I am VERY excited to share the news with those of you who are not yet aware that AllergyEats is hosting an exciting conference entitled: The Inaugural Food Allergy Conference for Restaurateurs: What Every Restaurant Should Know About Food Allergies To Ensure Safety & Maximize Customer Engagement, Loyalty, and Revenue. Details can be found below or at the following link: www.allergyeats.com/conference.

After thinking about the amazing people we’ve gotten to know in the food allergy and hospitality industries – doctors, restaurateurs, advocates, trainers – and seeing the need to provide valuable information to restaurateurs who want to become more allergy-friendly, we realized that a food allergy conference for restaurateurs was a perfect and timely idea.  We have since lined up an unbelievable list of 11 A+ speakers to teach Food Allergy Basics, share the secrets of Restaurants That Get it Right, demonstrate Basic Training, and discuss The Financials Around Food Allergies.  The list of panels and speakers can be found below.  They can also be found, with the speaker bios, at www.allergyeats.com/conference.

But I need your help!  We obviously want this conference to be a HUGE success.  If it is, we all win!  And if it is, you can be sure that we will do it again every year, educating more and more restaurateurs about how to best accommodate our community.  Therefore, I would like to ask you to please help spread the word about this conference!  Whether by word of mouth, on your social media pages, on other social media pages, on message boards, or any other way, please help us reach as many restaurateurs as possible.  You can direct them to www.allergyeats.com/conference.   (And of course, if YOU are a restaurant owner, chef, or manager, you need to consider attending.)

I’ve been told by those in the industry that restaurateurs make decisions about attending a conference such as this in the last few weeks before it takes place.  Today, we are 20 days away.  It’s the perfect time to spread the word.  Thank you for your help!  And here are the details…

The Inaugural Food Allergy Conference for Restaurateurs

What Every Restaurant Should Know About Food Allergies To Ensure Safety & Maximize Customer Engagement, Loyalty, and Revenue

Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 8:00 am – 2:30 pm, Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center, 1 Seaport Lane, Boston MA

The Inaugural Food Allergy Conference for Restaurateurs: What Every Restaurant Should Know About Food Allergies To Ensure Safety & Maximize Customer Engagement, Loyalty, and Revenue is a must-attend event for restaurant chefs, owners and managers that strive to become more knowledgeable and accommodating about food allergies – and reduce their fear about serving food-allergic guests.  This timely, relevant event will feature notable speakers from the National Restaurant Association, Legal Seafoods, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Kitchens with Confidence and Not Your Average Joe’s, among others, who will provide valuable information about accommodating food-allergic guests, reducing the fear around food allergies, building customer loyalty, and other related food allergy issues.

The event will include Opening Remarks from Peter Christie, President of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, followed by four important panel discussions:

• Food Allergy Basics – This session will spotlight fundamentals, statistics, and the realities of accommodating food-allergic, intolerant and sensitive 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.

Our esteemed roster of speakers will include:

• Paul Antico, Founder/CEO, AllergyEats
• Peter Christie, President, Massachusetts Restaurant Association
• Wayne Shreffler, MD, PhD, Director, Food Allergy Center, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Michele Carrick, MSW, LICSW, Member, Board of Directors for Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America
• Michael Pistiner, MD, MMSc, Pediatric Allergist, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates
• Rich Vellante, Executive Chef and Executive Vice President of Restaurants, Legal Sea Foods, Inc.
• Steve Silverstein, CEO, Not Your Average Joe’s
• Jim O’Brien, Owner/CEO, Jake’s Seafood
• Betsy Craig, Founder/CEO, Kitchens With Confidence
• Kevin Scott, Northeast Region Manager, National Restaurant Association
• Ted Bazakos, Vice President, New England Restaurant Brokers, Food Service Advisor

To register, please visit our conference page at www.allergyeats.com/conference

For questions or comments regarding this event, please contact us.