About AllerEasy
Built from experience. Released freely. Here to stay.
Where it came from
AllerEasy was built from direct, hands-on experience working with menus, EPOS systems, and allergen spreadsheets across UK hospitality venues — not in a boardroom, and not as a theoretical exercise.
The reality of allergen management in busy kitchens and restaurants is messy. Suppliers change. Recipes evolve. Seasonal menus come and go. Staff turn over. And the printed allergen folder that was accurate three months ago might not be anymore. Meanwhile, guests with serious allergies are relying on that information to make safe choices.
AllerEasy started as an answer to that problem — a way to make it genuinely easy for hospitality teams to keep allergen information accurate and accessible, without adding a complex system to an already demanding workflow.
As the project developed, it became clear that the businesses who needed it most were often those with the least budget to spend on software. Independent restaurants, small café chains, food trucks, school caterers — all have the same legal obligations as large groups, and all deserve a proper tool to meet them. So the decision was made to release the entire codebase for free, under an open-source licence.
About the founder
AllerEasy is built and maintained by Rob Hall — someone with direct experience across UK hospitality operations, EPOS systems, and digital menu workflows.
- Background in UK hospitality and food-led venue operations
- First-hand experience with allergen, kcal, and nutrition compliance pressures
- Worked directly with EPOS systems and digital menu tools
- Built AllerEasy to solve a real problem, not to build a business
Why it's free
The short answer: because it should be.
Allergen information is not a premium feature. It is a legal requirement, and more importantly, it is a safety issue. A guest with a serious allergy should not have a worse experience at a small café than at a large hotel chain simply because the café cannot afford enterprise software.
AllerEasy is released under the GPL v3 licence — one of the most permissive open-source licences available. This means anyone can download the code, deploy it, modify it, and use it commercially, all without paying anything and without needing permission. The only requirement is that the licence notice is preserved.
This is not a freemium model with paid features hidden behind a subscription. The version on GitHub is the full version. There is no paid tier, no enterprise upgrade, and no intention to introduce one.
If AllerEasy helps businesses stay compliant and keeps diners safer, that is the goal — whether or not anyone ever pays for anything.
Open source and community
The full codebase is hosted on GitHub at github.com/rhcompbuilds/Allereasy. The repository includes a comprehensive README that walks through setup for both local testing and live cloud deployment.
Contributions are welcome. If you find a bug, want to add a feature, or improve the documentation, please open an issue or submit a pull request. Every improvement benefits every business using the tool.
If you are a developer working in hospitality tech, a nutritionist who wants to extend the nutrition data fields, or an IT manager who wants to integrate AllerEasy with your organisation's existing systems — the code is yours to work with.
The project was built alone, but it does not need to stay that way. The more people who use it, find issues, and suggest improvements, the better it gets for everyone.
A note on compliance
AllerEasy is a tool to help manage and communicate allergen information — it is not a compliance guarantee. The accuracy of the information displayed to guests depends entirely on the accuracy of the data entered into the system.
Businesses remain legally responsible for the allergen information they provide to customers. AllerEasy supports that responsibility by making it easier to keep information up to date, providing an audit trail of changes, and giving guests a clear way to access information before they order.
For official guidance on UK allergen law, visit the Food Standards Agency. For EU requirements, refer to your national food authority or the European Commission's food safety guidance.
Get AllerEasy for free
The full source code is on GitHub. The README covers everything you need to get it running — no technical background required.