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Food Allergy Policy

Food Allergy Policy

Last updated September 2026

Introduction

At JP Restaurants, we take food allergies and intolerances seriously. We have a range of processes in place to provide clear allergen information, reduce the risk of cross-contamination and ensure our teams understand how to manage allergy-related orders.

This policy explains how we manage food allergies across our restaurants and cafés, from booking and ordering through to food preparation and service. It also sets out the steps we take to reduce allergen risk and the important limitations that guests with allergies should be aware of.

Please read this information before your visit, and always tell a member of our team about your allergy before ordering.

Our Approach

We welcome guests with food allergies, intolerances and dietary requirements at JP Restaurants.

We understand that for someone with a food allergy, eating out is not simply a matter of personal preference. An allergic reaction can be serious, and we therefore take the management of food allergens very seriously.

Our approach is based on three key principles:

  • Clear information: We provide allergen information for our dishes so that guests can make an informed choice.
  • Consistent processes: We have procedures in place for ordering, food preparation and service to reduce the risk of allergen exposure.
  • Trained teams: Our managers, front-of-house and kitchen teams receive training on food allergies and our allergen procedures.

We recognise that no restaurant can guarantee that the risk of cross-contamination or human error can be completely eliminated. Our aim is to reduce those risks as far as reasonably possible through careful menu development, ingredient selection, kitchen processes, staff training and clear communication with our guests.

This policy applies to our restaurants and cafés, with some differences in process depending on whether food is prepared to order or is pre-packed.

Our Policy

1. When Making a Booking

If you have a food allergy, please tell us when you make your booking.

Where a guest tells us about an allergy when booking a table, we will send an email explaining our food allergy process and providing a link to this policy.

We also ask that you tell your server about your allergy when you arrive and before ordering, even if you have already mentioned it when booking or have dined with us before.

This is important because ingredients and recipes can change, and it ensures that our allergen process is followed each time you dine with us.

2. Choosing Your Food

Guests with food allergies should use our allergen menu when choosing what to eat.

Our allergen menus identify the presence of the 14 main food allergens in each dish. They are available at our restaurants and online through the relevant venue's menu page.

We recommend that guests with allergies check the allergen information every time they visit us, even if they have ordered the same dish previously. Ingredients, suppliers and recipes can change, and this may affect allergen information.

Our main menus also include dietary indicators such as:

  • V – Vegetarian
  • VV – Vegan
  • DF – Dairy Free
  • NGCI – No Gluten-Containing Ingredients

These indicators are intended to help guests with dietary preferences and requirements make an informed choice. They should not be used as a substitute for checking the allergen menu where a guest has a food allergy.

3. Telling Your Server

When you are ready to order, please tell your server about your allergy before placing your order.

We ask guests to mention their allergy each time they order, even if they are speaking to the same member of staff. This helps ensure that the allergy is communicated to the kitchen every time and reduces the risk of an allergy being missed or misunderstood.

When your order is entered into our electronic ordering system, an allergy marker is added to the relevant dish to alert the kitchen to the allergy and the relevant allergen.

Ordering at Jersey Crab Shack

At Jersey Crab Shack, customers can choose to order using our ordering app.

If you have a severe food allergy, we ask that you do not rely on the app to communicate your allergy. Instead, please place your order directly with a member of our team.

The app does include an allergy section where customers can identify relevant allergens, and customers are also prompted to identify whether they have a food allergy. However, speaking directly to a member of our team allows us to make sure the allergy is understood and that our full allergen process is followed.

Where an allergy order is placed through the app, we ask that the order for the person with the allergy is placed separately and directly with their server.

4. Preparing Your Food

Once the kitchen receives an allergy order, our team takes all reasonable precautions to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

Depending on the dish and the allergen involved, this may include measures such as:

  • Washing hands before preparation.
  • Cleaning and preparing work surfaces.
  • Using appropriate utensils and equipment.
  • Following specific preparation and cooking procedures.
  • Keeping relevant allergens away from the dish where appropriate.
  • Following the allergen instructions recorded against the order.

Once prepared, an allergen flag is placed on the dish.

The blue allergen flag allows our service team to identify that the dish has been prepared as an allergy order and provides an additional check before the dish reaches the customer.

