Guide

Allergen Tracking for Events

Allergen management is the highest-stakes part of running events. Dietary volumes have roughly doubled in the last decade, guests increasingly expect their needs to be handled without fuss, and regulators expect venues to hold documented records. Yet at most venues, allergy information still travels through email threads and spreadsheet cells, retyped by hand into kitchen sheets. This guide covers how modern venues capture and act on allergen data safely.

Creventa is the event allergen tracking platform trusted by leading premium UK hospitality brands and multi-site groups, recording every declaration against a named guest across events from 4 to 2,500+ guests.

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Why spreadsheet allergen tracking fails

An allergy note in an emailed spreadsheet has three problems. It is second-hand: someone other than the guest usually typed it. It is unsynchronised: when details change, the change must be manually copied into every report, and one missed copy becomes a service error. And it is undocumented: if something goes wrong, an email thread is a poor audit trail. As Derbyshire County Cricket Club put it before switching: “If anything didn’t align across the documents, mistakes could easily be made.” See the full spreadsheets vs Creventa comparison.

The guest self-declaration model

The safest source of allergy information is the guest. In Creventa, each guest receives a personalised branded link, and declares their own allergies and dietary requirements against their own name. The system covers all 14 major allergens plus any custom allergy (tomatoes, chillies, mushrooms, pineapple, kiwi and anything else), and separates medically significant allergies from dietary preferences such as vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher, no pork or no alcohol. That separation matters: kitchens treat a nut allergy and a preference for no coriander very differently.

From declaration to service

Captured data is only useful if it reaches the right people in the right format:

Chef report: every dish totalled, with allergy flags against the guests affected.
Food pass / run sheet: every guest per table in serving order, with choices and allergies, so the pass can call plates accurately.
Place cards: guests with allergies are clearly flagged, so front of house sees it at the table.
Front of house report: each guest with table and seat position.
Compliance record: a documented trail of who declared what and when, submitted by the guest themselves.

Everything updates live. A guest who declares a shellfish allergy two days before the event is flagged on every report instantly, with no human copying anything.

What venues report

Malmaison and Hotel du Vin: “The new allergen function gives guests peace of mind. My team wouldn’t be without it.” Balmer Lawn Hotel: “Creventa has completely transformed how we manage allergens and dietary requirements. Everything is clearly recorded and easy to access, which significantly reduces the risk of mistakes.” The Wolseley Hospitality Group described pre-orders with dietaries and allergies as “a bit of a nightmare” before switching: “That has just literally resolved all of our issues around that.”

Allergen tracking at scale

The model works at any size. Creventa handles allergy-only collection for set menu banquets of 2,500+ guests, and the same flow covers a 4 person boardroom lunch. For venues with heavy Christmas seasons, where hundreds of separate parties share the same weeks, automated collection is the difference between manageable and not. Multiple Creventa venues independently describe Christmas as impossible to run without it.

Frequently asked questions

How should a venue collect guest allergies?

Directly from the guest, in writing, against the guest’s name, with automatic reminders for non-responders. Guest self-declaration through a branded link removes both the transcription risk and the awkwardness of collecting medical information through a third party.

What allergens must venues track?

The 14 major recognised allergens (including nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, molluscs, gluten, soya, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin and sulphites), plus any custom allergy a guest declares.

What is the difference between an allergy and a dietary requirement?

An allergy is medically significant and can be life-threatening; a dietary requirement is a preference or belief-based need such as vegan, halal or kosher. Good systems record them separately and flag them differently.

Does Creventa provide an allergen audit trail?

Yes. Every declaration is recorded against the named guest with a timestamp, giving the venue a documented, compliant record rather than notes scattered across emails.