FAACT's Roundtable

Ep. 265: Food Allergies & Restaurants - Behind the Scenes

• Season 5 • Episode 265

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We all know what it’s like to manage food allergies in our own kitchens — but what happens when that kitchen belongs to a busy restaurant? We’re taking you behind the scenes with Chef Keith Norman, FAACT Board Member, Assistant Executive Chef, and Food Safety Manager at the South Point Hotel, Casino, and Spa. Chef Keith is sharing what it really takes to keep guests safe, plus some practical tips for anyone managing food allergies or special diets when dining out. 

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Caroline: Welcome to FAACT's Roundtable, a podcast dedicated to navigating life with food allergies across the lifespan. Presented in a welcoming format with interviews and open discussions,

each episode will explore a specific topic, leaving you with the FAACTS to know or use.

Information presented via this podcast is educational and not intended to provide individual medical advice.

Please consult with your personal board certified allergist or healthcare providers for advice specific to your situation.

Hi, everyone. I'm Caroline Moassessi and I am your host for the FAACT Roundtable podcast. I am a food allergy parent and advocate and the founder of the Grateful Foodie Blog.

And I am FAACT's Vice President of community relations.

Before we start today's podcast, I just want to say thank you to ARS Pharma for their kind sponsorship of FAACT's Roundtable podcast.

We all know what it's like to manage food allergies in our own kitchens. But what happens when that kitchen belongs to a busy restaurant?

Today, we're taking you behind the scenes with fact board member, assistant executive chef and and food safety manager at the South Pointe Hotel, Casino and Spa, Chef Keith Norman.

Chef Keith is sharing what it really takes to keep guests safe. Plus some practical tips for anyone managing food allergies or special diets when eating out.

Welcome back, Chef Keith, the FAACT's Roundtable podcast.

You are an old friend.

You are a giant friend to the food allergy community.

So we are absolutely delighted you're here to give us a sneak peek behind the scenes so we can learn how this process works and then how to keep everybody safe.

So welcome.

Chef Keith: Well, thank you. It's always good to hang out with my buddy and I appreciate you reaching out to me.

Caroline: Well, you're very welcome.

So now, Chef Keith,

you're a valued member of our food allergy community. Take us back to the beginning and let us know what first led you to getting involved and then to make food allergy safety such a big part of your work.

Chef Keith: Well, so when I first came, I had been doing in other properties that I've been fortunate to work at. I had been doing allergens most of my career anyway, but here.

And again, this goes back to 2009.

We had the Gordon family. They were eating in the steakhouse. Both Matthew and Scott were there and they both had multiple allergens and the kitchen was unsure for lack of better.

And so they called me and that was the first time meeting them.

And we did the meals. Steak is pretty easy to make allergen friendly. So we did the meals and everything. And then from there they had introduced me to fan.

Then I got a chance to meet Eleanor and was invited down. I think this was 2010,

where I was invited down to Disney to present.

And then along the journey, I was on one of the panels and just listening to,

at that time, the kids,

they're all grown now, but listening to the kids share their stories of bullying and not being able to eat,

you know, certain things, certain places, I just knew that there was more for me to do. And when I came back to the South Pointe, just a matter of culture change,

getting everybody thinking allergens. It was a rough start, but proud to say that we've come a long way.

Caroline: You've come an incredibly long way. And I have to say, listeners,

part of the beauty of Keith is he speaks so well to our children, and he calls them all his babies.

And so when we would go to Keith's property,

he would talk to my kids, he would talk to all the kids, and he taught them how to order,

how to speak to the waitstaff, and then at the same time, he worked with his wait staff on how to speak to them about the allergies. And so Keith is just gold and so near and dear to our heart.

Again, it was really fun to hear how you go way back with Eleanor before she founded fac. I just love that she's a great person.

Chef Keith: Yeah. No, it was a great journey with her. And look at us now.

Caroline: Exactly. Look at us now.

Let's just jump right in now. Chef Keith. So what are some of the biggest differences between just a home kitchen and then a really busy professional kitchen?

Chef Keith: Home kitchen's not really chaotic. Smaller,

you're in a controlled environment,

and there you can separate things a little easier than we can here.

And then you're only dealing with a meal, whereas here it could be, I'll just use my coffee shop. I probably do a hundred allergens in my coffee shop a month.

They don't all come in at the same time, But I think that's the beauty of any restaurant, because I do a lot of training, and I always get from restaurants that we can't do this when we're busy.

