Companies are using technology to provide nutritional information to consumers. According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), 76 percent of adults say they are trying to eat healthier at restaurants than they did two years ago. As a result, they are seeking out more nutritional information for menu items at area restaurants. Using such technology as Web sites, text messaging, and point-of-sale systems, quick-serve restaurants are delivering on that demand.
For those consumers who rely heavily on their cell phones, Diet.com launched Nutrition on the Go in February. With this service, customers send in a text message with a restaurant name and menu item and receive a return message containing the item’s calorie count, fat grams, and carbohydrate amount. “We found a need among the Diet.com users to have information available to make healthy decisions when dining out and when they are too busy to plan ahead,” Nutrition on the Go Marketing Director Meredith Oliver says. “With most consumers using cell phones today, this is a great tool that is available to anyone using a cell phone.”
The free service accesses information from up to 1,700 national and local eateries, but the nutritional information is not provided directly by the restaurants. Instead, Diet.com obtains the information from a variety of public sources, including the USDA Nutritional Database, restaurant Web sites, and various books on the topic.
While some restaurants have contacted the Web site expressing interest in becoming directly involved with the service, many more are not familiar with Nutrition on the Go.
Burger King spokesman Keva Silversmith says he hasn’t heard of the service, but Burger King applauds any effort to relate nutritional information to consumers. “We believe strongly in educating our consumers so we advocate any service that makes this information readily available,” he says.
Working in tandem with the NRA, Healthy Dining in
Restaurants, which pay a fee to be a part of the program, provide all the information, and it can be updated as often as the business likes. “[Our team] has a huge commitment to making this program a really outstanding tool for consumers and restaurants,” says Erica Bohm, vice president and director of strategic partnerships for Healthy Dining. “It’s really a win-win. Nobody loses with this.”
In fact, Healthy Dining nutritionists will even work with restaurants to identify the four to six healthy menu options, as well as help them publicize their affiliation with the Web site via press releases, on-site window stickers, and Web site logos.
To advertise both the Web site and its participating restaurants, HealthyDiningFinder.com offers a free, bi-weekly e-newsletter along with a healthy recipe from a participating restaurant. The company also is looking into making the Web site accessible on mobile phones later this year.
Another such service is the Nutricate Receipt System, which provides order-specific nutritional information directly on the customer receipt at the time of the order. Founded in 2004 by Jay Ferro, the system satisfies both customers’ desire for nutritional information and regulatory requirements for disclosure.
Each receipt includes the calorie count, total fat grams, and carbohydrate and protein amounts for each menu item ordered. In addition, it shows the recommended daily value percentages of the nutrients based on both a 2,000- and 2,500-calorie diet.
Many restaurants also provide comprehensive nutritional information via their own Web sites, in-store posters, brochures, and tray liners. Some take it a step further, offering additional educational tools to customers. For example, Taco Bell maintains a nutritional calculator on its Web site, where users can enter their specific menu items and get the total nutritional information.
While each service reaches its clientele in different ways, Sheila Weiss, director of nutrition policy for the NRA, says this multipronged approach is beneficial for everyone involved. “A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t fit all of our customers,” she says. “All of these [services] reach all audiences. It really is a benefit to the consumer. Finding new and innovative ways to get this information to consumers is great.”
Although incorporating one of these services into your offerings is voluntary, many states, counties, and cities are trying to implement mandatory menu-labeling laws requiring restaurants to list a variety of nutritional information on menuboards. Both Seattle and New York City have passed such regulations, with more than 20 others pending around the country in cities including Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia and in states such as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont.
The New York State Restaurant Association even filed in federal district court to strike down the city’s measure. Further controversy arose from the filing’s affidavit by Dr. David B. Allison, president-elect of the Obesity Society, who stated that “labeling might deter over-eating but might not and, in fact, might be harmful.”
Most recently Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced federal legislation in March to extend the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act to food sold at restaurants with more than 20 locations. The law would require chains to list the nutritional information of all its menu items and would even apply to vending machine fare.
Oliver says she hopes Nutrition on the Go will impact how the regulations are played out. “With potential mandates for restaurants to include nutritional information on menus, we hope we may be a viable alternative to this legislation that is threatening restaurants in several states,” she says.
Since it appears the desire for full disclosure of nutritional information—by both consumers and legislators—doesn’t seem to be fading any time soon, expect to see more tools and services develop in the future.
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