Equal Eats Equalizer: Liljia Polo-Richards from Allergy Companions

Our Equal Eats Equalizers series tells the story behind the incredible people creating a positive impact for the free from community. Today we are thrilled to profile Liljia Polo-Richards from Allergy Companions - a website with allergy reviews for restaurants in the U.K. and Ireland. This interview has been transcribed in September 2022.

 

 

 

Kyle Dine 

Hey, everybody, it's Kyle Dine here from Equal Eats and I am so thrilled to be joined by Liljia Polo-Richards from Allergy Companions today.  Hey, Liljia, how are you doing?

 

Liljia Polo-Richards

I'm very good, thank you. How about you?

Kyle Dine 

Good thanks, so we're thrilled to feature you as an Equalizer because you are literally levelling the playing field for the free from and food allergy community through your amazing website Allergy Companions.  Before we get into Allergy Companions and what it's all about, perhaps you could talk a little bit about yourself and what's your own personal connection to food allergy?

 

Liljia Polo-Richards

Of course, that is a question that I get asked a lot.  So I don't have any food allergies myself, but my son and my daughter have food allergies.  My son Francesco is allergic to tree nuts and my daughter Clio is allergic to fish.
 

Kyle Dine 

Okay, so tree nuts and fish and both children with food allergies that can be a lot to manage.  So I feel I know why you went down this road to start Allergy Companions but maybe you can explain what was the need that you found and why something like this was needed?
 

Liljia Polo-Richards

So the trigger for Allergy Companions really started just over a year ago when I went on holiday in an area of England called Norfolk.  I booked to go to a restaurant, I told them at various points, when I booked before we went and on the day that my son had a nut allergy and all of our food had to be nut free.  Then my dish arrived and my chicken looked covered in what looked like nuts.  So I called the waiter over and asked him what was on my plate and asked him if it was nuts.  He wasn't sure, he didn't think it was nuts, at which point I said please take my plate away immediately because obviously I need an answer.  He disappeared for about 20 minutes and then he came back to say yes, the chef wants to confirm it's nuts, at which point I was obviously fuming and so was my husband.  But I suppose all that did was made us realize how vulnerable people with allergies really are when dining out.  So James and I were really upset all day, we felt it was a real setback for us as a family.  So that evening, we put the kids to bed and asked ourselves, what can we do so that this doesn't have to be our life. That's when we came up with the concept of Allergy Companions.

Kyle Dine 

So wonderful, and I think you know our community can relate to that on so many levels, where we've all been in a situation where it already takes so much to go out and feel confident dining when you have a food allergy.  And I think that's taken for granted by the hospitality industry, that we're going out on a limb to even be there.  And then when it doesn't go well and it doesn't meet our expectations of safety, it's so deflating and it sets us back.  So I love that you took this problem, that so many of us have unfortunately gone through and you did something about it.  So tell us about Allergy Companions, what it does and how it's unique.

Liljia Polo-Richards

Allergy Companions is basically the equivalent of TripAdvisor but for the allergy and celiac community.  It's a very simple concept, you go on the website, you either want to leave a review for a restaurant or a cafe or pub or hotel, whatever it is that sells food.  Search for the name of the place, Pizza Express London Bridge for example. I think there is one there, but I'm making it up!  And then the name of the place comes up and then you go through the review process.  You give them a rating from one to five hearts.  One heart is okay, but actually really bad, to five hearts which is exceptional.  Then you submit all your details and at the end it gives you the option to submit the review, it's very simple.  Or for example, say you are coming to the UK or Ireland, or you live in the UK and you want to eat in London.  Then you search for London and it brings up all of the options.  At that point you can actually select your allergens if you want to be a bit more specific, not just see what's been reviewed.  You could say actually I can't eat gluten, so you select gluten and it gives you the option to see what restaurants don't use that particular allergen in their kitchen.  This for a lot of people is a really nice selling point, I know a lot of people for example, with a nut allergy that feel really worried going to a place that actually handles nuts in the kitchen and I know for us as a family it is really nice to go to a restaurant that doesn't handle nuts for example, it's a huge relief.  And then the other thing is that the restaurants themselves can register their details with our website and promote themselves further so that people can find them.