And I always push back and say, well, yes, you can, because I'm doing it. And I always say to them,

rarely here do I get three or four allergens at the same time most of the time,

because I track my allergens here. Most of the time, it's an allergen, say,

every 40 minutes, every 30 minutes. So when you talk about a busy kitchen, which I have 11 of them just have to change that culture in the kitchen, where they realize it's only one check hanging.

You only have one allergen guest, so we can take the time to step back and prepare that meal safely. So I think what I've done here is, again, culture. We change the culture here, where I don't even let them say busy, because that's just a gimme.

And I always say,

we've been busy here. I've been here 18 years,

15 of those. We've been doing allergens, and we're always busy. So I try to get them to think, okay,

busy, yes, but how do I manage busy? And if you can do that in a controlled way where you're not yelling, screaming, and putting pressure, then the chefs kind of buy in.

So I think the only difference is more controlled. At home,

I think restaurants have to look at big picture.

And lucky for us,

during the day, we have restaurants that are closed, so we can do the allergen meals there.

When all the restaurants are open,

we just pick a spot. You know, we use our allergen kits, which are dedicated kits, so we're not using common tools and cutting boards. That just makes it easier for us in the commercial environment.

Caroline: And so now, circling back to the professional kitchen, can you explain how there are different stations? Because at home,

we'll work on our counter or we'll work on an island, but in a professional kitchen, what does that look like?

Chef Keith: We'll have our pantry station. So all of your salads, your sandwiches, your wraps are coming from that area. I'm just using our coffee shop as example. So I have a dedicated pantry station, and then I have a dedicated hot sandwich station.

And then I have a expediter station where a lot of your eggs and basically eggs will come off. Then I have another sandwich station where some of your more prime rib sandwiches and things would come off, and then you have your broiler station.

And that's kind of common for coffee shops where they would have that layout. And it's just a matter of different meals coming off of the different stations.

Caroline: Thank you. And now, turning a little deeper into your property, you just mentioned you have special cutting boards. So can you talk about how you approach food allergies in your kitchen?

Chef Keith: What is your protocol over the years?

Started off, we weren't perfect. We were learning. It was all baby steps. But each step of the way,

fortunate for us, some of the mistakes that we. That we made were ones that I caught before anything could happen.

And every time there was something that I thought, okay, thinking that communication and cross contact are the two biggest things I thought. So I used what I like to call the flow of food.

So from the customer to the kitchen, from the kitchen back to the customer, I just looked at those steps, and then I put in steps to try to minimize any error.

So we use a allergen pad here. The servers are required when they go to the table to use the pad. The pad has all the top nine allergens on them on it, and some of the other things that we get, like citrus and things.

But at the top,

you have your date, you have your server, you have your table. And then I require the servers here to call back the allergens. So once the customer has given the server the allergens, I require them to read that back.

And then there's a space on the allergen slip for them to check mark.

And then they're required to make their manager aware there's an allergen in the room just in case they need support.

And then from that stage,

with the allergen alert ticket in hand,

now they have the conversation with the chef on what to be saved. And I tell you, one of the beauties here, and I'm sure this happens in many restaurants, our serving team knows the menus just as well,

you know, as the chef.

So a lot of times, before they even leave the table, they've been able to say to the customer, I'm going to verify with the chef, but I think this would be safe.

And then now we're having a conversation with the chef. The chef has a spot where he verifies the allergens. He signs off as the advisor. And then also I want to know who made the meal.

So that's also listed there. And then once the meal is paired in the window, I use what I like to call an allergen.it's a dot, maybe the size of a quarter that I put on the lid.

So I know that's my allergen meal. And typically, the allergen meal leaves the kitchen first,

so the server or the runner will take the allergen meal out first.

Caroline: Just listening to you describe this reduces my stress level. I am listening to you, and I just want to start dancing and singing because it's so amazing.

But by knowing that a kitchen does this, that helps so much. And then by knowing, even if a kitchen doesn't do this, that is something we can ask for, that is something we can discuss.

Like when you were saying you have the server read back the allergens, even as A guest,

I can say, can you read that back to me? I just want to make sure we're on the same page here. These tips are absolutely amazing. And so being selfish and wanting more tips.

Do you have some more helpful tips just for our listeners when they're dining out? What can we do as guests to make it easier for you and your team to keep us safe so that everyone has a great experience?

Chef Keith: Well, tell us everything.

Sometimes we'll get a customer that'll kind of separate their allergens. So they may say tell us shellfish and fish, but they also might be allergic to milk. But because it's not in their eyes as severe as the other two, they may not tell us.

