Allergen App

The Allergen App gives your business a public allergen information page that customers can open from a link or scan from a QR code. It reads the allergens already on your menu, including those inherited from recipe ingredients, and shows them as a matrix that customers can filter by the allergens they need to avoid. Alongside it you get a staff Lookup, a Worklist of items still waiting on review, and settings for branding, contact details and legal text.

Two Ways to Get It

• From an existing TypeMenu account - open Compliance in the sidebar. It is already there on Free and Operate.
• From allergens.site - if you only want allergen compliance, sign up at allergens.site. You are taken to the TypeMenu registration form with a shortened set-up (business name, country and timezone) and land on the Free plan with the Compliance area ready to go. If you later want online ordering, you upgrade the same account; your products, categories, allergens and allergen page carry over unchanged.

What Appears on the Page

Your public page is built from your normal menu. An item appears when:

• the product is Active, and
• the product’s Show on Allergen Page switch is on (it is on by default for every product), and
• it has at least one active variant

The Products link in the Compliance area simply opens Menu → Products - there is one menu, and the switch per product controls allergen-page visibility. Products are grouped on the page by category; Compliance → Categories edits the same categories as Menu → Categories.

The allergens shown for each item are its effective allergens: those selected on the variant itself, plus every allergen declared on the ingredients in its recipe (following sub-recipes all the way down), plus any allergens that selected modifier options add or remove. See Allergens for tagging variants and Ingredients for declaring allergens on ingredients.

Verified and Unverified Items

An item is verified when its variant has been marked reviewed (the Mark allergens reviewed option in the product editor) and every ingredient in its recipe has been confirmed on its ingredient page. Until then, the item still shows every allergen it inherits, but carries the caveat “Allergen info incomplete — please ask staff” on the public page, in Lookup and on print and PDF versions.

Worklist

Compliance → Worklist lists every item on your allergen page that is not yet verified. Each entry names the product and variant and, under “Waiting on:”, the specific unreviewed ingredients blocking it, each linked to its ingredient page. Click Review to go straight to the thing that needs confirming. When nothing is left, the page shows “Everything is reviewed”.

Lookup

Compliance → Lookup is for staff on the floor. Type part of an item’s name and each match shows its effective allergens instantly, with the same incomplete caveat where it applies. It searches your menu items, not the public page, so it works even if the online page is switched off.

Page Settings

Compliance → Page Settings controls the public page:

• Description - a short description shown on the page and used as its search-engine description
• Contact Information - Contact Name and Contact Email. When an email is set, the page footer shows “Questions?” with a mailto link
• Page Options
  • Enable Online Page - makes the page publicly reachable. Off by default; until it is on, the link and QR code return “Page Not Found”
  • Search Engine Indexable - allow search engines to list the page. Off by default
  • Enable PDF Download - allow an A4 landscape PDF of the matrix to be downloaded from your page address with /pdf on the end
  • Enable Print View - adds a Print link to the page that opens a print-friendly layout
• Additional Text - Disclaimer Text and Advice Text, shown under the headings “Disclaimer” and “Advice” beneath the matrix. Use these for kitchen cross-contamination notices and “please tell us about any allergy” advice

Click Save Settings. If you do not have the “edit allergen app settings” permission the page is read-only.

Share and QR Code

Compliance → Share gives you everything to put the page in front of customers:

• QR Code - scan to open the page. Download PNG for your designer or printer, or Print for a ready-made sheet headed “Allergen Information” with “Scan to view allergen information” underneath
• Page URL - the direct link, with a copy button, plus “Your unique code:” showing the 8-character code that forms your address, and View Page to open it
• Print Your QR Code - tips for table tents, menu inserts and an entrance display

If the online page is not yet enabled, Share shows “Your allergen page is not enabled” with an Enable Page button, and warns that the QR code will not work until you switch it on.

Appearance

Compliance → Appearance sets how the page looks:

• Branding - upload a Logo (shown in the page header) and an optional Favicon (browser tab icon)
• Business Address - search with Search Address or type Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City and Postcode. Once mapped, the address is displayed on your allergen page

Click Save Changes. The logo and address are shared with the rest of TypeMenu, so a business that starts on allergens.site and later upgrades does not enter them twice.

Categories

Compliance → Categories lets you add, edit and reorder the categories the page groups items under. Click Add Category, give it a Name and optional Description, and leave Active Category on. Use Reorder to drag categories into order, then Save Order.

What Customers See

• A search box (“Search items…”) to find a dish
• The matrix: items down the side, allergens across the top, with a mark where an item contains an allergen
• Tap an allergen heading to hide every item containing it. The page shows “Avoiding 2 allergens” (or however many) with a Clear button, and remembers the selection on that device
• The incomplete caveat on any item that is not yet verified
• Print (when Print View is enabled), your Disclaimer and Advice text, the “Questions?” email, and an “Updated” date

Compliance → Home tells you at a glance whether the page is live (“Your allergen page is live”, with Get QR Code) or not (“Your allergen page is not live”, with Configure).

FAQs

Can I choose my own code or address?

No. The 8-character code is generated when your allergen settings are created and cannot be changed from the panel.

Can I change the page colours?

No. Appearance covers logo, favicon and address only; the page layout and colours are fixed.

Can I add “may contain” warnings per item?

No. Items show the allergens they contain. Put cross-contamination notices in Disclaimer Text or Advice Text, which appear on every view of the page.

Can I put a verification challenge in front of the page?

Not from the panel. There is no setting for it in Page Settings; contact support if you need the page protected.

The link or QR code says “Page Not Found”

Check Enable Online Page is on in Page Settings, and that the product you expect has Show on Allergen Page switched on and is Active.

An item shows no allergens

Open the product and select its allergens on the variant, or, if the dish has a recipe, declare them on each ingredient and they are inherited automatically.

Related

• Allergens - the 14 allergens and tagging them on products
• Ingredients - declaring and confirming ingredient allergens
• Recipes - how allergens flow from ingredients to dishes
• Menu Settings - the storefront Allergens page
• Products - the Show on Allergen Page switch