Just over a year into her startup journey with Durham-based Allergood, and corporate attorney turned serial entrepreneur Michelle Addison is piloting the technology in restaurants – an app that could be life-saving for allergy sufferers like her.
Addison describes the solution as a QR code where a customer comes into a restaurant, scans the code and creates a profile, noting any allergies and food preferences (IE: vegetarian). The app then filters menus for customers. Allergood hands the data back to the restaurant so chefs can better know their customers and optimize their menus accordingly.
Allergood is a B2B company targeting restaurants. It’s piloting in places such as NanaSteak in Durham.
Addison doesn’t have the background that screams entrepreneur. Instead of tinkering in a garage Bill Gates-style, Addison was poring over books in law school.
Addison is a first-generation Cuban American and, while she says she “always wanted to be an entrepreneur,” traditional expectations were high. Part of it came down to the fact that she was the first in her family to graduate college. There was pressure to be successful – and she rose to the occasion, working as a corporate M&A attorney.
She got married, had kids and built a life alongside her husband, a dentist with his own practice.
But the entrepreneurship itch stayed with her, leading her to found her first company in 2011 – an educational startup in Florida called Tots in Bloom. In 2014, she started South Florida Dental Sleep Center, described on her Linkedin page as a place that treated sleep apnea with custom-made devices.
The startup that would bring her to Durham from Florida came from a health care scare that hit out of nowhere.
Addison, through her children, had been dealing with food allergies for years. They were allergic to dairy, peanuts, tree nuts. Checking labels had become a way of life.
Anaphylaxis hit Addison while she was eating the same pad Thai that had been a staple for years. It turns out – she discovered – adult onset allergies were a thing. In her case, she discovered she was allergic to sulfites – a preservative found in foods. In Europe, many restaurants tag their menus for sulfites – but not typically in the U.S.
“For someone like me, who is a huge foodie, it’s been really tough,” she said. The archaic protocol allergy sufferers currently use – over-explaining to waiters and trying to email restaurants ahead of time – just isn’t efficient.
So Addison decided to start a company. But this time, she realized it would be a bigger effort. Creating a technological solution would require know-how. And it would require capital.
Addison realized she was in over her head so, at nearly 40-years-old, she decided to go back to school, scoring a scholarship to Duke University.
Addison packed up her family in the midst of a pandemic and moved to Durham – where she started both the MBA program and the company that became Allergood.
But it meant sacrifice. Her husband had to give up having his own practice. Going to school full time meant shrinking from two salaries to one – with three kids to worry about.
So far, it’s been a journey Addison would take again.
“Right now we’re exploring some other verticals,” she said. “We’re looking at whether we might want to go into hotels and hospitals.”
The company is also exploring fundraising – working toward its first angel round. To date, Allergood has been bootstrapped. Through grants and prize money, it’s accumulated about $33,000 – but Addison realizes it will take more for the company to reach its potential.
In four weeks, she graduates from Duke – and will be completely full time with the company.
It’s been life changing. In addition to satisfying the entrepreneurial itch, Allergood inspired her move to Durham, she said. And she’s not planning to leave anytime soon.
“It’s home,” she said.