix the step. Find which step failed and retrain on it at the next pre-shift huddle (coming Nov 3).
Train it like a station
A procedure on the wall doesn't help a new server on a Saturday. Walk every new hire through one allergy order on a quiet shift, and sign it off the way you'd sign off a station, using the station training sign-off sheet. Run a practice allergy order once a month, with a made-up ticket.
Where Mays fits
Mays doesn't take orders, print tickets or run a kitchen screen. Your POS carries the ticket. Mays helps with the parts around it:
- The procedure where staff can find it. Put this procedure and your allergen matrix in a Knowledge Base article, so anyone can look it up on their phone. See Knowledge base basics.
- Training with a quiz. Build a Learning module from the procedure, with a quiz, and assign it to every new server, cashier and cook. Admins create modules. See Creating learning modules and Assigning training.
- Allergen certificates. Allergen training is one of the certificate types you can record for each person, with an expiry date. See Food safety certificates.
- The allergy order log as a form. In Tasks → Types, build a custom form with the log's columns: Text fields for the table and the items, a Multiple choice field for the allergens, Employee fields for who checked, built and delivered it, and a Yes / No for the pass check. Put it in a checklist template with the Custom frequency, so a lead starts one from Tasks → Tasks → Create Task → From Template when an allergy order comes in. See Building custom forms.
- On the wall. With the Digital signage add-on, an image of the eight steps can play on a screen at the pass. See Pairing a signage screen.
What Mays doesn't do: recipes in Mays don't show allergens, so the matrix stays a separate document, and nothing in Mays reads an allergy flag from your POS orders.
One allergy, eight steps, every time
Ask and check, ring it in, say it, reset, build it apart, check it at the pass, hand-deliver it, log it. The same eight steps on a slow Tuesday and a full Saturday are what keep a guest safe.
Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up your allergy training with you.