Everything operators need to know about the ADDE Act, the July 1, 2026 deadline, and how to automate allergen disclosure across every location.
On July 1, 2026, California becomes the first state in the nation to require restaurants to disclose major food allergens on their menus. The law is called SB 68, formally known as the Allergen Disclosure for Dining Experiences Act, or the ADDE Act. It passed the California Senate unanimously, cleared the Assembly 66–1, and was signed by Governor Newsom in October 2025.
If you operate a restaurant chain with 20 or more locations nationally and at least one of those locations is in California, this law applies to you. That includes franchises, QSRs, fast-casual, and full-service concepts. It includes your physical menus, your digital menus, your website ordering, and your third-party delivery platforms like DoorDash and Uber Eats.
The deadline is less than 90 days away. This guide covers exactly what the law requires, who must comply, what the penalties look like, and how to build a compliance system that works across every location and every ordering channel.
SB 68 is formally titled the Allergen Disclosure for Dining Experiences Act. It amends the California Retail Food Code to require written notification of the nine major food allergens contained in each menu item. The law was inspired by Addie Lao, a nine-year-old food allergy advocate who worked alongside California Senator Caroline Menjivar to push the legislation through Sacramento.
The key provisions are straightforward. Commencing July 1, 2026, any food facility subject to federal menu-nutrient disclosure requirements must provide written notification of major food allergens in each menu item. Restaurants can satisfy this requirement in one of two ways: directly on the menu itself with a written statement next to or immediately adjacent to each item, or in a digital format such as a QR code linking to a detailed allergen menu. If a restaurant uses the digital option, it must also offer a print alternative for customers who cannot access the digital format.
A critical clarification: the digital menu requirement extends to all digital ordering channels. That means third-party platforms like DoorDash and Uber Eats, as well as first-party ordering systems including Olo and Toast, and the restaurant's own website. If a consumer can order from it, allergen disclosure must be present on it.
The threshold is 20 or more locations doing business under the same name and offering substantially the same menu items. This is a national count, not a California count. If your chain operates 20 locations across the country and even one of those locations is in California, you are subject to SB 68.
This captures a significant number of operators who may not consider themselves "California chains." A franchise group headquartered in Texas with 50 locations and three in Los Angeles must comply. A fast-casual brand based in New York with 25 locations and one in San Francisco must comply. The law follows the federal framework for menu-nutrient disclosure, which means the same operators already required to post calorie counts are now required to disclose allergens.
Compact mobile food operations and nonpermanent food facilities are exempt. Independent restaurants with fewer than 20 locations are not currently covered, though advocacy groups have stated publicly that this law is a foundation to build on — both in California and in other states.
Corporate headquarters should be paying close attention to this. Compliance is a brand-level obligation, not a location-by-location decision. The allergen data needs to be accurate, consistent, and current across every location and every channel — and that starts at the corporate level.
SB 68 requires disclosure of the nine major food allergens as defined under federal law:
Highly refined oils derived from any of these allergens are exempt, as are ingredients covered by the federal petition or notification process under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004.
The nine allergens covered by SB 68 align with US federal labeling requirements. However, other jurisdictions go further. Canada requires disclosure of 11 priority allergens, adding mustard and sulphites. The European Union mandates disclosure of 14 allergens, including celery, lupin, molluscs, mustard, and sulphites.
Operators should expect the US list to expand. The alpha-gal syndrome epidemic — a red meat allergy triggered by tick bites that is rapidly growing across the southern and eastern United States — is already generating legislative attention. Additional allergens like celery and mustard, which are already regulated in Europe, are strong candidates for future US inclusion. Building a compliance system that can accommodate additional allergens now means you will not need to rebuild when the list inevitably grows.
SB 68 provides two primary compliance formats, but the practical reality is more complex than it appears on paper.
The most direct approach: place a written statement next to or immediately below each menu item identifying the major allergens it contains. This works for printed menus and in-house menu boards, but requires reprinting or updating every time a recipe changes, a new item launches, or a supplier substitutes an ingredient.
Restaurants can use a QR code or other digital format linking to a detailed allergen menu. If a restaurant chooses this route, it must also provide a printed allergen chart or alternative for customers who cannot access the digital version.
This is where many operators will be caught off guard. The allergen disclosure requirement extends to every digital channel where a consumer can place an order — DoorDash, Uber Eats, your own website, and first-party ordering through systems like Olo and Toast. If a customer can order a menu item through that channel, the allergen information must be accessible through that channel.
