Culvers

Culvers is within our comfort zone. They have a phamplet available that lists any allergens present in all the food. It may also be online. As far a cross-contamination, we only eat the chocolate custard in a bowl. They have always been good at getting a new spoon to scoop my son's custard. The food is prepared in a completely separate area from the frozen custard.
I always wipe the seating area down before we eat because I know that pb is served.
We have not had any problems with the food or the attitudes of the staff. We don't eat there a lot, but it is one of my ds's favorite place to go.
However, it has taken me many years of fine-tuning my comfort zone to go and eat there. I worry no matter where we eat, but Culvers does fit within my comfort zone. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with where to eat and if I trust others to prepare my ds's food. I think that is very normal.
I will see if I can find the link to the allergen information for you.
ETA link:
[url="http://www.culvers.com/Menu/AllergenInformation.aspx"]http://www.culvers.com/Menu/AllergenInformation.aspx[/url]
[This message has been edited by notnutty (edited August 16, 2007).]

I like that they have an allergen brochure. We have eaten there, but as time has gone on, I've started to avoid it for DD when possible. There are just so many peanuts in the kitchen and teenagers working there. I'd thought they dispensed the frozen custard, but then I saw them scoop it, and I would think nuts could get into it at times with all the topping options.

Quote:Originally posted by mom2boys1975:
[b]I did see the chart online and liked that. I just worry about cross contamination.
Out of curiosity, why the chocolate and not vanilla, or is it just flavor preference?
Before pa we would generally just go through the drive through we've only eaten inside 1-2 times.
[/b]
We get the chocolate because of flavor. I do not want them putting any chocolate sauce or hot fudge or anything else on the frozen custard, so we just get the plain chocolate in a cup.

At the Culver's in our town, if you go to the drive through, there is a sign with a warning that they use peanuts and nuts.

We have eaten at Culvers in MN for a couple of years and it has been safe. I do not check every time, but yesterday I was going through their allergen pamphlet and it said there are now PEANUTS in the fried shrimp, fried fish, and fried chicken. I asked the manager and he said it's in the batter. I will have to call. I asked if the chicken tender my son was eating had been frien in the soy oil that they used to fry the fried chicken. Yes, there was cross contamination. I couldn't believe I'd been so careless. Nothing happened but I felt sick to my stomach the whole time we were there and I didn't feel comfortable until several hours later when my son did not have any obvious symptoms.
The manager also said that the corn dogs were fried in the french fry oil, but it doesn't make sense to me that it would be in the fryer for the french fries rather than the chicken fryer compartment.
I will post back once I've spoken to someone at corporate culvers to let you know how long it's been since they changed recipes and what is the source of peanut.

Thanks for your thoughts about my son.
I spoke with a woman at Culvers Corporate this morning. She said that because the ingredients for the fried chicken did NOT list peanut or peanut oil, the most likely explanation was that the wheat flour or spices were possibly cross contaminated with peanut and tree nuts. Because of the possibility of cross contamination they will indicate "contains peanuts" on their Allergen Pamphlet.
She said that their supplier did not change, but maybe the supplier's labeling changed. Also, their website will be the most up to date with respect to ingredients lists and allergen warnings. Go to "Nutrition Choice Calculator" and when it calculates it will give the ingredients at the bottom of the screen, along with Allergen warnings at the end.
Of course, now that I look at this website, the peanut warning has been on the website and the pamphlet since 3/07 and here it is 6 months later and we've been eating there with no noticeable problems. I don't quite know if we've been lucky, or perhaps my son isn't as sensitive to peanut? I find it hard to believe he wouldn't react to traces of peanut though.

It sounds like a may-contain situation, so sometimes there would be traces of peanuts and sometimes there wouldn't. The fact that he didn't react is probably like all the other things with may-contain warnings: most of the time there isn't any peanut, but now and then there is.

I noticed a check mark under peanut for the dinners which made we worry about the chicken strips (which is usually what my kids get). Then I noticed that peanut is marked on the dinner rolls. Since the "dinners" come with a roll I figured that was why.