A:

Items that are spicy should only be tagged when specifically marked by the restaurant with a symbol representing spice or if the word "spicy" is purposefully separated in order to indicate spice.

As you can see in the above example, this restaurant is using the symbol of a chili pepper to show that anything marked with this symbol is spicy.

Do not tag an item as "spicy" just because it has the word "spicy" in the title or description. Look for a distinct symbol or if the item has separated the word "spicy" from the general description and put it below like this:

Item: Sizzling Hot Pot
​Description: Prepared with a simmering pot of soup stock at the dining table, containing a variety of East Asian foodstuffs and ingredients.
**Spicy

This is an example of an item that says "Spicy" in the title --- but since there is no specific indicator that it should be tagged as spicy, it should not be tagged:

You can tag items as "vegetarian", "vegan", or "gluten-free" if specifically indicated in the description or next to the item with a symbol. Do tag an item as "vegetarian", "vegan", or "gluten-free" if it says so in the description.

As you can see in the above example, this restaurant is using the symbol of a carrot to show that anything marked with this symbol has the option to be vegetarian.

As you can see in the above and below example, these items do not have any symbols --- but do explicitly state that they are either "vegetarian" or "vegan". Therefore, YES, you may tag them accordingly.

What is lactose? Lactose is a sugar present in milk that some humans have issues digesting, otherwise known as being "lactose intolerant". Being lactose intolerant means you have difficulty digesting any foods with dairy (milk, yogurt, cream, butter, ice cream, cheese, etc.).

If the restaurant indicates that an item on the menu has "no lactose", you may tag the item as "LACTOSE_FREE".
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Note that lactose free does not necessarily mean dairy-free because lactose-free products are still made from dairy.

Unless lactose-free products, dairy-free products do not contain dairy (milk, yogurt, cream, butter, ice cream, cheese, etc.) at all.

Most restaurants will mark items containing nuts on their menus and let you know how they are choosing to indicate them. In this example, the restaurant let us know at the bottom that they are using a black diamond to indicate tree nuts.

Some restaurants may only give one precaution at the top of the menu that items on their items may contain nuts or have come into contact with nuts---but they don't use symbols on any items. In this case, you do not need to tag every item on menu with nuts. Adding this precaution to each category description will suffice.

You also do not need to tag items that explicitly say there are nuts present. These items are obvious enough that a tag is not necessary.

Example:

You do not need to tag the items Massaman Curry or Cashew Nut since it is obvious that there are nuts in those foods.

All alcoholic drinks on wine, cocktail, and bar menus should be tagged with the "alcohol" tag.

You do not need to tag food items that may indicate they have alcohol in them---only alcoholic drinks.

Tagging all the alcohol is helpful for our data and our client data so we can quickly identify menus or items that should be flagged a not sellable to those under the drinking age.

This tag can be used to indicate popular items, top rated, etc. Some menus come with a section specifically for the most popular items---these popular items should not be transcribed twice if they already exist elsewhere on the menu. But, you should find them on the menu and tag them as "favorite".

If the items aren't organized into their own category, the restaurant will often include a little symbol or word that indicates "favorite" or "popular".

The following tags were created specifically for our client teams to use. If you are not part of our clients' teams you may disregard these:

If you come across a symbol that we do not have in our system, please write it in the description of the item.

This menu has a "caffeine free" symbol. We do not have a "caffeine free" tag, so you should add it to the description, like so:

Item: Green Tea
Price: $3.00 Medium
Description: Caffeine free.