Michigan high schoolers develop app to help people with allergies navigate dining out
Dining out for people with dietary restrictions or allergies could become a lot more manageable thanks to a group of high schoolers in Washtenaw County.
That's because they're developing an app called AllerNourish, and it's getting national recognition.
Three teens at Washtenaw Technical Middle College are developing a solution to help people with allergies safely navigate the restaurant scene. Now their app, AllerNourish, is up for the grand prize at a national competition for young entrepreneurs.
"Cross contamination, safety protocols, what questions to ask the servers," said AllerNourish's chief marketing officer, Grace Gorham.
One of the teens behind AllerNourish says those are some of the concerns she has when dining out, and now her app answers those questions for her.
"I actually have celiac disease, so it's kind of like an allergy. It's an autoimmune disease. I was diagnosed when I was six years old. I was just able to do extra research because I have first-hand experience on some of this stuff," Gorham said.
Based on the user's dietary restrictions, the app helps them navigate menus and understand kitchen practices, so they know what's safe to eat.
"We have filtering and preferences as well, because perhaps people don't really know the specific name for the allergy they have, so they can click on it. So that way it's more user-friendly, and more accommodating for their allergies or preferences," said AllerNourish's CEO, Hailey Wittek.
They showed me how it works, with a prototype built in the past month and a half, filtering for fish allergies, for example.
"When I open up the page, I'll click on fish. And if I have any more modifications, I can add it. And then I'll continue, save, and it will recommend me anything that follows my filtering options. I can view the menu. I can also see what allergies they have. So it contains dairy, gluten, and eggs," Wittek said.
The prototype is in the national finals of Junior Achievement's Social Innovation Challenge, but the teens say they plan to continue developing it as a full-fledged business even after the competition is over.
"The idea of not giving up and having enough confidence in yourself was the most important journey for us," Wittek said.
While Hailey, Grace, and the third member of their team, Alexis, might be high school-aged, they're all taking college classes at Washtenaw Technical Middle College, so don't be surprised if they come back from the Junior Achievement National Finals in Boston with a win.
