LuLu’s at Homeport reacts to allergiesLuLu’s at Homeport reacts to allergies

GOAL: Make patrons with food allergies feel as welcome as other guests by offering them peace of mind and a pleasant experience. 


LuLu’s, a Gulf Shores, Ala., waterfront concept owned by Lucy Buffett, Jimmy’s sister, always has had an allergy program in place to accommodate food-sensitive guests. But as the team noticed their food-allergen customer base swelling over the years, they knew they needed to rethink their strategy to keep up with the demand. 


“Allergies are becoming more and more prevalent, and a lot of doctors are thinking that maybe they’ve just been under-diagnosed for a lot of years,” said LuLu’s general manager Johnny Fisher. “We were seeing a huge increase in the number of people that were requesting [the allergy menu].” 


According to Fisher, the company implemented a more formal allergy program in 2009, but they still weren’t completely satisfied with the dining experience they were giving patrons with food allergies. 


“Our allergy menu was typed up on a laminated sheet of paper — it didn’t look like our other menu — and if you had an allergy, you weren’t really getting the whole experience,” Fisher said. 



SOLUTION: Give food-sensitive customers the same hassle-free experience afforded other diners by introducing detailed allergy menus and a system of managerial responsibility for all food ordered from them. 


After six months of thorough research, LuLu’s introduced six specialized allergy menus earlier this year, catering to guests with gluten, egg, seafood, shellfish, dairy and soy allergies, in conjunction with the implementation of a program designed to minimize risk and make food-sensitive patrons feel welcome.


As part of the program, a manager personally takes the order of anyone who has requested an allergy menu. He or she brings the order to the kitchen, where it is written on a special red ticket to separate it from other orders. The manager hands the ticket directly to the cook, who gives it priority, breaking out the necessary allergy-designated cooking utensils and preparing the meal. 


Once the order is ready, the kitchen radios the manager, who brings it to the guest’s table. 


“It really gives them a lot of security that it’s not going to get mixed up and that it’s being cooked separately,” Fisher said. 


“The word has really gotten out among the allergy community,” he said. “We found they are very close knit, and they all belong to the same blogs and they watch the same websites, and so the word is out now that we have this great allergy program.”


Fisher said LuLu’s allergy-menu orders have tripled since they introduced the program. Right now, the restaurant is seeing about 4 percent of its orders come from the allergy menus, significantly higher than the 2.5 percent of Americans the National Institutes of Health estimates have food allergies. 


“We’ll do about 900 checks a day during the summer, and we’ll get 30 or 40 of those as allergy checks. It’s something that happens almost constantly,” he said.


Beyond training, the additional attention given guests with food allergies hasn’t at all impacted staffing needs, according to Fisher. LuLu’s has been able to seamlessly integrate the allergy program into its operations. 


“That’s one of the things we’re hoping that we can help lead the way with — letting restaurants know that it’s not hard to have an allergy menu, and there is a big need for it.” Fisher said.


Contact Vanessa Van Landingham at [email protected].