Best Allergen Management Software for Restaurants UK 2026

Key takeaways

• UK restaurants face rising allergy risks and tighter regulation, so structured allergen management is now a core operational requirement.
• Specialist allergen platforms help track ingredients, support compliance, and present clear information to guests and front-of-house teams.
• Key buying criteria include real-time data accuracy, ease of use for kitchen staff, integration with POS and accounts, and clear audit trails.
• Jelly focuses on invoice, recipe, and cost management, giving restaurants the financial and operational control that underpins safe, consistent service.
• Restaurants that want to automate kitchen management and improve profitability can book a chat with Jelly at Jelly kitchen management software.

Why Allergen Management Software is Non-Negotiable for UK Restaurants

Food allergy risk is increasing across the UK. Food allergies nearly doubled between 2008 and 2018, which has raised the stakes for operators of all sizes.

Regulators and campaigners now expect clearer disclosure. Natasha’s Law and the Owen’s Law campaign both push for more transparent allergen information in UK hospitality, and enforcement activity continues to grow.

Manual allergen tracking introduces serious risk. Miscommunication between customers with allergies and staff is a frequent cause of reactions in restaurants, especially when menus change often or staff turnover is high.

Effective allergen management software supports safer service through structured ingredient lists, version-controlled recipes, and clear communication tools. Proactive allergen management can also expand customer reach and profitability by making venues more accessible to guests with dietary needs.

Essential Criteria for Evaluating Allergen Management Software

Accuracy and real-time updates

Reliable allergen control depends on ingredient-level data that updates when suppliers change recipes. Effective systems maintain current information for every product served and its supply chain, ideally with automatic supplier data feeds.

Ease of use and staff adoption

Kitchen and front-of-house teams need fast answers during service. Interfaces should be simple, work on existing devices, and allow staff to find allergen data in a few taps without slowing down service.

Compliance support

Software should help teams meet UK legal requirements. Systems need to support the 14 major allergens and the Food Information Regulations 2014, and reflect FSA guidance on written allergen information for non-prepacked food.

Integration with existing systems

Restaurants benefit when allergen tools link to POS, purchasing, and accounting. Integrated systems reduce duplicate data entry and keep menus, recipes, and allergen information aligned.

Cross-contamination prevention

Good software supports practical kitchen controls. This includes prompts around clear ingredient labelling, allergen-aware workflows, and steps that minimise cross-contamination.

Reporting and traceability

Audit trails help demonstrate due diligence. Systems should record changes to ingredients and recipes, and produce reports that inspectors or insurers can review if an incident occurs.

Jelly: A Practical Solution for Kitchen Management

Jelly is a kitchen management platform for growing restaurants, pubs, and boutique hotels. The product focuses on invoice management, inventory visibility, and real-time menu profitability, which support consistent and controlled operations.

Automated invoice scanning

Jelly reads every line of your supplier invoices and builds a live ingredient database. This automation removes most manual data entry and gives teams up-to-date information on costs and product usage.

Live dish costing

Recipes created in Jelly’s Cookbook update in real time as new invoices arrive. Operators can see dish margins instantly and adjust portions, pricing, or menus before costs drift.

Digital recipe book

A central recipe library in Jelly supports consistency across sites. Teams can access current prep methods, portions, and ingredients in one place, which reduces errors and time spent chasing information.

Integration with kitchen workflows

Jelly connects with POS systems such as Square and ePOSnow and with accounting tools like Xero. These integrations help align sales, stock, and purchasing data so that operators can manage inventory, costs, and suppliers within familiar workflows.

Operators report that Jelly feels straightforward to use in day-to-day service. Holly, Operations Director at Social Pantry, states: “Jelly is so simple to use, I can’t see myself running the business without it.”

See how Jelly can automate your kitchen management. Book a chat.

Top Allergen Management Software for UK Restaurants

Nutritics provides nutritional and allergen analysis with detailed ingredient breakdowns and label-ready data. This suits operations that need in-depth nutrition information alongside allergen tracking.

