How do I set allergens, alcohol and VAT on my dishes?

Set each dish's allergens, may-contain traces, the Contains alcohol flag and VAT rate, and print the allergen matrix from the Allergens tab.

Part of How do I build my menu and share it with guests?. This part covers the facts a dish carries: its allergens, the Contains alcohol flag, its VAT rate, and the Allergens tab that shows them all at once.

Allergens, alcohol and VAT on a dish

Each dish's edit form also carries three compliance fields (added for at-table ordering, but you can fill them in any time):

• Allergens — tick every allergen the dish contains from the standard UK list of 14 (celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soya, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, tree nuts). Guests read them in words everywhere the dish is listed ("Contains: gluten, milk") — on your menu, in the dish's box, on set menus, today's specials, receipts and your team's own dish lists; your Menu page's own rows show them as short codes you can tap for the name. A dish with none ticked carries no line of its own — your menu says once, at the top, "Some dishes don't list their allergens — please ask the team." (and the allergen search shows them apart, under "These dishes don't list their allergens" — see "Share the menu with guests" in How do I share my menu and choose how it looks?). A dish's choices can carry their own allergens too (see "Give a dish choices" in How do I add dishes and choices to my menu?) — a picked item's list is the dish's plus the picked options'. Under the allergens, May contain takes a precautionary tick per allergen — one your kitchen can't rule out through cross-contact (an allergen the dish contains isn't offered there). Guests read it in its own words after the rest ("Contains: gluten · May contain: sesame"), on your menu, set menus, every pre-order picker, your printed menu and the allergen sheet, and every order keeps it — kitchen tickets, dockets and receipts say it too; the tick's help line quotes the Food Standards Agency's advice: precautionary allergen labelling "should only be used after a thorough risk assessment", and only "if the risk of allergen cross-contamination is real and cannot be removed". Menu → Allergens shows every dish against the 14 allergens on one grid, with Print the matrix for the kitchen: a full dot means it's always in the dish (ticked on the dish, or on every option of a step guests must pick), a ring means only with some choices — the "Choices add: …" line under the dish says which ("Choices add: eggs (Add a fried egg), milk (every option of “Pick a cheese”)") — a diamond means may contain, and a blank means not ticked, never "contains none"; the printed sheet carries the same marks and key. Allergen information is your venue's legal responsibility — ResoFlow shows exactly what you tick and can't check your recipes, so keep it accurate and review it whenever a recipe or supplier changes. Nothing stops you saving a dish without allergen details, but filling them in is strongly advised.
• Contains alcohol — marks the dish for 18+ age checks when guests order and pay from their phones with Order & Pay (it's only shown where you have Order & Pay; on a plan without it you'll see it greyed with how to get it, and a dish still marked after Order & Pay ends keeps the switch, with a note, so you can switch it off). You can also set it while importing your menu: the review screen pre-ticks it for dishes that read as alcoholic drinks (always flagged for you to check, never silently), and each section header has a Mark all as contains alcohol button for a whole drinks section.
• VAT rate (optional) — the dish's VAT rate (20% standard, 5% reduced or 0% zero-rated), used to break down the VAT included on guest Order & Pay receipts and on pre-order payment emails, and in VAT-ready sales exports. VAT only ever appears when your VAT number is set on Settings → Payouts and Stripe (available on every paid plan) — venues that aren't VAT registered never show it. Ask your accountant if you're unsure.

VAT defaults — set the rate once, not dish by dish

Most venues charge the same one or two VAT rates across the whole menu, so there are two optional defaults that fill the rate in for you:

• Per category — a category's edit form has a Default VAT rate for new dishes. New dishes you add to that category start with this rate when you leave the dish's own VAT rate "Not set" — the dish form pre-fills it and says where it came from, so you always see exactly what will be saved and can change it for the odd exception.
• Venue-wide — the same Default VAT rate for new dishes exists for your whole venue on Settings → Menu and stock, in the Your menu for guests section. It applies when the dish's category has no default of its own; a category default always wins over the venue default.

Defaults apply to new dishes only — the rate is stamped onto each dish as its own VAT rate at the moment you add it, and setting or changing a default never changes dishes you've already added. To set a rate on existing dishes, edit the category and click Apply {rate}% to all N existing dishes — after a confirmation, it sets that rate on every dish currently in the category, including dishes that already had a different rate. Dishes keep their rate even if you later change or clear the default.

The Allergens tab

The Menu page's Allergens tab (beside Dishes at the top; or search "allergen matrix") shows every dish against the 14 allergens on one grid, grouped by category, built from the ticks you already keep on each dish and its choices. A full dot means the allergen is always in the dish, a ring means only with some choices (the "Choices add: …" line under the dish says which), a diamond means may contain (your precautionary tick), and a blank means not ticked — never "contains none". A dish with nothing ticked says None ticked, and the tab counts those dishes at the top so you can check each one with your kitchen.

Edit ticks (for anyone who can edit dishes) lets you tick straight on the grid: each cell becomes a button that ticks or unticks the allergen on the dish itself (a choice's own allergens stay on the choice — edit those in the dish). Nothing is saved until you press Save — the button counts your changes ("Save 3 changes") and the list above it names every dish it will change; Cancel drops them. Ticking an allergen a dish "may contain" moves it to contains.

Print the matrix prints the same grid on one sheet — the same marks, a key and the date and time it was printed — for the kitchen and front of house. Reprint it whenever a recipe or supplier changes. Allergen information is your venue's legal responsibility: the grid shows exactly what you tick and can't check your recipes.

Related: How do I build my menu and share it with guests? · How do I add dishes and choices to my menu? · How do I share my menu and choose how it looks? · How do I set up ordering at the table?