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Bars and restaurants

Allergens, cookies and small print, each in its place.

Allergen information is compulsory and so is cookie information. They get written once, revised when the rules change, and stop being frightening.

A restaurant website carries the allergen information required by food information rules, the three legal texts written for that particular venue, and a cookie banner in which refusing costs exactly what accepting costs.

Last reviewed:

Allergens: what is actually required

Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 requires informing about the presence of substances causing allergies and intolerances, and Royal Decree 126/2015 sets out how that is done in Spain when food is served non-prepacked, which is what happens in your dining room.

In practice, the information has to be available and easy to find before the customer decides. Having it travel next to each dish on the digital menu settles that part and avoids the «let me go and ask the kitchen» halfway through service.

Cookies, of which a restaurant site has few

Most hospitality websites only need what is strictly necessary, and then no consent is required. That changes the moment analytics, an embedded map or a video appears. Then it is required, on the terms set by the AEPD cookie guide of May 2024: prior, informed consent, with refusing as close to hand as accepting.

The data from bookings

A booking brings a name, a phone number and sometimes a declared allergy. The first is ordinary data processing, based on dealing with the customer’s own request. The second is health information, and the GDPR treats it as a special category: it can be asked for, with an explanation and for that purpose, and it is not kept forever.

What this is not

This puts what the website does in order. It does not replace your food safety plan, your food handling training or health inspections. If somebody sells you a pack claiming to cover all of it with one template, be wary: they are different things and different people handle them.

The same thing, explained in general: GDPR and cookies

What we do about it

Part of the maintenance: you never have to ask, and it is never billed apart.

  • Allergens on the digital menu Marked dish by dish, where the customer decides.
  • A legal notice with your details The real ones of the venue’s owner, not a template with blanks.
  • Privacy policy What you ask for in a booking, what for and how long you keep it.
  • A cookie banner done properly Refusing costs what accepting costs, and minds can be changed.
  • Forms with their checkbox Express consent and a link to the policy, nothing pre-ticked.
  • Revision when the rules change Without you having to be the one who finds out they did.

And this you change with one sentence

You write what you want changed and we publish it.

Add the notice that the kitchen handles nuts

Placed on the digital menu and at the head of the allergen information.

The venue has changed owner

Changed in the legal notice, in the footer and in the site details.

We are going to add a map of how to get here

Added, and the cookie banner adjusted to what that loads.

Frequently asked questions

Is putting allergens on the website enough?

The information has to be available and easy to find before deciding. A digital menu does that well, and the staff should be able to give the same information at the table, because not everybody opens the website.

Do I need a cookie banner?

Only if your site loads something that is not strictly necessary: analytics, a map or a video. If not, it gets explained in the policy and no permission is needed.

Can I keep the phone numbers of people who booked?

To manage the booking, yes. To send promotions, it has to be asked for separately with an easy way to opt out.

What if I only have a paper menu?

The duty to inform about allergens is the same. What changes is how it is done, not whether it has to be done.

Where all this comes from

Every figure and every rule quoted above, linked to the official text.

The rest of what a website for bars and restaurants includes

Table bookings

Customers book from the site or from Google. It reaches your phone straight away.

Digital menu

Your menu with a QR for the tables, always matching the printed one. Change prices with a sentence.

Google profile with menu

Hours, photos and the daily special in sync. Where everyone looks for you.

WhatsApp orders

A direct button to your WhatsApp for takeaway and large groups.

Neighbourhood SEO

So that you come up when someone searches for somewhere to eat near your place.

Reviews, worked on

We ask the happy customer for a review and alert you to bad ones so you can reply in time.

Backups and security

Your site and your data backed up daily. If something fails, it is restored in minutes.

Back to Restaurants

Does your website list the allergens of each dish?

If they are in a folder behind the bar, it is time to put them where people decide. We will build it with you.

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