<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Just a warning about Friendly's.  I stopped there at
the resturant with my daughter for ice cream and
noticed the Yankee Pot Roast.  I asked the waitress
(for future reference) if the Yankee Pot Roast was
gluten-free, and explained it simply.  She told me
that it was.  Then, I went back with my family and
checked again.  The waiter assured me that he had
checked and it was gluten-free.  I asked out of
curiosity what was used to thicken the sauce.  It was
really good.  I was under the misconception that they
made the stew there and would certainly know what was
in it.

Anyway, after I was done eating, the manager came over
to say he heard I had a question, and how can he help.
 I asked him what was used to thicken the sauce, and
he said he had no idea what was in the sauce--that it
came packaged and there were no ingredients.  Then, I
was very upset.  I told him the waiter has assured me
it was gluten-free.  He said the waiter was lying.  I
asked the waiter, and he said that he had looked at
the ingredients and didn't see anything that would be
a problem.  I asked him if I could see them and he
said that he couldn't bring it out--it was too big in
a back freezer.  Anyway, I was upset.  I almost wish
in situations like this that I got obviously sick, to
hammer home the point to the resturant that they need
to be more careful.  But I don't.  Of course, I'm glad
I don't have obvious symptoms with accidental
ingestion, since that is no fun.  But it just makes it
very hard to tell when I do have accidental ingestion,
and probably to the people at the resturant, it makes
me look a little bit like a liar.  I tried to explain
how serious it is.  I asked if I could contact the
company, and the manager finally gave me the 1-800
number.

The woman at the 1-800 number was very nice.  She said
that the Yankee pot roast is not gluten-free and has
hydrolyzed wheat protein.  I am guessing that the
waiter did look at the ingredients but did not
recognize that as an ingredient containing gluten.  If
I had realized it was packaged, I would not have
trusted the waiter.

I suggested to the woman at the 1-800 number that she
make the individual resturants aware of the
seriousness of allergies and food intolerances, and I
even suggested that they come up with a gluten-free
list that they could distribute to the individual
resturants to help them with these kind of questions.
They could even make it more general for various
allergies, like McDonald's has.

Anyway, my advice is to use the list that was posted
here recently for Friendly's and check with their
1-800 number periodically, but don't trust the people
at the resturant.

Debbie

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