Think of it as a “pay it forward” idea. Let’s say you’re taking a weekend jaunt to Sesame Place theme park and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. You’ve never traveled there before and you have no idea if there’s a restaurant that’s ever heard of an allergy to tree nuts, let alone served a kid like yours who’s severely allergic to them. You wonder: What food stands are in the theme park? Where can you eat? You enter Sesame Place and Lancaster into our search bar and Voila!, ten families with food allergic children have been there before you. You’re now armed with addresses, phone numbers, and even the name of the chef who was so helpful to them. You also know to avoid “Acme” pizza grill on Main Street and their infamous walnut-cracking waiting room.

Why don’t you express your gratitude by posting reviews of the restaurants near you, so when families travel to your town, they’ll benefit from your wisdom.

And let’s not forget, when business owners start to see that we are watching their efforts (oh yeah, microscopically) to provide safe ingredients and prevent cross contamination, think how that attention will prompt them to improve their ways.

If we see repeated problems at a particular establishment, we will on occasion contact a restaurant to bring these reports to their attention and see if we can help them amend their procedures. Please e-mail us at info@LonelyPlate.org if you have an experience worth reporting.

We wish we could guarantee a 100% safe meal. We all know that’s impossible, but we hope with enough participation, we will emphasize to these businesses we are a consumer group whose Dollars, Pounds, Yen and Euros count.

Here’s wishing you fun and safe dining!