Creating a Roadmap for Business Success: Artizian s Allergen Labelling Journey.

Background In October 2011 it was announced that allergen regulation was to be extended to Food Service Operators to label all 14 EU allergens on pre-packed and non-packed food*. Operators were given 3 years to make the necessary adjustments. It was to become law on 13 th December 2014. By July 2014 Unilever Food Solutions research* found that: almost 44% of Food Service Operators were still unaware of the allergen laws 78% had still not made any changes Information was poor: 38% said they found out through the media, 33% from the FSA and 13% from EHO. It was an unchartered journey for all concerned. *Source: Unilever Food Solutions July 2014./EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (EUFIC) No. 1169/2011.

Artizian s Journey On 18 th December 2014 Artizian became the first B&I caterer to be given an Allergen Accreditation award for every one of our sites, with a score of 100%*. We recognise allergen labelling as a 24/7/365 business requirement. The necessity to, get it right is driven by the fundamental knowledge that to, get it wrong could lead to the possible death of one of our customers. Allergy is a serious business. This is the story of Artizian s journey...in a nutshell! *Artizian client research: Survey Monkey September 2015

Artizian s Journey Started implementing the EU FIC Regulation in December 2013. Project managed by Catherine Attfield, Manager Nutrition & Wellbeing. The implementation plan broadly covered four key areas: Team player training. Creation of bespoke allergen labelling implementation tools for menu and product labelling. Allergen labelling policies and procedures and customer communication and engagement programmes. Compliance and auditing.

From celery to sulphites without a road map Initially the task seemed overwhelming. How were we going to label every allergen used within the business every day across every site in every item of food we served? Our motto was Be Pro-active not Re-active Our over-riding objective was to help our customers to make safer food choices in our restaurants.

From celery to sulphites Firstly we needed to identify WHERE the 14 EU allergens were in our business. Fundamentally, managing allergens is an issue of: 1) Traceability- starting with our suppliers, and 2) Control

The importance of knowledge Chef knowledge was of paramount importance. If chefs saw with their very eyes where these allergens were they would know because seeing is believing. So we asked our chefs to create site specific Allergen Lists of all their suppliers products. Our chefs at first didn t understand why we chose a more time consuming allergen identification route and challenged the task!

The importance of chef training Chefs were individually supported and properly trained in the details of allergen and intolerance to prevent dicing with death. We believed there was no excuse for ignorance. Chefs needed to know the law and provide food that is safe. Each chef was made aware of his/her responsibilities and trained to do their job.

Seeing is believing Chefs reviewed their ingredient supply chain and systems. They developed a greater understanding of ingredients and their component parts. We developed a company-wide understanding of allergens and intolerances. We connected with organisations and specialists to help develop our understanding. The Result: Our chefs now know what allergens are in the products they use and labelling allergens has become second nature.

Chef Poster

Team player training. Every team player had allergen and intolerance training in early 2014. This gave them the confidence to do the job required. Everyone is responsible for getting it right They know of the potential risks of getting it wrong Easily obtained information that is accurate and consistent. Everyone takes pride in their role. Daily pre-service briefings Everyone is an Allergen Champion! It s ok if you re not sure, but never guess. Always ask. Our customers rate our team players knowledge highly with 90%* confirming they are extremely/ very knowledgeable. *Artizian client research: Survey Monkey September 2015

How knowledgeable are team players on allergens? *Artizian client research: Survey Monkey September 2015

Supplier engagement We worked with suppliers to provide allergen information, in our format. We empowered suppliers to do the job we required. We supported suppliers who struggled through: Bespoke training packages Allergen update information A collaborative approach

Allergen control and management systems Secondly we needed to trace and control WHAT allergens we intentionally used. Created data capture processes to make it easy for chefs to record allergens intentionally used. Modified menu templates so that allergens used could be easily listed. Developed checking and briefing processes so that every team player was made aware of the allergens in the food we served each day.

Client engagement Our clients were aware of our plan from the outset. Every client supported our efforts and appreciated the business benefits of making food safer for the customer.

Customer communication mechanisms Thirdly we needed to know HOW we were going to communicate with customers. Do we just tell them, if asked? Do we create an allergen list? Do we write it down on the menus? We chose the gold standard route which means full disclosure both written and verbal.

