The Cheesecake Factory Son had severe allergic reaction after warning server he has nut allergy Overland Park Kansas

As is tradition every year, I took my kids to Cheesecake Factory for my 13 year old's birthday. It's his favorite restaurant. When ordering entrees, he wanted the herb crusted salmon. I told the server he has allergies and asked if it contains nuts, to which he responded "I don't think so" and was going to leave it at that. I told him that his allergies are so severe that if he eats nuts he'd need an epi-pen, so could he PLEASE ask the kitchen if it has any nuts. The salmon was fine.

Then we ordered cheesecake and I again made an allergy inquiry about the salted caramel cheesecake but did not specifically ask about the chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake, which he ultimately ordered. Well, that cheesecake has walnuts. My son has never in his life eaten walnuts so he didn't know what they taste or feel like and it was dark so I didn't see them. He went into anaphylactic shock and needed epinepherine.

I called to let the manager know, who seemed concerned. I checked in 24 hours later and inquired what action had been taken to make sure that server now understands the importance of serving food to people with nut allergies and that it can KILL them. He hadn't had time yet (24 HOURS?!?) but it was on his list to do. I am baffled by this reaction. I wonder if he has yet told the employee or if he just doesn't honestly believe it's a big deal. I suppose the odds of it happening again are small so why bother?!?

I would like to reach out to Cheesecake Factory Corporate to let them know they really need to take more action to make sure their servers are taking food allergies seriously. Luckily I was right there with my son and had epinepherine on hand. The next person may not be so lucky.