Question #2 September 2014
Pretend you are the RD for a food establishment, how would you present nutrition information on your menu for the consumers to increase the selection and consumption of healthier options?
posted by Unknown @ 11:59 AM
18 comments
18 Comments:
Interesting question. There would be a lot of marketing technique that would fit into this. I would push for larger portions of vegetables. I would also put the information in several different places. On the menus, on a menu board displayed at the front of the restaurant and online. I think this is most important because people need to have this information staring them in the face.
Very interesting, and thoughtful, question indeed. I would definitely use my resources electronically just like Jess. I would use the restaurant's webpage online to my advantage and also ensure that my nutrition information is easily viewed from mobile devices as we know that many people use their phones on the go and may use such a device to look up nutrition information to decide where to go/what to get.
I would probably do something similar to what Denny's does and ensure that all of my foods that meet certain criteria are advertised as such on the menu through the use of either symbols or by just listing (either with a heading or with information to the side) the fact that the product is high protein, low fat, low sodium etc. I would then have a blurb on the menu defining how we define low sodium and all of that by saying like "All items designated as low sodium, indicated by "X" symbol, have less than 400mg (<17% RDI) per serving." or, all items listed as "high protein" have 20 or more grams of protein per serving etc. This would allow us to not have to make everything look jumbled on the menu.
To determine which of those above options I'd use, e.g. symbols or just text, I'd pilot test my menus and ask for customer feedback. Plain and simple, if customers can't read it or understand it (and let's be honest, when people are hungry, they aren't usually that patient and probably don't want to have to search near and far for healthy stuff or whatever their looking for), then it's not effective. Consumer feedback would play a huge role in my menu labeling, not to mention the menu selection, for any restaurant that I'm a part of.
I would create a set of standards and use icons to identify meals that meet those standards. I believe several chain restaurants do this, and actually use it as part of their marketing. Applebees, for example, has a group of entrees (“Have It All”) that are under 550 calories. They further identify some of those meals with the Weight Watcher’s endorsed logo. Additionally, they offer tips and substitutions to improve the healthiness of a meal, which I also think is a good idea.
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I like Jeanne's idea of having tips and substitutions on menus alongside what Arthur said regarding interpretive nutrition labeling and letting the customer know what those symbols or texts mean. I definitely think having things online and mobile accessible is beneficial in this day and age. Great ideas everyone!
FYI: The comments that were deleted by author was just the previous comment I had posted. It accidentally posted 3 times so I deleted the other two.
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I agree with Jessica that pushing the vegetables in meals would be a great place to start. The symbols are a great way to make it easy for customers to identify what foods meet their diet. Also, making a category for the healthy options on the menu would be helpful. As an RD I would love to put at least the calorie count on the menu since obesity is so prevalent. Making detailed menus available with more nutritional values an option may be another strategy for people who are interested.
I agree with Jeanne's idea of coming up with a set of icons that are standardized and can be used on the menu to let customers know which items fit within certain criteria. I think this would be very helpful in letting people know which items the RD approves of for different criteria. Also, offering options that are easily switched out for unhealthier items (aka: a side salad instead of french fries) would help in the fast food environment. Finally, making sure the items are priced reasonably to help get rid of the perception that healthy foods are expensive might encourage more consumption of these healthy options.
More and more customers are demanding that resturants be open about their food. They want to know where it came from, who has handled it, how was it processed, and the nutrition profile. I think consuemers are behind us on this one. They want to know.
I agree with Jess that consumers are becoming more demanding in wanting to know exactly what it is that they are eating. Restaurants really can't (or at least have a tougher time) get away from some of the things they may have gotten away with in the past (mislabeling their calorie content, ingredients, preservatives etc.) partially because of consumer's generally being more cognizant of what they eat and also because of third party research.
In this month's Men's Health Magazine, there is an article about discrepancies in listed calorie content vs. third party research calorie content in Pizza from Pizza chains (e.g. Pizza Hut, Dominos) and the study found that many types of pizza that the study authors tested were anywhere from 20-70 calories more than what was listed. The biggest culprit was Little Caesar's pizza. They list their "Ultimate Supreme" Pizza as 310 calories per std. slice, when the researchers found it contained 378 per slice.
We've got to remember when we talk to our clients about eating at restaurants that all of the nutrition information is based on an "average" for that particular standardized recipe and that it's not exactly uniform. The cooks don't put the food through a bomb calorimeter before serving to determine the exact number of calories. It can be way off if the cook didn't prepare the item exactly as it's standardized or meant to be prepared. This may sound small, but it can add up over time. Just another thing to think about.
I think just as the article mentioned, using context for nutritional information, like the RDI, helps people to understand what the numbers actually mean. I also think that little symbols on menus to indicate heart healthy or low-calorie/low-fat/low-sodium options would be helpful for people. Personally when I see on a menu something like “dishes under 600 calories,” it makes me wonder how many calories are in the other dishes not listed in that area. I also like what Jeanne mentioned about having a category of healthy options on the menu so that people who are looking for that can find something easily.
I think having the nutrition information as well as icons on a restaurant’s menu would help better explain the numbers and put them into context. This way customers can connect the dots, and then they will be empowered to know that a “low calorie” icon-labeled meal could be 550 calories or less. Then customers will better understand what nutrition information numbers actually mean, and then they can start applying this information in their every day lives and not only when they visit this particular restaurant. This could also help them when reading nutrition information labels at the grocery store. Having icons denoting lower calorie and lower sodium menu items would be more helpful that simply just displaying numbers, because the numbers can be confusing. A customer may not realize what is considered low or high calorie or low or high sodium just by looking at a bunch of numbers.
Also, nutrition information should also be included on the kids’ menu. Many kids’ menus include less healthy foods like chicken fingers, mac and cheese, French fries, etc. For the kids’ menu, I would highlight healthier options like lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables with fun icons like smiley faces to encourage children to choose those foods.
I think Arthur has a great idea about pilot testing his restaurant menu. You could have all the nutrition information for each food displayed, but if it is confusing for customers to read and understand, then they won't utilize it to make healthier choices. Therefore, getting customer feedback about what can be done to increase their understanding of nutrition information of menu items would be helpful.
I think I would go with an informative/interpretive combo on the menu. I love going to Panera and seeing how many calories are in the sandwiches or soups before I order them. I also like when you go somewhere and see that little heart next to an offering. I think there’s definitely a suggestive effect there that makes you feel good when ordering something that has a friendly symbol next to it. Anyway, I think would try getting both on there: calories and symbols. So a low-cal/low-sodium option might have a heart next to it, with calories and sodium. Or a higher-protein, low-fat meal might have kcals, grams of PRO, and then maybe a “muscular arm” symbol. A dish with high omega-3s could have a healthy brain symbol next to it! (<--That’s a great idea, and I’m copyrighting it.) I think we are really more susceptible to that kind of marketing than we realize. And the study seems to back that up, too. It kind of feels good to order something that has a suggestive symbol with it that makes us feel like we made a healthy choice.
Definitely have to agree that the vegetable and healthy sides should be available for substituting in. But why not take it one step further and flip it to make the healthy option the original side with the dish, and it then becomes the customer's choice to swap it out for a less healthy option like fries or mozzarella sticks. Then, it's all the less healthy stuff that's relegated to the bottom of the menu in the "Sides" area, instead of the better options being hidden down there.
I like what Haley said about the calorie count. It made me think about carb counting. I suspect if you have to count carbs, it's very difficult to eat out. It would be interesting to have carb counts on a menu, too. If you had healthy foods with carb counts, you could market the restaurant to diabetics.
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