The Branson Landing (Branson, Mo) with Food Allergies

We took a multi-generational family trip to Branson, Missouri in March of 2025. As a family managing many food allergies, eating out involves a lot of preparation and often a backup plan. Thanks to this blog post by Milk Allergy Mom, I had a great head start on ideas of places we could visit! Overall, we found Branson to be very allergy-aware, even if not every location could accommodate all of my kiddo’s allergies. One morning, we decided to wander around the Branson Landing, an outdoor mall area, and we had an amazing time! 

It’s Sugar

I knew from reading Milk Allergy Mom’s blog post on Branson that my little guy would LOVE going to It’s Sugar! While It’s Sugar was not entirely peanut, tree nut, or milk free, due to a Reece’s display and a few other items, my kiddo could eat most of what the store had to offer! Think every kind of brightly colored all sugar candy you can imagine!

Be aware, there are bulk bins of candy, so I would set expectations with your kids ahead of time if this is something you will allow them to buy or not! I admit, I thought about not letting my kiddo get any candy from the bulk bins. This stretched my comfort level just a bit, BUT it was a calculated risk. The Pez and gummy bear bins he was interested in were on the opposite sides of the store from the Reeces display and they had designated scoopers available. Also, my kiddo’s peanut tolerance is higher than many people’s. He has never had a reaction due to cross contact with peanut, so we felt this was an acceptable low-level risk for him and his personal situation. Remember, allergies are highly individualized. We went for it and boy did my little guy LOVE the experience. It was truly the highlight of the trip for him. 

Never fear, for families who do not allow their kids to eat from bulk bins (that has been us in the past, especially on vacation), there were a lot of prepackaged candies and merch items from candy companies, including Oreos. If you avoid food dye though, this is not the store for you. There was nothing healthy and every item I saw contained artificial food dye.

The normalcy of this childhood experience was what truly touched me. It wasn’t about the candy, but about my kiddo enjoying something most kids do all the time. Buying candy.

My little guy’s heart still lies with Haribo gummy bears and his most prized possession of the trip became the stuffed red gummy bear he got as a souvenir. I admit, I was glad we give our kids a budgeted amount of money to use on souvenirs and special snacks the entire trip because this little guy spent 75% of his money in this one store. He has zero regrets about his purchases though. Note: most Haribo products have a “may contain: milk” warning on them. This is ok with my kiddo’s personal situation, including how far he is up the milk ladder.

Mellow Mushroom

I have heard so many amazing things about Mellow Mushroom from Facebook groups over the years, but we have never been to one. Usually, I scout out restaurants far in advance, but I didn’t think we were going to eat out for lunch this day. I spoke to the manager at Mellow Mushroom and he was fabulous! He brought out the master ingredient/allergy binder and thoroughly answered all my allergy-related questions. We ultimately determined they could serve my kiddo a burger or a vegan pizza made with Follow Your Heart vegan cheese. Two separate choices almost never happens for him at restaurants! 

Under normal circumstances, my son would have been SO excited to have two meal options at a safe restaurant. This was an unusual vacation for us though. He just passed his baked cheese challenge allowing him to eat limited amounts of cows milk cheese, instead of vegan cheese. Strangely enough, on this trip, he HAD to eat some pizza each day for treatment purposes, but was not cleared to eat pizza from a restaurant just yet. Also he had already eaten a burger at Silver Dollar City the day before. Due to these strange circumstances, my kiddo decided he would rather eat the tuna salad I packed. He chose to tag along with us to Guy’s Kitchen and Bar, Guy Fiere’s restaurant, and see if they could serve him, but anticipated eating his tuna salad instead. We would be thrilled to go back to Mellow Mushroom and try out their amazing allergy-friendly menu when my kiddo is further up the milk ladder and cleared to eat pizza at a restaurant! 

Kettle Creek Popcorn and More (Peanut Oil)

Peanut warning: Popcorn is often a safe treat for my kiddo. When I saw Kettle Creek Popcorn and More, I popped in very quickly to see if they would have a safe snack for my kiddo. It didn’t take more then a second or two to realize it wasn’t a good fit for us that day. Right as I opened the door, I could see a sign stating “popcorn made with peanut oil” on the counter by the cash register. I was THRILLED to see such clear labeling of allergy-related information! YAY for transparency. My kiddo has a higher tolerance for a few of his allergies, specifically peanut and milk. Despite my knowledge that refined oils are typically safe for people with allergies, I have a personal rule about not trying new higher risk foods on vacation. While I intend to have my kiddo try foods made with refined peanut oil, a vacation is not where we will try it the first time. We skipped Kettle Creek Popcorn this day, but may return in the future.

Branson Arcade City

My kiddo received a $5 game card to Arcade City from Guy’s Kitchen and Bar. (See my detailed review here) He was So excited, as we hadn’t planned on going to the arcade. Even though, $5 goes quickly at an arcade, my little guy earned some tickets. I was impressed with the number of more allergy-friendly options. Almost everything was cheap trinkets and toys with many allergy-friendly items like Dum Dums. Of the items available, only a few were not safe for my kiddo, due to added milk, like tootsie rolls. He ended up with a Dum Dum and a small roll of Smarties. Not bad for a “free” trip to the arcade. 

My only reservation about going to the Branson Arcade is that there was a strong air freshener scent throughout the entire storefront. This is probably not notable to the average person, but due to my family’s allergies and asthma, we are very in tuned to fragrances as well. Even though I was aware of the scent in the air, it didn’t seem to bother my husband or son in the 10 minutes it took my kiddo to use up his entire game card. 

My son has never gotten more than minor contact rashes from touching things like video games in an arcade. If your child is very sensitive to trace contact with allergens, wiping games off before use with a wet wipe is a great way to mitigate this! 

The Landing:

We loved our time at the Landing and would love to go bath again. Next time, we will anticipate staying longer and eating a meal, allowing us to plan the entire day a little better. We actually missed the hourly fountain show, which was one thing I had really been looking forward to. The fountain show happens on the hour starting at noon during warmer months, and is one of the few free things in Branson that you you should want work into your trip! I hope our review helps you plan your trip to Branson! Checkout our other Branson, Mo related blog posts as I get them up!

See my other Branson related posts here: