Anita Jones-Mueller, M.P.H., president and founder of Healthy Dining, a nutrition-related marketing and consulting firm, interviews Dan Barash, executive chef at Moe’s Southwest Grill, about the chain’s commitment to offering healthy, family-friendly food.
The interview has been edited for length, and the full story can be seen at Healthy Dining’s Restaurant Nutrition News & Insights.
Congratulations, Dan. The United Fresh Produce Association honored you for your creative and influential use of fresh produce at Moe’s Southwest Grill. That is really exciting!
Yes, we were thrilled to receive the award. At Moe’s, we take great pride in our food and high quality ingredients. We offer a lot of fresh produce, which is an important component in our food mission.
Tell us more about your mission.
Our food mission is all about flavor and nutrition with fresh, quality ingredients as the cornerstone. Healthier food has always been the focus of our brand, and we see this mission as a living and breathing project that evolves based on customer expectations.
I like your food mission wheel. Tell us more about Moe’s cornerstone ingredients.
Our food wheel describes our mission. Our steak is 100% grass-fed with no hormones added, and we use organic tofu and all-white chicken breast. Our pork is grain-fed and hormone and steroid free. Our sour cream is all-natural with no rBGH hormones, and is lower in fat. In 2010, we also added the whole-grain tortilla option to the menu in both the 10” and 12” size. Our whole-grain tortilla options now account for 30% of sales, and that number continues to grow.
I know you have some really great Healthy Dining-approved choices featured on HealthyDiningFinder.com. What other steps does Moe’s take to provide healthier choices?
We have a loyal vegetarian following, thanks to our variety of vegetarian options and the fact that we have a separate grill dedicated to the vegetarian options. All of our food is free of trans fats and MSG, and we never use a microwave. We also offer over 20 fresh gluten-free ingredients for those who are gluten sensitive.
How about salt? Our dietitians told me that you’ve made some impressive reductions in your sodium levels.
Yes, we’re also very proud of the fact that we’ve reduced sodium on our menu board by 50% over the last two and a half years, which something that more and more Americans are tracking in their diet. We did this by adjusting recipes, replacing salts with natural enhancers, using low-sodium sea salt and simply decreasing salt.
That is impressive. How about calories and menu labeling?
We know how important nutrition is to our guests just by looking at our website analytics. The third highest clicked page on our website is our nutrition page, after the home page and the menu page.
Eight years ago, we launched an easy-to-use nutrition calculator on our website, long before the availability of nutrition information was such a hot topic, and we are preparing to post our calories nationwide in the near future. We offer a low-calorie menu with less cheese and no sour cream options. We are also looking at ways that we can reduce calories in some or all of our items, but we won’t make any changes that compromise the taste that our customers love.
I know that you have a young child, so you know how important it is to families to have a place they love to eat. How does Moe’s ensure that it’s a favorite among families?
We are very family-oriented. We serve food that makes the whole family happy. We offer a variety of healthful options on our kids’ menu. And, to add a little more fun, our kids’ meals are served on Frisbees to promote a fun way to exercise.
