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To identify knowledge of café and restaurant managers to provide safe meals to food allergic consumers.

A structured self‐administered knowledge questionnaire was completed by managers of 124 food establishments in Wellington, New Zealand.

Three quarters (76%) of managers agreed to participate. Overall, 13% of respondents provided correct responses for all knowledge items. Most (93%) were very confident/confident to provide a safe meal to food allergic consumers and 64% very confident/confident to manage an allergen emergency. A quarter reported past training in food allergy management. Those with past training were more likely to have plans in place to provide a safe meal (14.8% vs. 3.4%; χ² =2.918, P < 0.05), manage an emergency (37.8% vs 21.8%; χ² = 2.158, P < 0.05) and to have a training program for staff (42.9% vs 8.8%; χ² = 15.419, P < 0.001). Restaurant …