Ingredifind focuses on guest-facing allergen information through QR code menus and filterable digital views. This supports diners who want to check dishes against their allergies at the table.

Allergen Management Software Feature Comparison

Beyond Features: Total Value of Ownership for Allergen Management Solutions

Implementation and onboarding

Setup time has a direct impact on when teams see value. Traditional systems can take weeks or months to configure. Jelly often delivers first insights within 24 hours of invoice upload, so operators can start improving control quickly.

Staff training and adoption

Any system only works when staff use it consistently. Clear layouts, limited steps per task, and familiar terminology help busy teams adopt new tools without extensive training.

Ongoing maintenance and updates

Allergen and kitchen systems need to handle new ingredients, supplier changes, and menu updates. Jelly reduces manual maintenance by updating costs from invoices, which frees teams to focus on decisions rather than data entry.

Scalability across sites

Growing groups need shared controls and local flexibility. Central recipes, purchasing data, and reporting make it easier to roll out standards across multiple locations without losing local oversight.

Operational efficiency and long-term gains

Kitchen management tools should support cost control as well as safety. Jelly users typically cut food costs by about 3% in the first three months through improved purchasing, menu engineering, and waste reduction based on real ingredient data.

Choosing the Right Allergen Management Software for Your Restaurant

Each restaurant should match its software choice to size, menu complexity, and existing technology. Jelly suits operators that want strong control over invoices, recipes, and profitability as part of wider kitchen management.

Venues that require detailed nutrition panels and formal allergen reports may prefer specialist platforms such as Nutritics. Businesses that prioritise guest-facing digital allergen menus may favour tools like Ingredifind.

Many growing restaurants, pubs, and boutique hotels benefit from starting with solid operational control. Jelly provides this foundation and integrates with other tools, which makes it easier to plug in specialist allergen or guest-facing solutions where needed.

See how Jelly can automate your kitchen management. Book a chat.

Frequently Asked Questions About Allergen Management Software

Q: What are the 14 major allergens I need to track in the UK?

A: The 14 allergens are celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, and soybeans. Food businesses must disclose these when present in dishes, so effective software should track them at ingredient level.

Q: How does allergen management software help with Natasha’s Law and Owen’s Law compliance?

A: Natasha’s Law focuses on pre-packed for direct sale foods, but granular ingredient data supports accurate labelling across all formats. In the context of Owen’s Law proposals, structured allergen systems make written disclosure and staff access to accurate information more reliable.

Q: Can allergen management software save my restaurant money?

A: Allergen and kitchen management tools can reduce manual admin, lower the risk of costly incidents, and protect brand reputation. When combined with cost control platforms such as Jelly, they also support smarter purchasing and menu planning. Jelly users typically see food cost reductions of around 3% in the first three months.

Q: How quickly can my team start using allergen management software effectively?

A: Timelines vary by provider. Some legacy systems require extensive setup, while modern platforms like Jelly can deliver meaningful kitchen insights within days, once invoices and recipes are loaded.

Q: Will allergen management software integrate with our existing restaurant technology?

A: Many modern systems integrate with POS and accounting platforms to avoid duplicate input. Jelly, for example, links with Square, ePOSnow, and Xero so that sales, purchasing, and costing data sit in a single workflow.

Conclusion: Boost Profitability and Efficiency with Jelly

Structured kitchen management supports safer service, better margins, and more consistent guest experiences. Specialist allergen tools handle detailed tracking and disclosure, while Jelly focuses on the operational and financial controls that sit behind every menu.

Jelly offers real-time costing, invoice automation, and integrated workflows that help growing restaurants, pubs, and boutique hotels run more predictable and profitable kitchens.

Holly from Social Pantry sums up the impact: “All the tools on the market require so much manual work. Jelly is so simple to use, I can’t see myself running the business without it.”

See how Jelly can automate your kitchen management. Book a chat.