And then tell us here.

Most of the times when I have an issue in one of the rooms, it's because you didn't tell us.

And so there's a space on my allergen slip that says that we were made aware of the allergen after we served.

I think if you reach out ahead of time, if you're unsure about the restaurant you're going to, I would say reach out. My email address is on our website, so I get a lot of customers that reach out to me.

We have a couple of customers coming in this coming week that have reached out. If they're looking for certain restaurants, like most want to go to the steakhouse, which is cool.

I send that information ahead of time.

So Silverado Steakhouse, they're aware customers coming in, and they're aware of all the allergens. So if you can call ahead that we use, I'm sure it's nationwide, but we use open table.

So a lot of times you can make your reservation. There's a space there. Just give us information. And a lot of times the manager will reach out to me ahead of time and say, hey, we have this guest coming in.

But I think one of the biggest issues, for lack of better here,

is when you don't tell me,

when you don't make us aware, we certainly can't help you. And I know here you're not going to get a face. You know, we just had two weeks ago lady here, and she had over 20 allergens.

So we just reversed the role. And I just asked her, how do you cook at home?

And that's what we did. Now I had to go to Whole Foods and get a couple of different things that we didn't have here, which I'm happy to do that, but I just asked her, well, what do you cook for yourself at home?

And then we just reversed the role. I didn't even worry about the allergens. We just did the meals that she told us that were safe. But I would just say when you go out to a restaurant,

number one, make sure that when you get to the restaurant, whoever you agree to buy first, make them aware,

then make the server aware, and then ask to speak to the chef.

Caroline: I was going to ask about that, who they should speak to. So I'm glad you talked about that. Just stepping back for a moment, regarding this guest that you had, she reached out to you ahead of time.

So how far of a lead time would be really reasonable for someone? Like, should you reach out two months ahead? Is that too far if you know it's a special meal?

Or is it better to do a week or two ahead?

Is one day too short for me?

Chef Keith: I have a folder I'll put in my calendar. I think do it ahead of time, like you were mentioning. Caroline, you're looking for peace of mind.

So a lot of times when, if you come through our website and you get me and I still check up on customers who have come here, but I would say just reach out.

I don't want to put a time limit on it. I always ask when you're visiting so I can keep the restaurants in the loop. I would say as a. Just as a base, maybe 30 days prior.

And that is just going to give you an idea of what can I eat there. And then if that's a no,

you still have time to find other options. And then prior to maybe a week out, reach out again. Now, we can get lost in our emails, but maybe 30 days in advance, just so you get an idea of.

A lot of the customers will ask me which restaurants are safe. Well, fortunately for me, all of ours are allergen friendly. I keep you away from places like our concessions,

our delis.

There's just too much going on there. It's hard to control.

So I'll give them our main restaurants, even our buffet. The chefs over there are insane. They do some really good allergens out of that room. So I'm very proud of them.

But. So maybe 30 days out and then a week prior to your coming, reach out just to confirm.

Caroline: So do you prefer when a guest brings a chef's card?

Chef Keith: Yeah, and we get those as well. And a lot of times the chef cards that we have are guests that have like multiples five or six.

But again, in all the rooms, including the buffet, we use our Allergen pad, which has top nine plus. But yeah, if they have it, great.

That's a beautiful thing as well.

Caroline: And, listeners, a chef card is just a little card that a lot of people carry that lists their allergens on it. And sometimes it'll list the form instead of saying sesame, it might say sesame seeds, sesame oil, and give some examples.

And that's what a chef card is. And, Keith, this has gone way, way, way too fast.

This has really gone very fast. But our time is up.

So before we say goodbye today, is there anything else you want listeners to hear from you?

Chef Keith: The one thing is, I know there's a lot of restaurants still not on board, but we're gonna change lives one restaurant at a time. So when you go out to a restaurant,

sometimes we're the ones educating me. That means your audience, you're the ones educating us. And don't be afraid to tell us your allergens. And if you don't feel comfortable, I would say get up and find someone else.

But it was been a pleasure.

Caroline: Thank you so much. I know you're super busy. You ran upstairs to your office to talk to us, and I know you're gonna run back downstairs,

work your magic. So thank you so much. We appreciate you.

Chef Keith: My pleasure.

Caroline: Before we say goodbye today, I just want to say thank you one more time to ARS Pharma for their kind sponsorship of FAACT's Roundtable podcast.

Thank you for listening to FAACT's Roundtable podcast.

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Have a great day and always be kind to one another.