Festive menus usually arrive in pubs and restaurants in November, and Christmas party bookings are already coming in. If you have a screen behind the bar or by the door, it is the obvious place to show off your Christmas dishes. New dishes also mean new ingredients, though, so this is a good moment to check how your allergen information works alongside your screens.
This guide covers what the rules expect, where a screen fits in, and how to schedule your festive menu so your usual one comes back on its own in January.
What the allergen rules say
If you serve food that isn't prepacked, such as plated dishes, a carvery or bar snacks, you must give customers allergen information for every item that contains any of the 14 allergens. You can choose how:
- In writing, for example on the menu, an allergen matrix or a booklet.
- Verbally, as long as a written notice in a clearly visible place tells customers how to get the information, such as asking staff.
Either way, the information must be visible, clearly legible and easily accessible, and staff must be trained on allergens. The 14 allergens are cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin and molluscs.
In early 2025 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) published best practice guidance for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The law did not change, but the FSA now recommends that written allergen information is easy to find, ideally without customers having to ask, and backed up by a conversation with staff. The guidance names digital screens alongside paper menus, wall matrices and booklets, and says that where information is digital, there should be another way to get it for anyone who can't use that format.
This is general information, correct at the time of writing (October 2026), and not legal advice. Rules and guidance can change, so check the FSA's allergen guidance for food businesses and its best practice guidance on written allergen information, or speak to your local authority food team. Scotland has its own guidance from Food Standards Scotland.
Where a screen fits in
A menu screen that rotates through slides is great for promotion, but a slide that disappears after ten seconds is not an easy way to read a full allergen breakdown. Treat the screen as a helper rather than the whole system:
- Use it to signpost. A clear line such as "Allergies or intolerances? Please ask our team before you order" on every menu slide makes your notice hard to miss.
- Keep the full detail in writing. A printed allergen matrix or folder at the bar lets anyone read it at their own pace.
- List allergens beside dishes if you show them. Hold any allergen details on screen to the same standard as your printed information.
- Never let the screen and paper disagree. Update both at the same time when a recipe or supplier changes.
Check your festive dishes first
Seasonal menus are where mistakes creep in: a new stuffing, a different gravy, a supplier swap on the mince pies. The FSA guidance recommends keeping ingredient and recipe records, checking regularly whether ingredients have changed, and asking suppliers to tell you when allergens change. Before you design a single slide:
- List every festive dish, side, sauce and dessert.
- Check each ingredient label and record the allergens.
- Update your allergen matrix and printed menus.
- Brief your team on the new dishes, including sauces and garnishes.
- Only then design your screen slides, copying from the checked matrix.
Tip: put the date on your allergen matrix every time you update it. When the festive menu goes live, a quick glance tells your team the version at the bar is the current one.
Design slides people can read
Pubs are busy, lighting is often low, and people read screens from across the room. Keep it simple:
- One dish or one offer per slide, in a large, plain font.
- Strong contrast between text and background, especially if the screen faces a window.
- Leave each slide up long enough to be read twice.
- Avoid flashing or fast-moving effects, which can be uncomfortable for some people.
- Use landscape artwork at full HD (1920 by 1080 pixels) so text stays sharp.
Schedule the switch and forget it
In OrbiSignage you upload your slides, build a playlist with a duration for each item, and hit publish. Screens update over the air in seconds, and media is stored on each screen, so a dropped connection doesn't interrupt playback.
On the paid plans, schedules let you set a start date and an end date, plus the days and times each playlist runs. You could run your festive menu from launch day until early January, with a party bookings slide in quiet afternoons. Outside the dates you set, screens go back to their usual playlist on their own, so the Christmas menu doesn't linger into February. If you run more than one site, you can publish to a single screen, a folder of screens or your whole estate.
Our guide to digital signage for cafés has dayparting ideas that work just as well in a pub, and the knowledge base explains playlists and schedules step by step.
Try it before the festive rush
If you'd rather skip the setup, you can order pre-configured players ready to go behind the bar. To test things first, the Free trial covers up to 3 screens for 7 days with 250MB of storage, shows the OrbiSignage logo on screens, and needs no card. Start it once your festive slides are ready so the week counts. Paid plans are priced per screen: see pricing for details.