Brittany and Patrick Mahomes' allergy project approves first KC restaurant

Patrick Mahomes and Brittany Mahomes (Instagram)

Brittany Mahomes has spent years turning her family’s personal experience with food allergies into practical support for other families, and that work is now producing a visible change in Kansas City restaurants.

In 2023, she helped launch a GivingTuesday fundraising match campaign with FARE, the Food Allergy Research and Education organization, raising more than $200,000 for food allergy programs. The following year, she and Patrick Mahomes’ 15 and the Mahomies Foundation formalised its commitment by partnering with FARE to create 15 and FARE, an initiative designed to make dining out, community food access, and everyday life safer for people living with food allergies. That initiative has now reached an important milestone. Joe’s KC has become the first Kansas City area restaurant recognised under the 15 and FARE program, with all of its locations receiving the designation, according to KCTV5. Customers can look for a “15 and FARE approved” sign at the restaurant, a signal that staff have completed extensive training and that the kitchen follows specific procedures to reduce the risk of accidental allergen exposure. For families who often approach restaurant menus with anxiety, the recognition represents more than a plaque on a door. It is an attempt to make a routine meal feel safer and more predictable. Read on for more details about it here:

A personal mission becomes public action

The Mahomes family’s involvement is deeply personal. Brittany and Patrick Mahomes have two children with severe peanut allergies, and Brittany has spoken openly about the constant vigilance that food allergy families carry with them.

In materials shared by FARE, she described food allergy as a life threatening disease that requires constant attention, noting that it affects 33 million Americans, including her own family.

Her experience as a parent navigating emergency room visits, daily precautions, and the fear of an unexpected reaction has become central to the public face of the initiative.

Patrick and Brittany Mahomes with their 3 kids. (Instagram)

That personal connection helped fuel earlier charitable work.

During GivingTuesday in 2023, Brittany Mahomes and OWYN, a brand known for protein shakes free of the top nine allergens, launched a fundraising match campaign for FARE. The campaign raised more than $200,000, and FARE later honoured Brittany with its FARE Champion Award at the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation Gala in Kansas City. FARE CEO Sung Poblete said at the time that Brittany’s willingness to share her family’s story had inspired thousands of food allergy patients and their families to keep fighting.The partnership announced in November 2024 took that fundraising momentum and turned it into a structured community program. 15 and FARE brings FARE Neighborhoods and FARE’s Food Allergy Academy training to the Kansas City area. The goal is not simply to raise awareness, but to equip restaurants, food banks, pantries, school staff, and community health workers with the knowledge and systems needed to respond appropriately when someone has a food allergy.

What 15 and FARE requires from restaurants

Food allergy (Representative image)

Becoming a 15 and FARE Restaurant Partner is not a symbolic endorsement. According to FARE, participating restaurants must train 90 percent or more of their food service staff, conduct monthly on site audits for three consecutive months, create a written food allergy management policy if they do not already have one, and demonstrate allergen transparency on their menus. Recognition is valid for one year, which means restaurants must maintain their standards rather than treat approval as a one time achievement.The program is free for restaurants in Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. FARE provides training and resources to businesses of all sizes, removing a major barrier for smaller restaurants that may want to improve allergen safety but lack the internal expertise or budget to build a program from scratch. Families dining out are encouraged to look for the “15 and FARE Restaurant Partner” logo as an indication that the business has met the program’s requirements.At Joe’s KC, the impact of the training was immediate. Front of house manager Lane Dougherty told KCTV5 that the process was an eye opener, particularly in showing how even a tiny amount of an allergen can affect a person. The restaurant’s allergen list has expanded to two pages, identifying which menu items contain which allergens and flagging ingredients produced in facilities that handle allergens. The list covers wheat, gluten, milk, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, shellfish, MSG, and sesame.

Strict kitchen rules behind the recognition

The practical changes at Joe’s KC illustrate why formal training matters. When a customer mentions an allergen, the request is passed to a staff member at the front counter, who communicates with the sandwich maker or kitchen team. That employee then changes gloves and cutting boards before preparing the order. The restaurant also uses separate fryers, keeping breaded items on one side and gluten free items on the other.

These are small operational details, but they can make the difference between a safe meal and a dangerous exposure.The restaurant’s experience also shows how hidden allergens can appear in familiar dishes. KCTV5 reported that Joe’s KC barbecue beans contain Worcestershire sauce, which includes shellfish and soy. That kind of detail is easy for a customer to miss and difficult to identify without clear staff training and transparent menu information.

Dougherty said more customers are now asking questions, and staff are able to provide useful answers rather than uncertainty.For Brittany Mahomes, that shift in everyday restaurant culture appears to be the point. When the 15 and FARE partnership was announced, she said the goal was to ensure Kansas City families have access to the resources they need to manage food allergies confidently and safely. She emphasised that the work is not only about awareness, but about being ready to act.

Patrick Mahomes added that food allergy reactions can happen at any time and in any place, and that families should not have to face those struggles alone.

A broader effort for Kansas City

Joe’s KC may be the first recognised restaurant, but it is unlikely to be the last. The 15 and FARE initiative is part of FARE’s larger Neighborhoods effort, which was created to reduce inequities in access to care, support, and resources for people with food allergies in marginalised communities.

In other areas where the initiative has operated, FARE reported a 25 percent increase in families visiting an allergist and a 38 percent increase in epinephrine prescriptions, alongside improved confidence among food allergic individuals in managing their condition.Kansas City is the seventh FARE Neighborhood, and the local rollout includes training for community food banks and pantries as well as restaurants.

FARE and 15 and the Mahomies have also hosted public education events, including a 2026 back to school event featuring an allergen free lunch demonstration, expert panel discussions, health screenings, and family activities. The initiative also includes access to FARE’s free online course, “Save a Life: Recognising and Responding to Anaphylaxis.

”The first approved restaurant gives the program a concrete example of what success can look like. It shows that allergen safety can be built into daily kitchen routines, staff communication, menu transparency, and customer service. More importantly, it offers families in Kansas City something they often struggle to find: a clearer sense of where they can eat with greater confidence.