I was very pleased to meet Tim Betts and Ellis Northover, the founders of Dinepilot last month. Firstly, we were sitting next to each other watching The Allergy Today Podcast. Then, the next thing I hear, they are finalists for the ‘Best Food Tech Innovation of the Year’ at Food Matters Live 2019 and since then I have seen them all over social media. They have been winning awards left, right and centre including the SoFHT (The Society of Food, Health and Technology) award for ‘Best new product 2019’ and the O2 business award for ‘Giving back to the community through digital connectivity’. Excellent stuff.
So, what is Dinepilot I hear you cry? Dinepilot was launched on 1st October 2019 and it is a brand, spanking new app which is innovative and unique. And the best thing of all… it’s free. It does exactly what it says on the tin – you can literally pilot your way easily to places that cater for you, i.e. where you can dine.
I asked Tim to tell me what their unique selling point is…
“At Dinepilot, we believe that you have the right to know exactly what’s in your food, so that you can make choices which match your dietary preferences – whether they be for your ethical beliefs, social values or specific health requirements.
“ We insist that our Dinepilot community have the same food information that you would see in the restaurant – no ifs, no buts! We always recommend you check and tell the restaurant about your dietary requirements, however we want our community to help transform the availability of food information and we are really interested to hear what our users are passionate about, be it food allergy, plant-based diets or how their choices impact the environment.”
I wanted to see what it was all about so I downloaded the app. The first thing you do is to put in your dietary requirements, and select the allergens you need to avoid (as the above picture shows). So for me, that was gluten free (rye, oats, wheat and barley) and I also need to avoid milk. It saves your filters and allows you to see what restaurants, pubs, bars and other eateries are in your local area. They appear in a list format with images and you can also look at a map. Perfect!
However, there is a difference about this app compared to others I have seen – it removes everything from the menu that you can’t eat. Therefore, you only need to look through the things that you can eat. This feels really nice for tricky eaters like myself. For once, you don’t have to scan past the other hundred dishes on the menu that you once loved, thinking ‘aww, look at all these gorgeous things that I can’t eat anymore (sob).’
Tim asked me for feedback, so I highlighted that if I select the ‘gluten free’ dietary requirement on my filter, most places don’t offer me anything. Tim informed me this was under consideration at the moment and when this filter is selected, the app only filters in places with the gluten free accreditation. This means that a lot of the menus are blank when using this filter. Tim advises me that for their next release of the app (happening very soon) this filter will be removed until enough businesses adopt the gluten free certification.
As a coeliac, as long as I know the venue are following good procedures and processes to reduce the risk of cross-contamination of gluten in the kitchen, then I still eat there. I don’t t necessarily demand the Coeliac UK gluten free accreditation (or equivalent), although this is obviously an added bonus.
What I love about Dinepilot is that you can look at menus in a matter of seconds to see if there are dishes you can eat. For me, it is much quicker than going through the allergy checklists on a company’s website. There are a few places in Leeds that I had no idea could feed me – so already it’s helped. Obviously, I still need to ask questions about cross-contamination when I’m there and there may be more dishes that I can have if they are able to adapt other meals – but it’s a fab way for me to quickly screen places.
On the Dinepilot website, it also demonstrates a picture of a full ingredients list. Tim reports…
“ Where businesses we work with can supply the full ingredients we will display it. We are encouraging all the brands we work with to be transparent and provide a full ingredient list, but we recognise that this is not always possible without significant operational changes. But, one day this will be the norm I am sure!”
At the moment, there are only larger chains on the app. These companies follow strict processes, have a standardised menu and are committed to providing customers with accurate information. Smaller, local food businesses often don’t have a standardised menu and don’t necessarily keep their data up to date to comply with the standards required for Dinepilot, so it is difficult for these to be registered on the app at the moment.
So, why not download the app and use it when you’re out and about over Christmas. I will certainly be putting it to the test when I’m visiting friends and family. I’d love to hear what you think too?