AllergyEats Presents The 2nd Annual Food Allergy Conference for Restaurateurs:

What Every Restaurant Should Know About Food Allergies

To Ensure Safety & Maximize Customer Engagement, Loyalty, and Revenue

Boston, MA, July 17, 2013 – AllergyEats, the leading guide to allergy-friendly restaurants nationwide, presents The 2nd Annual Food Allergy Conference for Restaurateurs: What Every Restaurant Should Know About Food Allergies To Ensure Safety & Maximize Customer Engagement, Loyalty, and Revenue.  This is a must-attend event for restaurant chefs, owners and managers, as well as food service operators that strive to become more knowledgeable and accommodating about food allergies – and reduce any fear about serving food-allergic guests.

This timely, relevant event will feature notable speakers from the National Restaurant Association, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Blue Ginger, Burton’s Grill, MenuTrinfo, Kids With Food Allergies Foundation and AllergyEats, as well as prominent allergists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital, who will provide valuable information about accommodating food-allergic guests, reducing the fear around food allergies, building customer loyalty and profits, and other related food allergy issues.

“The event features notable restaurateurs that excel at accommodating food allergies, who will provide actionable tips to make restaurants safer for food-allergic guests.  Our speakers will discuss protocols they’ve implemented to improve communication, avoid cross-contamination, identify special allergen-free meals, and better accommodate guests with dietary restrictions, as well as the benefits they’ve experienced by being allergy-friendly,” said Paul Antico, Founder and CEO of AllergyEats, father of three food-allergic children and passionate food allergy advocate.

“The conference also offers valuable advice from professional industry trainers, who discuss the importance – and process – of implementing effective food allergy protocols, procedures and training in restaurants.  Other speakers include physicians describing the basics of food allergies and a financial professional explaining how restaurants can significantly increase their profits, customers and loyalty by becoming more allergy-friendly,” Antico continued.

The conference will be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2013, from 8:00 am – 2:30 pm at the Seaport Boston Hotel, 1 Seaport Lane, Boston, MA.

Speakers will include:

• Ming Tsai, James Beard Award-Winning Chef, Owner of Blue Ginger and Blue Dragon, Television Host, Cookbook Author, Food Allergy Advocate
• Mike Moomjian, Director, Quality Assurance & Food Safety at P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
• Kevin Harron, Founder, President and CEO, Burtons Grill
• William L. Weichelt, Director, ServSafe for the National Restaurant Association
• Paul Antico, Founder/CEO of AllergyEats, food allergy advocate, father of three food-allergic children
• Betsy Craig, Founder/CEO, MenuTrinfo
• Lynda Mitchell, President, Kids With Food Allergies Foundation
• Dr. Wayne Shreffler, Head of the Food Allergy Center at Mass General Hospital
• Dr. Michael Pistiner, Pediatric Allergist for Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, and Voluntary Instructor of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital
• …and more

Topics will include:

• Food Allergy Basics – This session will spotlight fundamentals, statistics, and the realities of accommodating food-allergic and food-intolerant guests. It will also showcase how food-allergic individuals deal with everyday life, and what they look for in a restaurant when dining out.
• Restaurants That Get it Right – Expert restaurateurs who excel at accommodating food-allergic guests will spotlight their restaurants’ best practices, as well as their successful food allergy procedures and protocols.  They’ll explain why they’re committed to being allergy-friendly and describe guests’ reactions, including their increased loyalty.
• Basic Training – Top restaurant trainers who specialize in food allergies and other special dietary requirements will speak about the process of becoming more allergy-friendly.  This session will discuss how restaurants can become more accommodating, improve safety and minimize risks, implement and execute food allergy protocols and become more confident in their food allergy procedures.
• The Financials Around Food Allergies – This session will explore the economics of accommodating food-allergic diners, including the increased loyalty and profit opportunities, demonstrating how restaurants can make significantly more money by becoming allergy-friendly.

Attendees will enjoy lunch with the experts and have ample time for Q&A during each session.  They can also sample vendors’ allergy-friendly products at the event.

Advanced registration is required.  Registration is $199 per person. Early bird registration is $179 until September 15, 2013.  Group discounts are also available.  To register and for more information, please visit www.allergyeats.com/conference.

“Attendees at last year’s conference raved about the high caliber of speakers and the constructive information they learned from our experts,” Antico added.  “The feedback we received last year was overwhelmingly positive and we’re looking forward to another informative and successful conference this fall.”

This conference is sponsored by Mylan Specialty L.P., MenuTrinfo, and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

About AllergyEats

AllergyEats, a free, peer-based website and smartphone app, is dramatically improving the way food-allergic and gluten intolerant individuals find – and rate – allergy-friendly restaurants.  The easy-to-use ratings and comment system allows food-allergic diners to instantly share their feedback about their restaurant experiences.  This peer-based ratings and review site lets people see at-a-glance which restaurants have been more willing and better able to accommodate special dietary requirements, allowing food-allergic diners to make more informed choices about where to dine.

AllergyEats lists more than 600,000 restaurants nationwide, which food allergic diners can rate.  The site also offers information on restaurants’ menus, certifications, web links, directions and more.   The site, app and related social media forums help families with food allergies reduce the guesswork – and the anxiety – surrounding dining out with food allergies.

Most restaurant review sites include information about establishments’ food, ambiance or service, but AllergyEats is singularly focused on food allergies, with peer reviews spotlighting where people with food allergies or intolerances have more comfortably eaten.

AllergyEats has been endorsed by highly-respected food, health and allergy organizations and individuals, including the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Gluten Intolerance Group, Massachusetts Restaurant Association, Chef Ming Tsai, Chef Joel Schaefer and more.   AllergyEats was selected as the About.com 2012 Readers’ Choice Award winner for best Food Allergy App.  The AllergyEats smartphone app also won a Web Health Award and was honored as one of Healthline’s Top Ten Food Allergy Apps.  For more information, please visit www.AllergyEats.com.