A Hove family has slammed a cafe’s policy not to serve people with more than three severe allergies after their son was refused service during a birthday breakfast.
Luka Simanowitz, 17, was told by staff at Oeuf in Hove when the family went there last Thursday that they couldn’t serve him, when he checked the vegan dish he chose would not contain eggs, sesame, cashew and pistachio.
However, the restaurant has defended the policy, saying its kitchen is too small to ensure a dish is free of more than three allergens at a time – and said the family’s vocal reaction on the day was distressing to its staff.
Anton Simanowitz, Luka’s father said: “We were just so shocked. Most restaurants just don’t do it – we have had really good experiences with local businesses.
“We purposely want our son to have as normal a life as possible. We’ve gone out to places and we teach him how to manage the risks and how to discuss that.
“Our main priority is for the restaurant to understand the issue. Essentially they’re saying if we can’t keep you 100 percent safe we can’t serve you, and that message is such a dangerous message for allergy sufferers because you can never be 100 percent safe even at home.
“Their reaction was so non-dialogic, they weren’t prepared to discuss it. It was categorical.”
The owner of Oeuf, Amber Sterck said: “The government’s website says it’s up to operators as to who they serve and if they do not feel they can fit in reasonable steps to avoid cross contamination of allergens, then we’re allowed to make that final decision.
“It’s not a decision that we take lightly. Of course, we will never want to turn anyone away.
“Each individual allergy needs to be prepared in a separate area, to avoid any sort of cross contamination and minimise risk.
“So due to the size of our kitchen, and the counter space that we have, we just can’t accommodate more than three allergies per person.
“Once it gets past three major allergies, especially when they’re all present in our kitchen, we just really don’t feel comfortable with that.
“We have all of the procedures in place. Everyone’s got the relevant training. We do accommodate allergies.
“I’ve worked in restaurants for 15 years and never owned a restaurant before and to feel under attack like this when all we’re trying to do is safeguard our customers, it’s really quite hard.”
The owner of Oeuf said they have since contacted the family to “offer an olive branch” and start a dialogue about how to make the situation better for customers and businesses.
Mr Simanowitz argues that severe allergies could be considered a disability. However, there have been no test cases around whether this means restaurants owe allergy sufferers a duty under the Disability Discrimination Act.
Under the 2014 Food Information Act, restaurants are required to list the 14 allergens in the food, which can be communicated verbally.
Restaurants have become increasingly cautious over allergies in recent years, particularly since the high-profile case of Natasha Ednan-Laperous, who died after eating an unlabelled baguette containing sesame from Pret a Manger.
Natasha’s Law, which came into force last October, requires full labelling of all prepacked food for direct sale to customers.
He’d be the first to complain if his son was ill. Entitlement is real, how low class to go after an independent cafe after awful few years they have had. Get a hobby!
Waste of time trying to have a dialogue with this family.
They should have contacted the restaurant before going to check the menu beforehand and to see if they could have prepared something in advance to meet the boys needs.
It’s quite clear the restaurant does understand the issues around allergies but there is only so much any business – especially a small one – can do to prevent cross contamination
Self entitlement at its best check before you go …..not that hard ,A swift F you if I owned it 😂
Good for Oeuf standing up for themselves under such a ridiculous over reaction. I’m sure they wouldn’t have wanted to turn away custom and sounds like they just had the customer’s interests at heart. I’d feel even safer going there in the future knowing how they handled this situation.
Would have thought they would be happy with a restaurant that tells them that they cannot guarantee 100 to keep there son free with the food they prepare With that many allergies I would have thought they would have checked the menus out
Poor chap. We need to to understand folk on an individual level. Hope he got to enjoy some food elsewhere. If not mindfulness can always help!
And you/they need to understand that restaurants have limited resources, space and time.
At any one point a chef could be both prepping 4-5 different dishes and/or elements to a dish whilst also cooking to order. Many can contain allergens.
As much as you wash your hands, clean between jobs, use separate boards and so on, there is finite space and cross contamination can always be possible.
I would refuse to serve someone if they had multiple severe allergies, all of which were present in my kitchen, if they didn’t even have the forethought to let me know beforehand.
I don’t want to end up killing some kid because they wanted eggs benedict.
You clearly have no understanding of how a restaurant kitchen operates. Until you do maybe better to refrain from commenting
Silly comment there Catherine. They clearly declined on the grounds that they fully understand the boys allergies, and made the correct decision that they unfortunately couldn’t cater to them.
What a brilliant, considerate restaurant.
I feel for the restaurant trying to their best.
The customer is clearly wrong, restaurant is only trying to help them! Your allergies, your issue. Restaurants are private businesses and should be free to choose how to protect themselves by not serving people if they cannot be sure food will be safe. To make such a public fuss over it too is a disgrace. If they’d served the boy and he had gotten ill I bet then they would have sued and publicly ruined them! Respect business owners, it is not your right to eat out and not your business, stop acting so entitled and leave them alone. They are trying to earn a living and keep your son safe!
Another wonderfully entitled Brighton resident. Do they expect the restaurant to immediately suspend operations, turf customers out and prioritise their son’s meal? Just becasue you walked through the door?
Well done to the owner of the restaurant, I know now that I can go in there with peaceful mind…about that attention seeking family,no comments….
Why was this article even written, sensationalist rubbish, imagine the fallout if the restaurant had taken the risk and there was a problem, even now you can’t always have it both ways.
Correct
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Oeuf literally means EGG. So why would you take your child with a severe egg allergy to a restaurant that specializes in egg dishes?! An egg is even their freaking LOGO!
As someone with a sister who has a severe allergy it’s so nice to see how this restaurant has taken allergies so seriously. They have turned away business over potentially harming someone, not something that I imagine everyone would have done in their position. They should be commended for their ethics.
My own experiences at Oeuf have always been fantastic and I can’t wait to return.
The restaurant has the right to serve or not serve someone because of allergies. I have a peanut allergy and been refused service before. Its a shame, but I get it and if they don’t want my business, plenty others will accommodate.
my problem with this example, though, they say they don’t serve people with more than 3 allergies, I see just 2 allergies there, eggs and nuts, cashews, sesame and pistachio all count as the same allergy.
Also, if you cant eat egg, don’t go to a cafe that’s literally called “egg”. I wouldn’t go to a cafe that calls its self “peanut butter Kingdom” or something
I am with the cafe. Err on the side of caution.
The restaurant is *literally* called egg and has an egg for its logo. If you have an egg allergy is it not a *slight* indicator that they may have issues dealing with your requirements? It’s like a vegan going to a restaurant that specialises in BBQ beef.
As someone who suffers from a severe allergy myself I think Oeuf handled this in the complete correct way. I have been turned down from many restaurants due to cross contamination concerns (which every single cafe/restaurant has a risk of regardless) This makes me feel comforted that they are protecting us against any potential risk. I am a regular customer at Ouef and they have been excellent and taken my allergy very seriously on every single visit. Outstanding that someone felt the need to write an article to try and slate an independent busines owner for being over cautious and putting the health of their customer first.