If making restaurants comfortable for the allergic community just because it's the "right thing to do" isn't enough, financial expert Paul Antico has demonstrated that catering to the food allergic community has monetary benefit, reports Medical News Today in How Much are Food Allergic Diners Worth?.

Antico leveraged his background in financial analysis to determine how much economic power the food allergic and Celiac disease community can wield. He explains, "Millions of Americans - or roughly 5% of the general population - have known food allergies or gluten intolerance, and restaurateurs should recognize the tremendous spending power of this community."

And it's not just the allergic diners themselves who may choose restaurants based on their accommodation of allergic individuals. Consider a group of ten who foregoes a particular restaurant because their allergic companion doesn't feel comfortable there – that's a lot more money than one meal's worth.

According to Medical News Today, "Even if a restaurant is already at or near capacity during weekend prime times, by becoming more allergy-friendly, they can still increase their profits by tens of thousands of dollars annually." Many restaurant owners understand this and are taking steps to cater to the allergic population. These steps include training employees in allergy safety, creating gluten-free menu options, and seeking industry certifications.

Antico is also the founder of AllergyEats, which collects "objective, peer-based feedback … to [make] it easier for the food allergy community to find allergy-friendly restaurants and avoid those that don't measure up."