Keele Gateway worked with Allergy Menu at the start of their journey to create an app to improve the experience of vegans, vegetarians and allergy sufferers when visiting restaurants and other food outlets. The concept from the app arose from a group of friends visiting a restaurant in Amsterdam where the language barrier almost resulted in a near miss for a member of the group with a nut allergy.

A team from Keele, comprising of academics, business support professionals and students, worked with Allergy Menu to develop an intermediary process between customers and food businesses to manage food allergies and preferences. It was important to consider not only the usability from the customer perspective but also the ease for business owners to input information in a clear, concise way.

The app is now up and running and offers small and large food businesses the opportunity to maintain an up-to-date and mobile accessible menu that customers can tailor to their food preferences, making it easier to see which dishes are suitable for them and to comply with the law.

The following support programmes available within the Keele Gateway are receiving funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (as part of the England 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) Growth Programme):

• Keele University Science & Innovation Park Smart Innovation Hub (Ref: 32R17P01691);
• Smart Energy Network Demonstrator (Ref: 32R16P00706);
• Business Bridge (Ref: 32R18P02530);
• Innovation Centre Seven - IC7 (Ref: 32R19P03785).

Additionally, Innovation Centre 7 and its associated programmes are part-funded through a suite of funders including the Research England Development Fund, and UK Government funding through the Getting Building Fund.

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