Families and friends with food allergies are extremely loyal to restaurants who handle their special needs with care.
They also have many other dining options and long memories when their special needs are not handled with care. (Ending a restaurant outing with anaphylaxis and a trip to the ER certainly creates an indelible impression.)
Since eating out is a social experience and people rarely dine alone, the person with food allergies often wields veto power over the restaurant choice. If a restaurant can’t accommodate food allergies, it stands to lose a significant amount of business because families (and friends) with food allergies won’t dine there.
Here’s the math.
An estimated 26 Million American adults have food allergies. According to a 2018 survey by Zagats, Americans spend an average of $36.40 per person at a restaurant. If the average restaurant party size is 3.7, the number of potential customers impacted by food allergies is 96.2 Million.
Conservatively, the value of the food allergy market to the restaurant industry is $3.5 Billion — without even factoring in the 4.9 times per week the average person eats out as reported in the Zagats survey. If you factor the dining-out frequency in, the value would be closer to $17.2 Billion. Not a small number!
These numbers should give restaurateurs significant cause for pause.
Treat food allergic customers with concern and care and a restaurant will win devoted customers who bring friends and family benefits—again and again and again….known as the ‘multiplier effect’, aka $$$$$$$
Allergy Force is the food allergy management app that makes life with food allergies safer and easier — every day and during an emergency. The app is peace of mind in your pocket when you have food allergies. |
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Image Credit: Thank you to Priscilla du Preez on Unsplash for use of the image