Kyle Dine 

Wonderful, I love that it's so tailored to our community and you said that it's like TripAdvisor for food allergy.  I admit I used to use TripAdvisor before going to new places and I'd go to their reviews and I just put in the search the word allergy just to kind of get a feel of what people were saying about a certain place, whether it was good or bad.  It was a lot of searching and a lot of digging through comments from people who maybe just kind of mentioned it in passing.  With your service, it seems like you're building this really unique community of people who are making that extra effort to really provide valuable information to people that's credible and firsthand.  I'm just curious, how has that been going with getting people to leave those authentic reviews? 
 

Liljia Polo-Richards

I mean it's amazing actually because I think the difference with ours to the other platforms, is the people who take the time to leave a review.  Sometimes I read reviews that I could have written myself because ultimately when you eat out with allergies you want to make sure that you can get the allergen information you need.  That the waiter or the waitress is responsive, attentive, the chef gets it, they check and double check things and it's so lovely to receive reviews from people that care about the same things as I do, as you do, so I think that is why the platform is so important because it's actually purposeful and it's written and used by like minded people who all want the same thing.  I think it's so nice that people are really buying into the concept and it's helped us as a family find places that we didn't know existed.  Before launching the website, we didn't know that restaurants are going nut free or they are removing sesame or gluten or whatever other allergens and making themselves more allergy friendly.  I think it's been a real revelation for us as a family too and helped us pick places where we have great experiences.

Kyle Dine 

I love that it provides people with transparency, which at the end of the day there's only so much you can guarantee about a restaurant.  I think it's great that you do provide some standardized information of what is not on the menu or what is on the menu, but also that intangible review that comes from someone's heart, their experience, that I think for me personally with all my multiple allergies, that's what I'm really looking for, is that transparency of how did you feel?  Did you feel safe, you know, there's turnover at restaurants and to get someone's firsthand opinion that they take allergies seriously there, that gives a great starting point to get in the door.  And then we take over our own spiel and our own ownership to manage accordingly, but it gives you such a great starting point.

Liljia Polo-Richards

The other thing that's really important, we say to people, please don't just rely on that one review.  If you then go and try it yourself, tell others how your experience was.  Chances are that your experience will also be good, but it could be that the restaurant has let itself down over time and staff change or the policies have changed.  So it's really important to keep the information current, but also real, my experience might be different from yours, so I think it helps achieve more balanced views of places and it helps people make an informed decision.  Ultimately you find a review on the website, it's up to you whether you want to try it and if you do decide to try it you're entitled to your own opinion.

Kyle Dine 

You're solving such a great problem.  It's just so important to have the starting point instead of just knocking on doors going around your town.  This really lays out a roadmap of places that people have been and tried before and if anything you're connecting Trailblazers to our wider community to feel safer when they dine out.  I hope it keeps growing and growing and there's more put out there.  How can people help, how can we learn more, how can we support Allergy Companions?
 

Liljia Polo-Richards

Well, I think the key thing is don't keep all your experience information to yourself.  Sharing it on the website means that it's on a platform that keeps growing, that it's there for everybody to use, it's going to help other people and it's going to help you.  So a lot of people like blogging on Instagram or talking on a Facebook group, that's just one element where you can share information.  The website is a resource that keeps growing and needs everybody's support.  We're a great community and I think by getting everybody together and supporting each other, that's really the way for the platform to really benefit everybody.  Even chain restaurants, just because a chain tends to have a good reputation doesn't mean that everybody knows that chain has a good reputation, but also, I see quite often there are chains that have a good reputation, but then they let themselves down in some locations and so it's always important to share any information that you do have because you might save a diner from eating at places that are not going to look after them that day and they might end up going somewhere where they can have a great experience.  So all I ask people is to take the time to visit the website, share their experiences, if they find a place that has been reviewed and they try it, leave your own review.  Tell other people in the community, but also outside the community about the website because you might help someone who didn't know our platform existed, and you might make their day. 

Kyle Dine 

That's it. It's all about paying it forward and I think we have such a wonderful community for that.  When you do have that amazing experience, you don't forget it and it's so important to not just hold it inside but share that and this is such a great platform to do so, where it's going to have a wide reach to a direct audience.  

So it's allergycompanions.com you're on Instagram and all the other social channels, so everybody watching please follow them and support them.  If you have great experiences or negative experiences, it's all really important to get out there and help our community feel safer.  So Liljia, thank you so much for your time and we really appreciate you and all of your efforts for the food allergy community.  Thank you.