The Voice of Innkeeping Vol 3 Issue 8 October 2018 | 页面 26

responsibility to communicate their food restrictions clearly and well-ahead of their arrival (preferably at the time of their reservation). By far, at least in my experience both as an innkeeper and a chef, those with profound allergies and sensitivities will do just that. A note on your website requesting advance notice of dietary concerns, preferably either on the page where you describe your food or in your policies section, is recommended. This will not only encourage those that book with you to let you know if they require accommodation, it will also protect the innkeeper with recourse should a surprise restriction, which may be difficult to accommodate, be requested.

Those afflicted with food allergies will most likely be satisfied with reasonable accommodation. But going above and beyond and offering caring, high quality, and enthusiastic accommodation can go even further to help create lasting happy memories and return visits. This begins with innkeepers educating themselves and experimenting with new ideas, techniques, and ingredients to satisfy those with restricted diets. The resources are there: cookbooks devoted to gluten-free cooking, videos demonstrating creative food substitutions, websites for sourcing appropriate ingredients, even social media groups devoted to these conditions, many of which include recipes to try and experts to ask.

Here’s the bottom line: Accommodations for food restrictions should be viewed as opportunities to expand one’s repertoire in the kitchen, learn new skills, and create great experiences for guests. It’s mutually beneficial. Happy cooking!

Jon Emanuel has been a professional chef for 25 years. Trained at the California Culinary Academy, Jon’s experience has taken him around the world, including the incredible Glacier Bay Country Inn, located in the wilds of bush Alaska, and South Pole Station, Antarctica, to which he made seven deployments over six years to feed scientists and support crews at one of the planet’s most challenging locations. Jon spent his most recent Executive Chef position providing nutritious, potentially life-saving meals to thousands living with life-threatening illnesses at Project Angel Heart, a non-profit in Denver,

Colorado. Over the span of his

career, Jon’s work as a chef has

received mention and praise in

Food & Wine, Saveur, the Denver

Post, and the New York Times.

Jon’s passion for great food, love

of community, and fondness for

meeting new friends inspired him

to open the Old Caledonian

Bed & Breakfast with the love

of his life, Penny.