1. Gather the recipe behind every menu item.

Start with the menu you actually serve. Include specials, sides, sauces, dressings, garnishes, and named variations. Gather current recipes, product labels, and supplier specifications where available. A menu description usually leaves out details that matter to the ingredient record.

Give one person responsibility for the review and involve the kitchen lead. Record uncertainties as “needs review” and resolve them with the kitchen or supplier. Do not fill gaps by assuming what a familiar dish normally contains.

2. Choose and label your allergen columns.

Choose the set appropriate to the information your restaurant needs to provide. The FDA identifies nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame. Dishcard offers a US Big 9 set, an EU/UK 14 option, and supported custom additions.

Label columns with words as well as any icons. Keep wheat distinct from a broader gluten entry and peanuts distinct from tree nuts. Selecting a set in software does not determine which rules apply to your business. For regional requirements, use the relevant authority's guidance, such as the Food Standards Agency's business guidance.

3. Review ingredients, including house recipes.

Work through each ingredient in a dish. For a bought-in component, check the specific product. For a house-made component, work through its recipe. A sauce inside another sauce still needs a record.

Keep Contains and May contain separate. Record preparation context for the kitchen to review rather than infer it from a product name. If a dish has a variation, check the complete variation instead of automatically copying the original row.

Reusable ingredient records make this easier to maintain. Enter the reviewed facts once for a shared component, then connect it to the dishes that use it.

4. Build the matrix and make incomplete work obvious.

Put dishes in rows and allergens in columns. Group dishes into the same sections your staff see on the menu. Explain the symbols in a legend and include the restaurant name, menu name, and updated date.

Do not let a blank cell hide an unfinished review. Track completion separately from the allergen markers. On a working spreadsheet, keep a Review status column. In Dishcard, review the incomplete-dish and ingredient indicators before sharing the menu.

Use our allergen matrix template for a starting structure. Keep the reviewed ingredient records behind the summary chart so staff can trace a row back to its source.

5. Check the card as your team will use it.

  • Match every row to the current menu, including variations.
  • Check compound recipes, garnishes, and recent supplier substitutions.
  • Confirm unresolved entries are still visible as review tasks.
  • Read a printed copy in black and white.
  • Check the legend, names, date, and any preparation notes.
  • Open the guest menu and scan a printed QR code.
  • Tell staff where to find the latest record and whom to ask.

The chart communicates entered ingredient information. It does not certify that a dish is suitable for an individual guest.

6. Make an update part of every recipe change.

Use a simple handoff: ingredient changes, affected dishes checked, record saved, outputs refreshed, printed copies replaced. Include supplier substitutions and specials in that routine. Put the current date on new copies and remove old ones from the places staff use.

Dishcard keeps ingredients, dishes, a printable chart, and a QR menu together. Its hosted menu reflects saved changes; downloaded files and printed sheets still need replacing. Try it free for 14 days, then choose $19 per month or $190 per year for one location.