5. Receiving Your Food

When your dish arrives, please check with your server that the allergy has been noted correctly.

If you have any concerns about your dish or believe that the wrong dish has been served, please do not eat it. Speak to a member of our team immediately so that we can investigate and, where appropriate, prepare a replacement following our allergen process.

Reducing Allergen Risk

Our allergen controls begin well before a guest places an order.

Menu and Recipe Development

We plan our menus and recipes carefully, with allergen management considered as part of the development process.

New dishes are assessed using a risk-scoring process that considers factors including:

  • The potential severity of reactions associated with different allergens.
  • Whether an allergen is visible or concealed within a dish.
  • The ingredients used and their allergen information.
  • Whether suitable alternative ingredients are available.
  • The processes required to prepare and cook the dish.

Where appropriate, we may choose ingredients or recipes that reduce allergen risk across the menu.

For example:

  • We do not use peanuts or tree nuts as ingredients in our restaurant kitchens. Café Ubé does sell some sealed, pre-packed products containing peanuts or tree nuts, which are manufactured and packaged off-site.
  • We use gluten-free ingredients in a number of dishes where appropriate.
  • We use gluten-free soya sauce.
  • We have replaced butter with olive oil in the peas served on our children's menu.
  • We have removed a plant-based oil containing soya from our ingredients where doing so reduced the number of dishes containing this allergen.
  • We have adapted cooking processes so that certain allergens are prepared in a particular way rather than relying on an exception being made for an individual allergy order.

Where possible, we aim to make safer processes the standard process for everyone, rather than relying on individual exceptions for customers with allergies.

Supplier and Ingredient Controls

We carry out due diligence on our suppliers and use detailed recipe specifications to understand the ingredients used in our dishes.

However, allergen information can change when ingredients or suppliers change. Ingredients may also contain complex components or be manufactured in environments where other allergens are handled.

For this reason, our allergen information is reviewed and updated as part of our menu and recipe processes, and we recommend that guests check the allergen menu every time they visit.

Important Information for Guests with Allergies

We Cannot Guarantee an Allergen-Free Environment

Although we have processes in place to reduce the risk of cross-contamination, we cannot guarantee that food will be completely free from traces of allergens. Our kitchens handle a range of ingredients, and there is always a residual risk of cross-contamination or human error.

We therefore ask all guests with allergies to tell our team about their allergy so that we can follow the appropriate process.

We Do Not Routinely Modify Dishes for Food Allergies

Guests with severe food allergies should choose a complete dish from our allergen menu rather than requesting substitutions, additions or modifications.

We are unable to accommodate some modifications or substitutions. This is an important part of our allergen policy rather than simply a limitation on our kitchen service. Changing a dish from its published recipe can affect the accuracy of our allergen information and introduce additional ingredients, preparation steps or communication points. It can also increase the risk of an allergen being inadvertently introduced.

For the same reason, we cannot prepare special dishes that are not on our menus. We also do not permit customers to bring food such as cakes into our restaurants for consumption, as we cannot verify the ingredients, preparation environment or potential allergen contamination of food prepared elsewhere.

We Are Unable to Fully Track Allergens Outside the 14 Main Allergens

Our allergen menus track the 14 main food allergens required for allergen information:

  • Celery
  • Cereals containing gluten
  • Crustaceans
  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Lupin
  • Milk
  • Molluscs
  • Mustard
  • Nuts
  • Peanuts
  • Sesame
  • Soya
  • Sulphites

We also provide information about a number of other ingredients that customers commonly choose to avoid, such as peas, chilli, onion, garlic and tomato, where this information is available. However, we cannot apply the same controlled allergen process to ingredients outside the 14 main allergens.

For example, information about complex bought-in ingredients and their manufacturing environment may not provide the same level of detail or consistency as the allergen information available for the 14 regulated allergens. If you have a severe or life-threatening allergy to an ingredient outside the 14 main allergens, we strongly recommend that you consider these limitations carefully before dining with us.

Our Duty Manager can provide additional ingredient information from our recipe specifications on request. However, this does not mean that we can provide the same level of assurance or controlled process that applies to the 14 allergens covered by our allergen menus.

Where a guest chooses to order a dish despite it not being covered by our standard allergen process, we will explain the limitations of our process and record “APE” (Allergen Process Explained) against the order.