AllergyEats is pleased to announce its inaugural list of the Best States for Allergy-Friendly Dining. Like AllergyEats’ highly-regarded annual release of the Top 10 Most Allergy-Friendly Restaurant Chains in America, this new list is derived from the restaurant reviews of food-allergic diners across the U.S. on the AllergyEats app and website (www.allergyeats.com).
The 10 Most Allergy-Friendly States (plus D.C.) for Dining Out with Food Allergies:
1) Delaware
2) District of Columbia
3) Maine
4) Massachusetts
5) New York
6) Vermont
7) Florida
8) Rhode Island
9) South Carolina
10) New Hampshire
The 5 Least Allergy-Friendly States for Dining Out with Food Allergies:
1) Oklahoma
2) Kansas
3) West Virginia
4) Utah
5) Texas
These rankings are based on the compilation and averaging of all AllergyEats restaurant reviews into state-specific allergy-friendliness dining out scores. The scoring is based on a 5-point scale, with the best ranked state earning a score of 4.30 versus the worst at 3.46.
“While each state certainly has its share of allergy-friendly restaurants, as well as those that are not so friendly, there is a stark difference in the general level of accommodations by restaurants in the best versus the worst states on this list,” Paul Antico, Founder and CEO of AllergyEats said. “The results also paint a fascinating picture about food allergy-friendliness across the various regions of our country, particularly between the Northeast versus the Western U.S.”
Allergy-Friendly Restaurant Rankings by Region (Continental U.S. Only):
1) New England
2) Mid-Atlantic
3) South
4) Midwest
5) West
6) Southwest
“The difference between the average food-allergic diner rating of restaurants in New England and the Mid-Atlantic versus the Southwest and West is quite significant,” Antico said. “While one can only speculate as to the cause of this difference, there definitely appears to be a greater focus on advocacy, restaurant training, and food allergy restaurant laws in the Eastern U.S. We are hopeful that this list can provide an impetus for greater efforts in those regions currently lagging, continuing a trend of improving allergy-friendliness by restaurants across the country.”
About AllergyEats
AllergyEats (www.AllergyEats.com) is a crowdsourced restaurant guide for the food allergy community, available as a free app on both iTunes and Google Play, as well as on www.allergyeats.com. Food-allergic diners can search for allergy-friendly restaurants in the U.S. based on desired location and are encouraged to offer their own ratings and reviews of any restaurant in America where they’ve dined. AllergyEats lists more than 850,000 restaurants nationwide and also offers user comments, web links, menus, directions and more. The app and website, along with AllergyEats’ award-winning blog, annual “Top Ten” listings, and related social media forums, help families with food allergies reduce the guesswork and the anxiety surrounding dining out with food allergies whether they are near home or traveling. For more information, please visit www.AllergyEats.com.
