Allergies
Waiter Mobile shows what each dish contains while you take the order, records the allergies a table tells you about, and holds anything that would put a declared allergen on the order until you decide. It works the same way as SSP Waiter on the web, with two differences that matter on a phone: adding items also sends them, and the app keeps working when the connection drops.
What a dish contains is entered by the restaurant in SSP Manager — see Allergens & Dietary Info.
Allergens on the menu
Each item tile carries badges with their words:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Peanut | Contains peanut |
| Dashed may: Sesame | May contain sesame (cross-contact) |
| Amber Allergens not set | Nobody has reviewed this dish — ask the kitchen. It is not "no allergens". |
| No listed allergens | Declared: contains none of the 13 priority allergens |
| Dietary tags, Spice: Hot, calories | As entered by the restaurant |
In the customization sheet, the dish reads Allergens not set: ask the kitchen when nobody reviewed it, and each option shows what it adds — contains Peanut +120 cal.
The order screen shows the location's allergen notice: Ask about allergies. followed by the restaurant's disclaimer.
Recording a guest's allergy
The allergies sit at the top of the order view. With none yet, tap Add allergy.
Guest allergy — The kitchen is told, and the order checks every dish against it.
- Tap each allergen the guest named.
- Note (optional), up to 280 characters.
- How serious? — Preference, Allergy or Severe (for information only).
- Save allergy.
You need at least one allergen or a note. If the allergen list has not reached the phone yet, the sheet says so — write the allergy in the note.
The red banner
ALLERGY ON THIS ORDER lists each declaration: its allergens, the note in quotes, and Severe · from Guest or from Sam. Add records another.
The tables screen marks a table whose open order carries an allergy with Allergy, or Guest allergy when the guest declared it from their own phone.
Removing an allergy
Tap ✕ beside a declaration. Remove this allergy? — Only if the guest corrected it. To change it, remove it and add the right one. Tap Remove, or Keep to leave it.
When a dish contains a declared allergen
Under the banner:
- Decide before sending (red box) — each dish that contains a declared allergen: Pad Thai — contains Peanut, with Keep anyway. Remove the dish from the order, or keep it if the guest confirms. To remove it, remove the line from the order as usual; the conflict closes with it.
- An amber box with the warnings that never hold anything: Spring rolls — may contain Sesame, and Daily special — allergens not reviewed — ask the kitchen for a dish nobody reviewed.
Keep anyway asks once more: Keep Pad Thai? — It contains Peanut, which the guest declared. Keep it only if the guest confirmed. — Guest confirmed — keep. One tap is not enough for this decision on purpose.
When Send or Fire is held
Sending, or firing a course, while a contains conflict is undecided is refused. The sheet Not sent: an allergy needs a decision lists each undecided dish with Keep anyway. When the server confirms every one is decided, All decided — send now sends it. Change the order instead closes the sheet so you can remove the dish.
Adding a dish is also sending it
In Waiter Mobile, adding items to an order sends them to the kitchen in the same step. So an add that would put a declared allergen on the order is held, and nothing is sent:
Allergy conflict — nothing was sent lists what would clash — Pad Thai — contains Peanut (or may contain).
- Guest confirmed — keep and send — the items are added and sent, and the decision is recorded.
- Change the order — back to the menu to choose something else. Nothing was added.
Rounds on a paid check
Allergies are declared for the whole visit. When items are added after the check was paid and SSP opens a new check for the round, the allergies already declared still apply to it, and the new dishes are checked against them.
Working offline
A dead connection must not lose a guest's allergy.
- Declaring offline. If the server cannot be reached, the allergy is saved on the phone: No connection: the allergy is saved on this phone and sent when the connection is back. The banner shows 1 allergy saved on this phone — it is sent when the connection is back.
- Syncing. The next time the order loads with a connection, saved allergies are sent. The server then checks every dish on the order against them, exactly as if you had declared online — conflicts appear then, and Send is held as usual. If the server refuses one, the app says An allergy saved offline was not accepted: ….
- Only yours, only for a day. A saved allergy is sent only for the waiter who typed it, and is dropped unsent after 24 hours. Signing out clears every saved allergy from the phone.
- No answer in time. A slow answer is not treated as offline (the allergy may already be saved): No answer from the server in time. The allergy may have been saved: check the order before adding it again.
When the app cannot confirm
The app never shows "no allergy" just because it could not check:
- Checking allergies… — the first read is on its way.
- Allergy information may be out of date. — the last read failed; what you see is the last state the server confirmed.
- Allergy status unknown — The allergies on this order could not be loaded. Ask the guest before sending. with Retry. Nothing was ever confirmed for this order: treat it as unknown, not as safe.
The kitchen's acknowledgement
The banner will show which kitchen stations have acknowledged the allergy, and which the ticket is still waiting for. Until then, ask the kitchen — see Allergies on the kitchen screen.