Meeting the challenges of compliance with Natasha’s Law has been a struggle for many small businesses. When one of your food businesses is less than two months old – it can be even more daunting!

Yorkshire businesswoman, Lisha Streeter, has had her wedding cake business, LS Cakery, for nine years, but launched her new business, Baker Street Deli, just seven weeks before Natasha’s Law came in on 1 October 2021.

She needed a quick, easy-to-implement solution to ensure that all allergens were correctly labelled on all her pre-packed for direct sale (PPDS) products, and now uses Allergen Checker across her deli and wedding cake businesses.

Like many small business owners, Lisha feels that more could have been done to raise awareness and make Natasha’s Law easier to implement.

While big chains have been able to allocate whole teams to get ready for Natasha’s law, for small businesses, knowing how to be compliant – and even if the new regulations apply to you – has been less straightforward.

Lisha found that there was very little ‘official’ advice to tell her if and how Natasha’s Law affected her businesses, and if so, which products required labelling. Fortunately, she met Allergen Checker founder, Mark Morgan-Huntley, at a networking event, and he was able to explain specifically how the new labelling rules would affect her products.

“I had a letter from the council less than a week before the law came into force,” says Lisha, “If I hadn't already known about it, can you imagine the mad-rush panic beforehand, trying to get everything in place?”

“I totally agree with Natasha’s Law: I totally, totally get it. But I just think the way that they've introduced it is a little bit rubbish. I don't think any of the industry have been told properly.”

Lisha’s business, LS Cakery, is centred around creating special occasion cakes, but she also makes wedding favours. “Every wedding favour I make comes under Natasha’s Law because they are individually wrapped – each favour needs its own ingredients label with any allergens highlighted.”

She also sends individually-wrapped slices of cake in sample boxes to engaged couples, which also need allergen labelling under the new rules.

All pre-packed for direct sale (PPDS) products, like sandwiches and salads, sold from her new business, Baker Street Deli, now require all allergens to be clearly labelled.

“Alongside the deli, we’ve just launched a sandwich van service that goes out and does its rounds daily.

“We pre-package everything that goes on to the van”, Lisha explains, “So when I found out this new law was like hitting us, it was a bit like, ‘Oh my goodness, how is this going to work?!’

“But thanks to Allergen Checker – just knowing that I've got that behind me – makes my life so much easier and I'm not worried. Everything’s been inputted, so all I have to do is print – it’s just so easy.”

“I’ve listed every sandwich that's going to be on the van on, so I know that I've got all of the labels ready to go.

“I'm going to stick to that list to start with, just so I know that I've got it covered. Then when I get a bit more time, I’ll add some different products.”

Every ingredient needs to be scrutinised to ensure compliance with Natasha’s Law. With bought-in ingredients, this means inputting everything in that product from the manufacturer’s label.

It also means that if you make your own products from scratch, everything needs to be listed.

“I make my own breads, so I need to be aware of all the ingredients that go into the different types,” Lisha explains. “I was worried about how I’d label all the sandwiches for the van, but now that I’ve added all the ingredients to Allergen Checker, it’s the easiest thing ever.

“The only downside about allergen labelling is that it can restrict your creativity. You can’t just come up with a recipe off-the-cuff: you’re mindful of which ingredients are already in the system or what labels you already have printed ready to use.”

Spontaneity aside, Lisha’s pragmatic about the changes Natasha’s Law has brought to her businesses: “You’ve just got to plan. And that's just the way it is now, so we’ve all just got to adjust to that.”

Another attraction for Lisha was the affordability of Allergen Checker: “It's only a pound a day. That's all it costs. For your peace of mind to spend a pound a day - I mean, it's nothing is it?”

Allergen Checker offers comprehensive support for all users, and founder Mark Morgan-Huntley has decades of experience as a chef and managing hospitality businesses.

Lisha likes that Allergen Checker was created by someone with first-hand food industry experience: “That's why Mark is good at what he does, as he works with food himself.

“He fully understands how much goes into every dish.”

“The support’s been amazing,” says Lisha, “Mark held my hand all the way through it – he's been so helpful.

“Even now he checks in to see if I need help with anything.

“It's nice having that backup, so if I am unsure, I’ve got Mark and Allergen Checker as my go-to place for help.

“If I didn't have Allergen Checker, I'd just be second-guessing it or Googling it and Google gives you a million different answers!”

Lisha’s passion is for creating delicious food for her customers – not faffing around with spreadsheets and labels! After initial concerns about how the software would work in practice, she was pleasantly surprised: “Allergen Checker is really easy to use - and I don't do computers!

“Before, if I didn't have Allergen Checker, I'd be thinking, ‘I need to write all of that out. How am I going to write it out? And then have to print it out, make sure the labels were straight, legible and the right size for the packaging – etc, etc!

“But because I've got this software, everything is in the system. So it's easy just to print it out.

So far, Lisha’s been setting up Allergen Checker herself, but she’s looking forward to delegating to her small team: “They’ll get it in 10 minutes – it’s made to be very easy to use.”

With the NHS estimating that around 2 million people in the UK have a diagnosed food allergy, Lisha’s pleased that her allergen labelling will reassure and attract customers concerned about ingredients.

She’s already getting good feedback: “We cater for corporate events and a client said ‘I really liked your list. Could you do me another list making sure that we can differentiate for the special dietary requirements?’ – and I know I can give her what she wants simply and quickly.”

When you’ve spent time, money and effort on creating a professional brand for your business, having a labelling solution that looks the part, is important too. Lisha says: “You don't want to just slap on any old label – you need it to look good to fit in.”

With Allergen Checker, you can add your logo to your ingredient labels and even print branded menus. Lisha says: “It makes it all look more professional – it just looks so good.

“When we cater for corporate lunches, we provide a menu. It comes up with Baker Street Deli written at the top and we can print out a full menu.

“It just looks so nice and professional and it’s all set up, ready to go.”

So, what is Lisha’s message to people with similar businesses? “Definitely give Allergen Checker a try – you can even try it for free to see how you get on with it.

“It honestly makes my life so much better - so much easier.”