Hidden Gems: Meet Tristan Tierce of Allergy Voyage

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Tristan Tierce.

Hi Tristan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Tristan Tierce, and I am a senior at Arizona State University in Barrett, the Honors College, pursuing concurrent degrees in Business Entrepreneurship and Art Studies.

I moved to Tempe in the Fall of 2020 from Parker, Texas, where my family still lives today. ASU has provided me with phenomenal resources that I have been incredibly fortunate to utilize, assisting in the expansion of my creative and professional career.

Since I was younger, I have always enjoyed creating artwork in various mediums. As I grew, I gained a deep desire to pursue my creativity with an understanding that I needed to find sustainable ways to do so in which I could still support myself financially. During my senior year of high school, I formed my first business, AllenT, a small clothing brand that was the first gap between my creative and business interests.

Through this experience, I learned that I wanted to continuously expand my business expertise and utilize my creativity in a professional environment, which led me to Arizona State University. Since my freshman year at ASU, I have been involved in the Venture Devils program, which has enabled me to grow my pitching and entrepreneurial skills and given me the foundation to develop my current business, Allergy Voyage.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Many of the obstacles that have presented themselves throughout my life have ultimately served as motivation and inspiration for my current endeavors. I had my first allergic reaction when I was ten months old. The reaction sent me and my anxious parents to the emergency room and, in the following years, to many more hospitals across the country.

I was then diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis (EOE) when I was four years old, an inflammatory upper respiratory disease that made dining in restaurants difficult, in partnership with my equally severe food allergies. My experience changed once entering university, as moving out of state removed the backbone of my parents and forced me to navigate dining halls and cramped dorm rooms that were filled with cross-contamination.

During my sophomore year at Arizona State University, I first imagined Allergy Voyage while attempting to plan how I would travel abroad with no experience in the local food culture of a foreign country. I was entirely unsure if I would be able to translate the needs of my severe food allergies or if other cultures would have stronger or weaker food safety practices.

This question led me to heavily research current offerings, opening my perspective to the lack of comprehensive local resources for diners with dietary restrictions. My personal experiences with severe food allergies and desire to help others with similar pain points consistently motivated me to continue expanding the project and provide “concierge-based” local resources for users like me through Allergy Voyage.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Allergy Voyage hosts restaurant menus for users with food allergies to view, allowing them to feel safer and confident when dining while simultaneously increasing restaurant revenue.

When a user logs in to our website, they have the ability to filter menus based on their dietary restrictions. From that point, they are able to discover allergens that are present in restaurant menus, save menus to their account for future reference, and explore local restaurants that are able to accommodate their dietary needs. While Allergy Voyage is currently expanding in Tempe and Phoenix, our goal is to expand our concierge-based offering across the United States, allowing seamless travel experiences for individuals with food allergies.

On the restaurant side, we provide highly rated allergy accommodating locations with an account that allows them to update and alter menu items and allergens as needed. Our offering encompasses services and training for restaurants to participate in, introducing them to safer practices when handling consumers with food allergies, helping to not only improve allergen handling but also increase restaurant revenue and the repeated dining of consumers.

Allergy Voyage aims to increase diner safety and confidence through the increased awareness of allergen information in combination with our other concierge-based offerings. As the founder and CEO of Allergy Voyage, I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made within the past three years during my time at ASU.

I am thankful for my team, Jonathan Janosky and Jarrod Searle, and I hope to widen our offering while continuously providing the allergy community with quality information and simultaneously benefiting restaurants.

Before we go, can you talk to us about how people can work, collaborate, or support you?
I am always open to growing my connections in the Phoenix startup community and within the restaurant industry. If you are a restaurant or know of a restaurant that would be interested in Allergy Voyage, please reach out to us!

We would love to expand your user base and help your location learn more ways to be accommodating to diners with dietary restrictions while promoting your restaurant as effectively as possible. Our ultimate goal is to make dining safer for people with food allergies, so any connections or insights from individuals with allergies are always appreciated – I would love to connect with anyone that is interested in our work!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://allergyvoyage.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allergyvoyage/?next=%2F
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555764092821
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tristan-allen-tierce
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/allergyvoyage
• Other: https://tristantierce.com/
  Email: concierge@allergyvoyage.com

Image Credits
Tristan Tierce and Cassie English