A CORNISH scheme hoping to make dining out safer for those with allergies is set for Westminster after the area’s MP hopes to see it rolled out nationally.

Safe Serve Flags is hoping to make Bude a safer place for those with allergies by encouraging local hospitality businesses to work together to improve awareness.

The initiative was born out of local cafe, Rosie’s Kitchen, after the team experienced first hand the challenges of managing allergy orders in a busy hospitality environment.

Sarah Cross, director of Safe Serve Flags, explained: “What started as a simple visual system in our own restaurant is now being used by hospitality businesses across the South West. We’ve also recently presented the system to the leadership team at Allergy UK as part of ongoing discussions around improving allergy awareness within hospitality.”

The system sees customers notify their server of their allergen, from here the ticket is labelled with a coloured sticker in the kitchen, notifying the entire team of the allergy. Finally, once the food is prepared safely, the meal is topped with a coloured and labelled flag, identifying it as being free from the specified ingredient.

Now, Ben Maguire, North Cornwall’s Liberal Democrat MP, has said that after a visit to Rosie’s Kitchen, he plans to take the scheme to the capital.

He said: “Shortly before my surgery with constituents in Bude this afternoon, I had the chance to stop by Rosie's Kitchen who have a real focus on allergy-safe (and absolutely delicious!) food in the town.

“They were absolutely fantastic and showed me all of their food allergy controls using Safe Serve Flags, which they take very seriously, to give confidence to those with allergies. It's an amazing initiative born right here in North Cornwall, that could make venues across the Duchy (and country!) allergy-safe.”

Director Sarah says that the goal of the initiative is to bring the town’s food and drink providers together in a commitment to improve communication surrounding allergies and ultimately make diners feel safer while enjoying what Bude has to offer.

The team have explained that while the flag system as at the heart of the plans, this is only a small part of the overall vision of the initiative.

“Food allergies can be one of the biggest challenges hospitality businesses face,” Sarah continued. “Miscommunication between customers, front of house teams and kitchen staff can lead to mistakes, complaints, reputational damage and, in serious cases, life-threatening incidents.

“Safe Serve Flags was developed from our own experience operating a busy hospitality business in Bude. We wanted a simple, accessible and affordable system that could be implemented quickly, helping businesses reduce the risk of allergy related errors whilst giving staff more confidence when handling allergy enquiries.”

Now, the scheme born out of North Cornwall will be seen in Westminster.

Ben Maguire MP continued: “I’ll now be taking this to Westminster to see how we can roll it out nationwide, and give reassurance to customers and venue owners everywhere.”