How to Eat Gluten Free at Restaurants – Sysco Foods

Figuring out how to eat gluten free at restaurants can be challenging when you have celiac disease. You’re never quite sure what you’ll be able to have! Always ask the server about their food service supplier if they’re unsure what’s safe for you to order. If you find out that it’s Sysco Foods, you’re in luck. They will share the ingredients of all their products with us online! Keep reading, and I’ll show you how to find them…

Sysco is one of the largest commercial food suppliers. You’ll find them in many food establishments, including restaurants and several airport lounges. It’s also the only commercial food supplier that I’ve seen (so far) that allows consumers to read ALL the ingredients in their items. Without having to go to the kitchen and speak to the chef to find them out.  (If I discover more commercial food supply companies that do, I’ll write posts on them as well!)

This is MAJOR. I swear that all this “inclusivity” and “accessibility” stuff that people are so fond of talking about does not apply to Celiacs. We are still infuriatingly excluded from many very inaccessible casual or quick dining experiences. And usually from anything that involves the deep fryer. Or the yummy  “apps for table sharing” selections. (I may be just a little bitter about this. Thank you for indulging my mini-rant.)

Here’s why this will help you eat gluten-free in restaurants

For years, one of the first things I’d ask a restaurant server unsure if I could eat something (once we had established that it wouldn’t be a cross-contamination thing using my restaurant script) is who their food service supplier is.  If it was Sysco, I always breathed a sigh of relief. It was likely that I’d be able to eat more than just a sad, consolation-prize salad. And that these items would be tasty. Just Googling, say,  “Sysco XYZ soup,” was enough to get you to the area on their website where you could quickly read the ingredients for that particular food item.

But I noticed a couple of years ago that this had changed. My little Google search trick was no longer working, and the ingredients seemed nowhere to be found. And nothing I was searching for seemed to work.

Solving the Sysco ingredients mystery to keep ordering gluten free

Frustrated, I called Sysco to find out how to access this formerly forthcoming information. The AI Customer Service gatekeeper was asking me for my customer number, and as a normal end-eater consumer, I didn’t have one.

I figured out a little workaround and finally spoke with their customer service, who kindly showed me how to navigate their current site to find their food product ingredients.  Success! How to eat gluten-free at restaurants that used Sysco was now easy again!

Eating gluten free at restaurants that use Sysco: there’s an app for that

Let’s start with the most exciting news first: THEY HAVE AN APP for your mobile phones! It’s called Sysco Shop; perfect for Celiac girls (and guys!) on the go. The steps are the same for either the app or the website, but you just have to know where to look.

TL;DR: Sysco.com > Log In > Enter your email address > Continue as Guest > Shop by Category or Lookup item > Click on the item and scroll down to the ingredients.

Their online ingredient listings and allergen transparency are excellent. Nut or dairy allergy people can use these tips as well, so share this post with them! For those who are visual learners, here are the screenshots of the steps:

How to look up ingredients/allergens in Sysco food items: the App

For the app lovers reading, here are the steps….

Apple App Store/Google Play > Download the “Sysco Shop” (not the Sysco Delivery) app

How to look up ingredients/allergens in Sysco food items: Website

Feel more comfortable with laptops or websites than mobile device apps? Don’t worry; I’ve got you covered!

You can also just type in the item you’re looking for once you’re in the Shop by Category section, which will take you to that item. This will also work for those with nut, shellfish, corn, or other allergies.

Of note, the flat, broad, Lamb Weston steak-cut fries that look uncoated but have the scary word “crispy” in the description (“Potato Fry Flat Crispy”)? They are actually safe for us if it’s a dedicated deep fryer. Or if the chef will make them for us in a separate frying pan. (I’m always thrilled when they will accommodate – a big thank you to every restaurant chef out there who has made me fries!).  There are lots of potato products listed that are safe. Others have allergen declarations that show as not safe at all. For example, the sweet potato straight fries are fine, but the waffle fries are not.

Due diligence to ensure that you can eat gluten free in ANY restaurant is always necessary! Make sure that you look up everything you plan to order if there is any doubt whatsoever. Future you (and your intestines) will thank you for it. Remember that the companies the food service providers may deal with can change. And so can the ingredients that even a known food supplier might use in their items…even if they used to be fine for us. So check first…better safe than sorry.

Share your tips in the comments for safely ordering gluten free eats in restaurants!

Happy on-the-go eating! x