With food allergies and intolerances on the rise, and as they become more widely recognized, there is a growing need for restaurants and food service staff to understand their customer's needs, reduce their liabilities and use the technology available to serve up safety with menu innovation. Shandee Chernow is President and founder of CertiStar, a user-friendly technology platform on a mission to protect and improve the safety and dining experience of men, women, and children vulnerable to food allergens. As a food allergy sufferer herself, Shandee quickly noticed a problem in the marketplace that wasn’t being solved well or being addressed properly by the industry. CertiStar offers food industry and food allergy data that has been matched with patent-pending smart technology to help hospitality businesses manage menus, recipes, and inventory.

Entrepreneur, Food Allergy Expert, Artist

Questions

• 1:49 - Can you tell me about the company you started called CertiStar?
• 3:25 - How many restaurants are you currently working with?
• 3:50 - How did you get started creating a software?
• 5:50 - How did you make the leap between creating the software and running the business?
• 8:30 - Tell me how you came up with your branding?
• 11:30 - Can you tell me a little about allergies and allergic reactions?
• 13:03 - What kind of signals should someone who has never had an allergic reaction before be looking for?
• 15:30 - How does CertiStar work to help both restaurants and guests with allergies?
• 18:18 - Are you seeing that people with food allergies are not going out to eat out of fear?
• 22:12 - What is the work involved in getting a restaurant set up with the CertiStar software?
• 22:57 - How much does it cost the restaurant to have and maintain the software?
• 23:20 - What is your plan to scale your business?
• 25:00 - How can someone get CertiStar in their favorite restaurant?
• 25:40 - RAPID FIRE SEGMENT
• 29:40 - Where can we find you?

TOPICS

• 1:50 - My struggle with food allergies
• 2:30 - What does CertiStar do?
• 4:07 - The business of creating your own software
• 5:07 - Software company operations
• 6:11 - The hurdles of running your own business
• 8:40 - Branding a business
• 12:05 - Information on allergic reactions
• 13:17 - Signs to look for to know if you are having an allergic reaction
• 15:35 - How CertiStar works to help guests with food allergies in participating restaurants
• 22:19 - How do restaurants join CertiStar?
• 23:00 - Costs of implementation

https://certistar.com/

"Everyone deserves to eat great food, but everyone also deserves to be confident in their food safety, including those suffering from food allergies. Eat well and eat safe."