Customer communication mechanisms We ran bespoke customer communication and engagement Discovery Days from June 2014 informing our customers of the new EU legislation and How Artizian s allergy policy reflected this How our new labelling formats would look Distributed a simple Allergen Policy leaflet Linked information to our website Customers overwhelmingly welcomed the changes and feedback was extremely positive: 78% of our clients said allergen labelling met their customers needs extremely well. 100% said it was extremely easy / 33% very easy, to find allergen information we gained 100% for legibility too.* *Artizian client research: Survey Monkey September 2015

How easy is it for customers to find allergen information for the food we serve? *Artizian client research: Survey Monkey September 2015

Customer communication

Implementation to compliance Finally, we needed to establish an implementation and compliance strategy. Bite-size steps! Everything was in place by September 2014 Spot check/compliance audits were conducted throughout our sites. At first there were errors, but as time progressed our sites became the experts we planned for them to be before December 2014.

Please tick which of following procedures are followed daily at your site *Artizian client research: Survey Monkey September 2015

Implementation tool kit With no extra allocated budget, we managed to: Amend existing menu and product labelling processes, proving that expensive, new kit was not necessary. Managers and chefs were familiar with the labelling process so no extra training was necessary. We chose to use our own allergen intelligence rather than rely on out of date information systems. This means we have daily control of our information. Our tool kit resources: Chef Poster Allergy Policy Leaflet and posters Allergen and Intolerance Training Video and test material.

Implementation to compliance We recognised that seeking outside allergen accreditation would reinforce our gold standard procedures. We decided to linked up with Julian Edwards from Allergen Accreditation. Our research found that 90%* of customers confirmed implementation was extremely/very well received. *Artizian client research: Survey Monkey September 2015

The benefits of allergen accreditation It provides customers and clients with the confidence that we have a robust allergen policy. It provided a framework to develop and implement an allergen labelling policy. Having a recognised accreditation means a lot to our clients and prospective clients. It shows publically that Artizian is committed to compliance and full allergen disclosure. 89% of our clients trust our information a great deal. *Artizian client research: Survey Monkey September 2015 How important to your customers and client is the catering facility being Allergen Accredited?

The benefits of allergen accreditation Two key goals have been achieved: 1) Our clients and customers have welcomed the accreditation and are confident in the information we supply. 2) Having gone through rigorous interrogation in order to become accredited we have adopted new policies on ingredient purchasing (sourcing), production (cooking), staff training and menu information (serving) and are thus less likely to face fines, fail any Health and Safety inspections and importantly for us, our team players are proud to work for Artizian.

Proud to be food allergy aware.

Issues to manage How much do you trust the suppliers' allergen information available? *Artizian client research: Survey Monkey September 2015

Supplier labelling - perplexing labelling May contain traces of Peanuts, Nuts, Sesame Seeds, Gluten & Soya.

Supplier labelling May contain Sesame Packed in a site that handles

May contain? The next challenge It s being used too often as a precautionary measure. Advisory labelling is a life saver for people with food allergies. We would like to see clearer industry sector and public advice. More work has to be undertaken with everyone concerned. Clearer management thresholds have to be agreed for the most common food allergens. We need a greater consistency of usage and hopefully a reduced use of precautionary labelling.

The consumer and business benefits Our customers can clearly read POS allergen information. Our customers can ask a question about ingredients and be assured of a polite and correct response from any team player. Our customers are prompted by signage and instruction to request allergen information as and when required via the Artizian Allergen Policy posters within the restaurant and on our website which explains our Allergen labelling policy. Feedback suggests they are impressed and have a greater sense of wellbeing that Artizian has gained Allergen Accreditation. Our clients are extremely confident that we understands about allergens. Each site has trained team players, a clear policy for allergen management, an understanding of the Law and effective communication mechanisms for consumers to easily access. Every team player receives annual refresher training.

The EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation is a positive and progressive thing for our customers. It caters to the customer need for clearer and more consistent allergen information on all food. By helping our customers to make safer food choices, a greater sense of wellbeing is achieved.

For more information on how to purchase our Allergen Labelling Tool Kit visit: www.artizian.co.uk or email cattfield@artizian.co.uk For Allergy and Intolerance information contact: food.gov.uk/allergy or nhs.uk/conditions/allergies Sign up to allergy alerts on food.gov.uk/email, or follow #AllergyAlert on Twitter and Facebook The Foods Standards Agency's food allergy online training Keep connected at food.gov.uk/facebook Join the conversation @food.gov.uk/twitter Watch films on food.gov.uk/youtube