All things allergens: Interview with ANI

NCASS partner ANI was born out of a desire to help businesses navigate the complicated field of allergens and increase the transparency with which businesses are able to communicate with customers about allergens and nutritional information.

As part of Allergen Awareness week, we thought ANI made the perfect people to ask about the state of allergen awareness across the hospitality industry today, and what they think needs to be done moving forward.

How did ANI get started?
ANI was started from two different points of view. Scott was in the F&B industry as an operator for 20+ years and understood the complexities that were coming with new Allergen legislation (such as Natasha’s Law), while Ben has a technology systems background and also has family that suffer with allergies. Ben & Scott came together to help foodies simplify allergen management.

What do you think of the current state of allergen awareness?
I think there are two different answers here. There are some places that have become hyper-aware of the allergen situation and changed their practices accordingly. There are also companies trading who haven’t adapted and are not clear on what allergens they are serving.

Transparency when it comes to the food we eat is becoming increasingly significant in the public eye, how impactful do you think this is/ will be?
We think transparency will only increase in the next few years. Customers are starting to demand more information about the food they are eating, and we believe this will trend will not stop, especially in the younger markets.

Do you think more needs to be done in terms of educating the public?
There is always more that can be done, however it is important to point out there is already a big increase in customer awareness (and demands). Data shows that there are 2% of adults with an allergy related illness and 8% of children. This is a big increase in a generation and therefore not a problem people can ignore. All food businesses need to adapt to this increase in allergen awareness.

What do you think businesses find most challenging about dealing with allergens?
In smaller businesses the biggest challenge is time. Business owners have so much to worry about and sort on a daily basis and this is one more thing added to their plate. This is why ANI works with the operators and does all the on-boarding for them.

How big an impact do you perceive Owen’s Law having?
We think Owen’s Law will perhaps have a bigger impact than Natasha’s Law. Owen’s Law will demand that all operators have to know all the ingredients going into all their dishes and be able to give that information to customers when requested.

Talk us through how your services can help businesses:
ANI works with the business owners (or the person in the business who knows the most about the food) and we then detail all their ingredients. We upload all their recipes and then build their menu from that information. All the allergens flow through the system and we digitalise their menu. We also keep the information accurate and current and we do any menu or ingredient updates for our restaurant partners.

How you have thus far assisted food and drink businesses?
We have assisted by taking the time needed to KNOW YOUR FOOD away from the operator so they can focus on running their business. We spend the time detailing all their ingredients and show them where all the allergens are in their food. We also educate our food partners on the difference in brands they are using. Not all mayonnaise is created equal. It’s essential that when using substitute ingredients that you check the labels for allergens.

What are your hopes for the impact of allergen awareness week?
Customers should feel confident to ask what is in their food and operators should be confident to respond to this. Allergen Awareness Week should act as a reminder for operators to take a bit of time out to ensure they know all the allergens in their menu and have a rigorous system of training their teams to get this information to their customers

What do you think the future holds for ANI?
When we started working on ANI, we knew Natasha’s Law was coming and we believed Owen’s Law would follow. We think that as awareness grows, customers are going to demand more and more information about their food and ANI is a platform that can help Food Operators get that information directly from kitchen to customer.

Click here to find out more about ANI and the discount you can get with them for being an NCASS member. For more information regarding their services, see their website here.