Gluten-Free Chain Safety Scorecard

What the columns mean

• Publishes allergen info — yes: A machine- or human-readable allergen chart or guide naming wheat/gluten.; no: Nothing published.
• States fryer policy — yes: The page says whether fryers are shared or dedicated.; not_stated: The page is silent. Common, and worth reporting as-is.
• States gf protocol — yes: A documented handling procedure — glove changes, separate prep, dedicated utensils.; menu_only: A gluten-free or gluten-sensitive MENU with no procedure behind it.; not_stated: Neither.
• States staff training — yes: The page describes allergen training for staff.; not_stated: The page is silent.

What this scorecard is not

It is not a safety rating. We cannot inspect a kitchen, and any score implying we had would be the most dangerous thing on this site. What we can observe from outside is what a company commits to in writing, so that is what is measured. A chain scoring badly here may still serve you a safe meal; a chain scoring well can still get it wrong on the day.

Why only ten chains

Because ten is what we can re-read every quarter. When we measured the 17 chain allergen pages this site already cited, 97 days after they were first read, seven had 404’d, four blocked automated checking, two timed out and two returned pages with no readable allergen text. One in seventeen still worked. A scorecard that is not re-read is worse than no scorecard, so the list is the length we can keep honest rather than the length that looks impressive.

What each chain says

• Chick-fil-A — Sells a certified gluten-free bun, sealed and individually packaged, plus a list of "gluten-friendly" items — a menu, not a procedure. The fryer question is the entire reason people ask about this chain and THEY DO NOT ANSWER IT: three pages checked (the gluten FAQ, the waffle-fries allergen FAQ and the nutrition-allergens guide) and none mention a dedicated or separate fryer. All three instead warn of "shared cooking and preparation areas" and that they "cannot ensure that our food is 100% free from any allergens". The widely repeated belief that the fries go in their own fryer is not something Chick-fil-A publishes. No handling procedure, no staff training statement.
• Chili's — The first chain here to say plainly that its fryer is SHARED, which is worth as much as a dedication claim: "Because routine food preparation techniques, such as common oil frying and use of common food preparation equipment and surfaces, may allow contact among various food items, we cannot guarantee any food items to be completely allergen-free", plus "our fried items are prepared in 100% soybean oil". The interactive menu carries an Avoid Gluten filter and the disclaimer names gluten among the allergens tracked — a menu, not a procedure. The only handling instruction points at the customer rather than the kitchen: "please contact the restaurant or notify a manager before placing your order". Nothing about training. READING IT: the platform is a JavaScript app. A plain request returns a 4KB shell with no allergen text and WebFetch gets 402; it needs a real browser with the network settled. The citation is also a THIRD-PARTY host, so it carries a different rot risk from a first-party page — if Chili's changes nutrition vendor, this URL dies with the contract.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill — Offers a glove change on request at the start of an order, and warns that corn items may carry trace gluten from field co-mingling and that preparation cross-contact is not reflected on the chart. Silent on fryers, separate prep areas and staff training.
• Five Guys — The clearest fryer statement of any chain checked: potatoes are "ONLY fried in refined peanut oil using fryers that cook absolutely nothing else", and the page states plainly that the fries contain no gluten while the bread does. Tell the cashier about a gluten allergy and staff "take extra care to avoid cross-contamination by changing gloves more frequently". No staff training statement.
• In-N-Out Burger — The widest gap on the scorecard between reputation and publication. In-N-Out is a standing recommendation in coeliac communities — protein-style burgers, and "they have a dedicated fryer" repeated as settled fact — and the company publishes NOTHING about gluten. Both documents were read end to end: the word "gluten" appears zero times in either, and "fryer" appears zero times in the nutrition guide. The allergen chart is one page covering the nine major allergens, with wheat appearing only inside supplier statements such as "Produced in a facility where tree nuts, eggs, and wheat are present, and possibly on the same line/equipment". The only handling language is "We will make a reasonable effort to accommodate your allergy requests, but we cannot guarantee that your food will not be exposed to an allergen" — an intention, not a procedure. WHERE THE BELIEF COMES FROM: the nutrition guide says "French Fries — Potatoes prepared fresh in 100% sunflower oil". That names the oil, not the fryer. It is true that In-N-Out sells no other fried item, so the fryer is arguably dedicated by menu design — but that is our inference, not their claim, and the scorecard records claims. 2/8, the lowest verified.
