In its top nine-free menu, FARE calls out the allergens that aren’t included in the dishes.
Following the high-profile death of Disney influencer Dominique Brown last December, who reportedly experienced a severe allergic reaction at a holiday event in L.A. hosted by fandom merch brand BoxLunch, food allergy safety—but most importantly, food allergy inclusivity—is in the spotlight.
It’s a stark reminder for event planners, as the nonprofit FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) reports food allergies affect 33 million Americans. And while creating a delicious menu can help boost survey results, the reality is your attendees with food allergies face difficult decisions at events where menus are inherently more limited and curated than what they’d find at restaurants or at home.
When it comes to event planning and food allergies, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology states that “better communication and food allergy awareness by all people involved in the dining process is necessary.” From asking attendees about food allergies in advance to offering alternatives, there are precautions event planners can take to create a safe and inclusive environment for food-allergic attendees.
To explore the latest event best practices, we spoke with Rebecca Sundell, senior producer and event manager at FARE, which hosted meetings and events alongside the 2025 AAAAI / World Allergy Organization Joint Congress in San Diego, CA, earlier this month. Sundell shared what goes into developing custom menus at FARE’s events that don’t contain any of the “top nine” major allergens: milk, egg, wheat, fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, soy and sesame.
Rebecca Sundell, Senior Producer and Event Manager, FARE
Event Marketer: Tell us about the process of creating a ‘top nine-free’ menu at the joint congress?
Rebecca Sundell: At every event we do, we want to try to have food be top nine-free. It was a unique experience and a challenge, not only for me, but for the venue, because a lot of venues are used to customizing menus for people who maybe don’t eat shellfish or for certain religious reasons, but to do a complete top nine allergen-free menu took everybody—the space, the staff, the food and beverage team, the chef—to curate a menu.
Most venues already have staple banquet-type menus you can look at, but it’s taking even just one item or one dish and having to dig deeper into the actual ingredients, what you need to substitute and where those ingredients come from because if it’s produced in a plant that might be exposed to soy or wheat, you can’t have those available. It took a lot more time, but the end result and the best thing about it is the inclusivity and the idea that the attendees can walk into a room and know that they’re safe without having to second-guess it.
EM: What kinds of considerations go into producing an allergy-friendly event?
RS: Most of the time, if you’re planning an event, it’s about the attendee journey and experience and the venue itself. And now you have to really think about: Can the venue accommodate and coordinate it? Are they willing to be open to having their entire kitchen staff train on cross-contact? Variation becomes a problem, too, when you have a multiple-day event, and you don’t want to serve the same thing to attendees all the time.
It depends on the size of the event, but start with the invitation or the communications that get released ahead of the event to ask about food allergies and share the accommodations available. The more information you can get about your attendees and what those allergens are beforehand, the better to plan the menu and make sure other outliers besides the top nine are considered.
Labeling is also incredibly important. If you can do a whole menu that’s free of the top nine allergens, for instance, it’s easiest to then have one sign listing all of the allergens not included. Otherwise, use individual labels that are prominent, clear and consistent with each dish. Budget becomes a factor, too. I hate to say it, but some venues and caterers look at any sort of specialized items as more expensive. It’s well worth it, but you have to get a little bit more creative in the food itself.
As the event planner, overall, it’s getting more involved and taking more ownership in that portion of the event planning.
Sung Poblete, ceo of FARE, at the 2025 AAAAI / WAO Joint Congress
EM: What are your recommendations for educating staff and venues on food allergies?
RS: We’ve curated a training through our dietitians and in-house called FARECheck that we do with the venue and the culinary teams. We ask to do trainings with all of their staff prior to the event to go over everything from cross-contact to how things should be served to responding to a reaction. Having epinephrine on-site is another thing, just like having defibrillators in the venue, in case of an emergency. You have to make sure everybody’s aware of what’s available for the safety of every guest attending.
Food allergy is a disease. It’s not just a choice or somebody being picky, and I think there’s this stigma that they can brush it off. They also have all those other layers to deal with, like do I bring my own food, or do I have arrangements? Increasing awareness is incredibly important and is going to save lives, but it ultimately also allows more people to come to events that maybe would be less inclined to attend if they don’t know that they’re safe.
Photos: Courtesy of FARE
Featured photo credit: piotr_malczyk