For multi-location operators, this creates a data consistency challenge. A recipe change at one location needs to be reflected across the physical menu, the QR code destination, the restaurant's website, and every third-party delivery platform — simultaneously and accurately. Manual processes break down at this scale. This is where automated allergen management becomes essential.
With less than 90 days until the July 1 deadline, operators need to move quickly but methodically. Here is the critical path:
Start with what you have. Do you have a centralized ingredient database? Is it current? Does it cover every menu item at every location, including regional variations and limited-time offers? Most chains discover significant gaps during this step, particularly around supplier ingredient specifications and recipe-level allergen data.
Every menu item needs to be mapped to its ingredients, and every ingredient needs to be tagged against the nine major allergens. This database becomes the single source of truth for all disclosure — physical, digital, and third-party. If you are managing this in spreadsheets, you are already behind.
Decide whether you will disclose directly on the menu, through a digital format, or both. Most multi-location operators will need both — physical menus for dine-in and a digital system for online ordering. Remember that digital disclosure requires a print alternative.
Staff need to understand what the nine allergens are, how to direct guests to allergen information, and what to do when a guest asks about a specific dietary need. This is not optional — under the California Retail Food Code, the person in charge of a food facility is already required to have adequate knowledge of major food allergens.
Build in time to test. Verify that your digital menus match your physical menus. Confirm that third-party platform listings are accurate. Run a spot check across locations. One mistake on one platform at one location creates liability for the entire brand.
SB 68 is enforced under the California Retail Food Code. Local health agencies will conduct visual verification or other reasonable methods to confirm menu compliance. Violations are treated as misdemeanors, with monetary fines as permitted under the existing health code enforcement framework.
But fines are the least of it. The real exposure is liability. If a guest with a serious food allergy has a reaction because allergen information was missing, incorrect, or outdated on a menu or digital ordering platform, the restaurant faces potential negligence claims, personal injury lawsuits, and the reputational damage that follows. The California Restaurant Association has publicly noted concerns about increased liability and the potential for predatory lawsuits under this framework.
The cost of compliance is predictable and manageable. The cost of a single allergic reaction incident — from the emergency response through the litigation — is not.
Foodini is a dietary intelligence platform built for exactly this problem. Recently named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in the restaurants, dining, and food services category for 2026 — alongside DoorDash, Toast, Chili's, and OpenTable — Foodini provides the infrastructure layer that automates allergen compliance and turns dietary data into a business advantage.
Foodini's AI analyzes your ingredient lists and automatically identifies allergens across all nine categories required by SB 68. This eliminates the manual, error-prone process of tagging allergens by hand across hundreds or thousands of menu items.
The platform generates allergen-flagged digital menus that can be deployed via QR code, embedded on your website, or linked to your online ordering systems. When a recipe changes, the allergen data updates in real time across every channel — physical, digital, first-party, and third-party.
For multi-location operators, Foodini centralizes allergen data so that a menu change at headquarters is reflected at every location simultaneously. No more version control failures. No more one location running an outdated allergen chart while another has the current one.
Foodini links directly to your online ordering systems to provide a seamless, personalized ordering experience for consumers. Guests can filter menus by their dietary needs, see exactly what they can safely eat, and order with confidence. This is not just compliance — it drives revenue by reducing friction for the 33 million Americans with food allergies and the 105 million with dietary preferences.
Every manual process is a point of failure. Every spreadsheet that gets updated at 19 locations but not the 20th is a liability. Foodini dramatically reduces the risk of mistakes — and the risk of lawsuits where allergen information was not available, was incorrect, or was not updated when it should have been. With 150+ food allergies and dietary needs covered, 300,000+ consumers on the platform, and a 98.9% guest preference rate, the system is built for the scale and accuracy that SB 68 demands.
SB 68 compliance is the floor. The revenue opportunity is the ceiling.
Putting allergen and dietary information directly in the hands of consumers speeds up operations by reducing questions for staff. It links to your online ordering to drive a seamless, personalized experience. And it unlocks a consumer segment that most operators are underserving: food-allergic diners spend $19 billion a year on food, are more than twice as loyal as average diners, and actively seek out restaurants that can accommodate their needs safely.
Menu items with clear ingredient descriptions receive four times more views. Dietary-tagged items generate 3.6 times higher engagement. Gen Z and Millennial diners — who represent $200 billion in annual restaurant spending power — deliver 24% higher lifetime value for restaurants that meet their transparency expectations.
Compliance gets you in the door. Dietary intelligence makes it a business decision that pays for itself.
Foodini automates allergen disclosure across every menu, every location, and every ordering channel — and turns compliance into a competitive advantage.
See how it works for your operation →