• Olive Garden — A 12-page allergen guide with a Wheat Gluten column, plus a Gluten Sensitive menu. The fryer is addressed, though not as a dedication claim: "Items cooked on our grill or in our fryer present a special risk for cross-contamination, so we've clearly identified those for you", and the matrix carries Fried and Grilled columns marking which items those are. Telling a diner the fryer is a risk and which dishes it touches is a real fryer statement, so this counts as stated rather than silent. On gluten: "Our menu items are freshly prepared in our kitchens, which are not free of gluten… we cannot ensure that these items meet the definition of gluten-free. Please let your server know you are avoiding gluten." A menu and a disclaimer, not a procedure. The full guide contains zero occurrences of train, educat, certif, glove, hand wash, dedicated, separate or protocol. READING IT: the claims live in the PDF, not the nutrition page — extract it locally (pypdf), because fetchers return it undecoded.
• Outback Steakhouse — Second only to Red Robin, and unusually candid. It calls the menu "gluten-friendly" rather than gluten-free on purpose: "We strive to offer gluten-friendly menu options, but do not have gluten-free kitchens", "we cannot guarantee that cross-contact with foods containing gluten will not occur", and "The menu items do not have a gluten-free certification." Procedure is specific — "a protocol for each time a gluten-friendly menu item is ordered. This includes: hand washing, glove changing, using clean cooking equipment and utensils, and special ordering instructions for our chefs." Training is explicit: "Outback provides gluten-friendly education to all of its employees", and they "work with our training team to teach the importance of understanding what gluten is". Nothing about fryers anywhere. READING IT: outback.com serves a plain request fine but 403s both WebFetch and a real headless browser, so re-checks need requests rather than a browser.
• P.F. Chang's — The reputation exceeds what they publish. P.F. Chang's pioneered the chain gluten-free menu and is still the chain coeliacs name first, and secondary sources widely describe designated gluten-free woks, utensils and plates — but three of their own pages were checked (the gluten-free menu, the FAQ and Allergens To Go) and none of them say any of that. What the gluten-free menu page actually says is "Gluten-free items are made with gluten-free ingredients and prepared following gluten-free procedures" — a claim with no content behind it — and Allergens To Go adds "we are unable to guarantee the absence of cross-contamination". A full allergen matrix, a gluten-free menu, and nothing published about equipment, plates, fryers or training.
• Red Robin — The only chain checked so far that publishes all four, and by a distance. Fryer: "Red Robin does have a dedicated fryer for cooking our steak fries", stated together with the honest caveat that it is still not recommended for allergen avoidance because of cross-contact at the fryer station — a chain publishing the limits of its own dedicated fryer is unusual and worth saying out loud. Procedure: kitchen staff use a "designated purple allergen kit and tools", the plate is marked with a purple pick so the server knows, and the kit is "washed, rinsed and sanitized prior to the next use". Training: team members are trained on the Allergen Program Standard at hire and quizzed, kitchen staff and servers are audited quarterly by a third party, and managers inspect the allergy tools twice daily. The detail lives in the FAQ rather than the allergen page, which is worth knowing for re-checking.
• Texas Roadhouse — A gluten-friendly menu with the honesty in the name: items "are made gluten-friendly to the best of our ability. Please note that we are a scratch-based concept and cross-contact with allergens could occur in the preparation process." The kitchen statement is general rather than fryer-specific — "All of our Legendary Food… is made in shared cooking and preparation areas" — and the only oil detail is "Texas Roadhouse cooks with 100% refined soybean oil", which names the oil, not the fryer. Same call as In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A: naming an oil is not a fryer policy. Handling is a commitment without content — "If you inform us of your food allergy, we will take appropriate measures to prevent any cross-contact" — with no gloves, utensils or separate prep named. Nothing about training. 3/8. TWO THINGS FOR THE RE-CHECK. The gluten-friendly PDF is served from a /2021-12/ path and has not been revised since, so the gluten list itself is nearly five years old even though the URL resolves. And Texas Roadhouse outsources its nutrition tooling to Nutritionix, the same platform Chili's moved to — two of ten chains now depend on one third-party vendor, so a single contract change would break both citations at once.