This is a special message from Mars Foodservice.
Given the way the consumer psyche swings, the patron who orders a better-for-you dish today may have a calorie splurge tomorrow. But whatever the occasion calls for, whether it’s baked chicken, steamed vegetables and brown rice, a Numero Uno deep-dish pizza or something in between, Uno Chicago Grill has options to satisfy the guest.
The chain of 165 casual-dining restaurants, part of Boston-based Uno Restaurant Holdings Corp., is a leader in offering delicious, fresh and healthful menu options for its guests like brown rice, whole-grain pasta and five-grain flatbread pizza crust. At the same time, it maintains a loyal following for the aforementioned Chicago deep-dish pizza, its popular and indulgent signature item, part of a broad and creative menu.
Five years ago, it eliminated artificial trans-fats, long before many other chains addressed the issue. Since then, it has installed nutritional information kiosks in its restaurants, introduced a gluten-free menu and gluten-free pizza crust and created a nutrition advisory board of company officials and prominent Boston physicians. Today, it is quietly reducing the amount of sodium in its food.
Throughout these efforts, Uno has a guiding mantra: “The food has to taste great,” said Christopher Gatto, vice president of food and beverage. “We always look for ways to make our food better for you and make it taste great, whether it’s by an ingredient or a process.”
Uno’s nutritional push began in February 2005 with the arrival of new CEO Frank Guidara. “He was the one who said this is how our food is going to be in five to ten years,” said Gatto.
One of the first tasks was to appraise the menu. “Obviously, there are some things you can’t make healthy, such as the deep dish pizza,” said Gatto. “That is why we introduced the flatbread pizzas as a kind of alter-ego for deep dish.”
The five-grain flatbread crust, one of three crust variations for the pizzas, quickly found a fan base, accounting for 25 percent of total flatbread pizza sales. It was a pleasant surprise for Uno. “You know that whole grains are popular, but I wasn’t expecting it to sell that much,” said Gatto.
Also part of the whole-grain push is a side dish made with Uncle Ben’s brown rice. It first appeared on an LTO menu alongside grilled mahi-mahi and tempura asparagus and sold well enough to stay on the menu. “We cook the brown rice with seasonings, thyme, salt, pepper, sweetened dried cranberries, onions and carrots,” said Gatto. “The cranberries add just a hint of sweetness. It sells quite well for us.”
In addition, there is a traditional rice pilaf made with Uncle Ben’s white rice and chopped peppers. “Again, it’s about options,” said Gatto. “If you want rice pilaf you can have it, or if you want whole-grain brown rice with cranberries, you can have that as well.” The other side dishes run the gamut from steamed or roasted vegetables to French fries, mashed potatoes and skinless bake, which are mashed potatoes with bacon, cheese and sour cream.
While Uno’s does its share of frying, it also menus several dishes made by grilling and baking. An example is Chicken Milanese, a dish that may be pan fried in other kitchens. At Uno’s, the chicken is baked and topped with salad for a much lighter result. “It’s a very popular menu item for us, and I actually think it tastes better,” said Gatto.
Uno’s nutritional upgrades won recognition in 2008 when Health magazine named it America’s Healthiest Chain Restaurant. “We are still trying to get the word out, but we are definitely attracting customers we wouldn’t have in the past,” said Gatto.
Today, the nutritional work continues with sodium reduction, a project that has been quietly underway for a couple of years. “We are doing a stealth reduction, gradually lowering it without telling anyone,” said Gatto. “People associate lower sodium with less taste, but that doesn’t have to be the case. In fact, some people have said that the food tastes better when we cut the salt.”
