How to display allergen information digital menu boards effectively—balancing compliance, customer safety, and screen real estate.
---
A customer with a peanut allergy stands in your line. She looks at your stunning digital menu board with its slow-motion burger videos and elegant typography.
Can she safely order from it?
If your menu design "optimized" away the allergen information to make room for hero shots, the answer is no. And that decision—made by a designer trying to reduce visual clutter—just created a customer service bottleneck, a potential health risk, and possible legal liability.
This is the allergen display problem, and it's more serious than operators realize.
---
| 📊 Calculate Your ROI → See the operational impact |
🎯 Menu Board Audit → Check free tool to audit your digital menu |
---
Allergen information isn't just a nice-to-have. It's a matter of:
Customer health: Food allergies can be life-threatening. Peanut, tree nut, shellfish, and other allergies can cause anaphylaxis within minutes.
Legal liability: Failure to provide adequate allergen information creates legal exposure. Lawsuits resulting from allergic reactions can be devastating.
Brand reputation: One social media post about an allergic reaction at your restaurant can spread instantly.
Operational efficiency: "Can you check if this has dairy?" slows your line more than displaying the information would.
The space you "save" by removing allergen info isn't free. You're just moving the cost somewhere else.
---
Allergen disclosure requirements vary by jurisdiction, but the trend is toward more transparency, not less.
The FDA requires calorie information on menu boards for chains with 20+ locations. While the specific allergen disclosure requirements are less prescriptive, the regulatory direction is clear: consumers have a right to know what's in their food.
Many states and municipalities have their own allergen disclosure requirements:
When a customer has an allergic reaction, the question becomes: did the restaurant provide reasonable opportunity for the customer to know?
A menu board that forces customers to ask staff—rather than displaying information directly—creates ambiguity about what was communicated and when.
---
If allergen info is so important, why do so many digital menus omit it?
Digital screens have limited space. Every square inch devoted to allergen icons is space not available for:
Designers face constant requests to add more content, and allergen information is often seen as expendable.
Small icons and text labels feel "cluttered" to designers focused on visual elegance. The clean, minimalist aesthetic many brands prefer doesn't easily accommodate allergen details.
There's a common belief that allergy-sensitive customers will naturally ask staff. This assumption is problematic:
Some digital signage systems simply don't support allergen data well:
---
From the perspective of a customer with food allergies, many digital menus are failures.
When allergen information is hidden or absent, it sends a message: "You're not our priority customer."
The person with a dairy allergy watches other customers order confidently while they wait to speak with a manager. That experience matters.
A typical allergen inquiry at the counter: 1. Customer asks about allergens 2. Staff checks a binder or calls a manager 3. Wait time while information is located 4. Verbal communication of complex allergen data 5. Customer makes decision based on imperfect information
This process takes 2-5 minutes—far longer than displaying an icon would.
Verbal allergen communication is error-prone:
A visible allergen icon is less ambiguous than a verbal confirmation.
Customers with severe allergies often experience genuine anxiety about ordering food. When information isn't visible, anxiety increases:
Some customers simply abandon the order. You'll never know you lost them.
---
The good news: there are multiple approaches to allergen information that don't require sacrificing your entire menu design.
The most straightforward approach: small allergen icons displayed alongside each menu item.
How it works:
Best for:
Trade-offs:
Display a QR code that links to a mobile-friendly allergen page.
How it works:
Best for:
Trade-offs:
Staff can trigger an allergen overlay mode when a customer asks.
How it works:
Best for:
Trade-offs:
---
Implementing any allergen display approach requires underlying data infrastructure.
Your menu database (whether in CMS, POS, or separate system) must track:
Without this data, no display approach will work. This is often the real blocker—not the design decision, but the data work behind it.
If your POS system tracks allergen data, your digital signage CMS should integrate with it. This ensures:
For operators with existing POS allergen data, middleware integration is often the fastest path to accurate digital display.
Even with perfect digital display, staff should be trained on:
Digital display reduces but doesn't eliminate the need for staff knowledge.
---
Allergen display requires integration between menu data and CMS. SeenLabs contributes through:
Icon-Based Templates Pre-designed layouts with allergen icon zones—tested for visibility at menu board distances, without overwhelming your design.
POS/Menu Database Integration Middleware that pulls allergen data from your existing systems, ensuring accuracy and reducing manual work.
QR Code Overlays Easy implementation of QR codes linking to mobile allergen pages, with templates that integrate naturally into menu designs.
Dynamic Content Updates When your allergen data changes (recipe modifications, supplier changes), menu displays update automatically.
---
In 2025, hiding allergen information to save screen space is a false economy.
The costs of omission:
The costs of inclusion:
The second list is shorter and more manageable than the first.
1. Allergen display is a safety issue — Not just a design preference 2. Legal requirements are increasing — Get ahead of the trend 3. Multiple display options exist — Icons, QR codes, overlays—choose what fits 4. Data accuracy is the real work — Integration with POS or menu database is key 5. Inclusive design benefits everyone — Clear allergen info helps all customers understand your menu
Customers with allergies deserve to order confidently. Your digital menus can make that possible.
---
| 📊 Calculate Your ROI → See the operational impact |
🎯 Menu Board Audit → Discuss allergen display options |
---
About SeenLabs
SeenLabs builds digital signage solutions with integration at the core. Our platform connects with your existing menu and POS systems to display accurate, real-time information—including allergen data.