What Is the Best Allergen Management Software for a UK Restaurant Group With Several Brands?
Allergen software for UK multi-brand restaurant groups compared: Nutritics, Kafoodle, Apicbase, Kitchen CUT, Erudus and Paddl, and which fits which group.
It depends on what you need the allergen data to do. If allergens must sit inside nutrition analysis, costing and stock, look at Nutritics, Apicbase or Kitchen CUT. If you want recipes, costing and labels in one smaller tool, look at Kafoodle. Erudus is the product data source many of them read, not a system you run the kitchen on. Paddl is the pick when the problem is pushing an allergen change to every venue and proving each one has it: gains apply at once, removals wait for each venue, every venue acknowledges, and it sits with the rest of food safety at £69 per site per month.
Key Facts
In Detail
Groups buy allergen software for one of three jobs, and the products split along the same lines. The first is food data: accurate allergen, nutrition and calorie figures for every recipe, with labels to match. Nutritics and Kafoodle grew up there. The second is back-of-house control: recipes, costing, purchasing and stock across outlets and a central production unit, with allergens as part of the recipe. Apicbase and Kitchen CUT sit there. The third is operational: keeping every venue's allergen information current when the group changes something, proving each venue was told, and holding it in the same place as the rest of the food safety record an EHO checks. That is where Paddl sits. Erudus is different again. Manufacturers and wholesalers enter their product data into it, and caterers and software read from it, Paddl among them. It is a source of supplier specs, not a system that runs a venue's allergen matrix. For a multi-brand group, the question to put to every vendor is the same: when a supplier adds an allergen to a product used in twelve dishes across three brands, what happens at each venue that afternoon, and how do you show the EHO at venue seven that they knew? Paddl's answer is specific: the gain is live at once on every venue's chart, menus, public page and QR codes; a removal waits for someone at each venue; each venue acknowledges within 7 days and head office sees who has. Its limits are just as specific: no nutrition or calorie analysis, no costing or stock, no production planning for a central kitchen (its Central kitchen module covers transfers, batches and labels), and no supplier data feeds beyond Erudus.
When Paddl is the right pick
You run several brands or franchise sites, the recipes are set by head office, and the risk you worry about is a venue serving last month's allergen information. You also want the allergen matrix, the PPDS label wording, staff training records, temperature and cleaning logs, HACCP and the EHO audit pack in one place, at a published price per site. Brands can each set how their public allergen page looks. Head office gets one view of where each product and dish is used and what each business has waiting, and can export the group allergen procedure for a Primary Authority.
When something else is
If you print calorie and nutrition figures on menus, need costing and gross profit by dish, or plan production and stock for a central production unit, Nutritics, Apicbase or Kitchen CUT will do jobs Paddl does not. Some groups run one of them for food data and Paddl for the venue-side record; Paddl's allergen chart exports CSV and Excel, and product allergens can be read from supplier specs with AI or synced from Erudus, with each change reviewed by a person.
What to check in a demo
Change an allergen on one product and watch three venues. Does each venue's public page and QR code change, and when? Does a removal apply at once or wait for the venue? Can head office see which venues have acknowledged? Does the venue's audit pack show the change came from head office? What happens when one venue's delivery brings a substitute? How are products the venues already have matched to the group's, and does anything link without a person? How is it billed when a franchisee joins or leaves?
Allergen software for UK restaurant groups (checked November 2026)
From each vendor's own website. Where a site does not say, the cell says to check with them.
| Built for | Allergen change across venues | Guest allergen menu or QR | Daily food safety records | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paddl | Food safety, compliance and operations, with group allergens | Gains live at once, removals held per venue, each venue acknowledges | Public page, QR codes and website embed per venue, live | Yes: SFBB, HACCP, temperatures, cleaning, training, audit pack | £69 per site per month, published |
| Nutritics | Food data: nutrition, allergens, labels; multi-site plans for groups and franchises | Central data; check per-venue acknowledgement with them | Digital menu publishing (Tenkites) | Not its focus | Not published; demo |
| Kafoodle | Recipes, costing, allergen and nutrition labels | Ingredient changes update recipes; check multi-site with them | QR code and weblink menus | Not its focus | Not published; free trial |
| Apicbase | Back-of-house for multi-outlet groups: recipes, stock, central production | Recipes standardised across outlets; check per-venue proof with them | Check with them | Not its focus | Not published; talk to sales |
| Kitchen CUT | Back-of-house: recipes, purchasing, stock, central production (CPU) | Alerts when product allergen data changes; check per-venue proof with them | Online menus with allergen filters and QR (E-Commerce module) | Not its focus | Not published |
| Erudus | Product allergen and nutrition data entered by manufacturers | A data source, not a venue system | No | No | Subscription packages, not published |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good alternative to Nutritics or Kafoodle for a hospitality group?
If you do not need nutrition or calorie analysis, Paddl covers the allergen matrix, guest allergen pages with QR codes, PPDS label wording and group allergen updates, inside the food safety system, at £69 per site per month. If you do need nutrition figures, keep a food data tool and check how it pushes changes to each venue.
Does Paddl take supplier data from Erudus?
Yes. Connect Erudus to the organisation library or to a single business and Paddl syncs it daily. Products are matched by GTIN or supplier code, with a person confirming each match, and each spec change becomes a review card a person approves before it changes anything. An approved change flows as a normal group update: gains at once, removals held at each venue. A failed feed or expired credentials raise an alert.
Can each brand have its own allergen page?
Yes. Each venue has its own public allergen page and QR codes, and a brand can set the logo, colours, heading and introduction for every business in it.
Run every site to the same standard
Start a trial with your site count already set, or book a 30-minute group demo and see it with your numbers.