NEW YORK —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Though consumers have supported calorie disclosure in restaurants and have claimed to make healthful eating decisions, restaurant receipts in New York tell a different story. With few exceptions, high-calorie items are as popular as ever, say operators from such grab-and-go outlets as Au Bon Pain and Jamba Juice and full-service chains like Applebee’s and The Capital Grille. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
The news may serve as a crystal ball of sorts for operators elsewhere in the country who are pondering the possible effects of future menu-labeling initiatives in their own communities. Since New York City’s regulations went into effect last summer, a number of other states and municipalities have followed suit, and support for a nationwide menu-labeling standard negotiated between the restaurant industry and consumer advocates now is gaining traction in Washington. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“This is something that we’ve been looking at very closely,” says Kim Larson, vice president of marketing at Jamba Juice, based in Emeryville, Calif., which has 499 company-owned stores and 233 franchised units. “With New York being the first market, it was very important to know what impact this could have on our business,” Larson says, describing Jamba’s 20 locations in the city as “a little test lab.” —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Jamba’s sales figures showed little change in behavior, she says. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“With the exception of two skews of more highly indulgent menu items, where we may be seeing a slight decrease, it is not even large enough to know if it is significant or not,” Larson says. The reason for sales declines can be difficult to attribute entirely to calorie data since deviations may be the result of the economy, seasonal changes or new product launches. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
In the past year, Boston-based Au Bon Pain expanded its line of Portions dishes, which all weigh in at 200 calories or fewer, but sales have remained consistent at the chain’s 20 New York City stores, says Willy Nicolini, senior vice president of operations and an owner. As for its higher-calorie items, the only drop in sales was brief and occurred immediately after the calorie listings debuted. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“At first, baked-goods sales were a little lower, but that just lasted a couple weeks,” Nicolini says. “Our customers are pretty savvy.” —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Applebee’s franchisee Zane Tankel, echoed the sentiment. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“There is no difference whatsoever on product mix,” says Tankel, chairman and chief executive of Apple-Metro Inc. in Harrison, N.Y., which has 35 Applebee’s restaurants in New York City and New York’s Westchester and Rockland counties. “And we micromanage our restaurants pretty well. We really go through this stuff.” —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
The menu-labeling mandates effect on buying behaviors was also minimal at other casual-dining brands. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“We really haven’t seen any significant shifts in ordering patterns,” says Mike Bernstein, director of media and communications of the specialty restaurant group at Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants. The division includes such brands as The Capital Grille and Seasons 52. New York City has two Capital Grilles, the second of which opened just a couple months ago. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Formal studies by academics and nutrition experts seem to support operators’ evidence. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“My understanding of the research findings so far show not everybody is looking at calories,” says Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University in New York City and author of “Food Politics” and “What to Eat.” —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Of those people who do read caloric listings and say they are cutting calories, their behavior doesn’t support that, she says. “The cash register receipts don’t show” that diners typically are cutting calories at fast-food restaurants, Nestle says. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Everybody lies when it comes to matters of calories, she adds. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Studies of ordering patterns in New York City restaurants are unpublished or in peer review, Nestle says. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
However, one chain, Le Pain Quotidien, reports that ordering habits were influenced by calorie displays. Specifically, the chain’s vice president of food, beverage and brand, Jack Moran, reports that calorie disclosure has made this New York-based chain more profitable. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
For example, the Atlantic salmon tartine—an open-faced sandwich with organic wheat bread and dill, which comes in at 350 calories and $13.95—was always “the plain Jane of the pack,” Moran says. “As soon as the calories were listed, that migrated to be our No. 1 seller, and it gives me the most gross margin dollars.” —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Close analysis revealed that high-calorie items became slower sellers and lower-calorie dishes rose to best sellers, Moran says. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“Everything was completely turned upside down,” he says. “Calories drive everything. I have analysts who do nothing but crunch data.” —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
The chain was so delighted with the response from consumers at the 17 New York City locations it voluntarily posted calories in all 37 U.S. locations, Moran says. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“That was the honeymoon period,” he says. “Subsequently people from L.A. and Washington, were saying: ‘Why are you giving me this information? I don’t want to hear it. This is way too scientific for me. Don’t hit me over the head with it.’” —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Now Moran says his chain is in the process of removing the listings at unregulated locations in Washington and Los Angeles, where the majority of the chain’s non-New York stores are located. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Back in New York, operators also have made use of the exemptions and loopholes built into New York’s regulations. Daily features and specials that aren’t listed on the regular menu are excused from the calorie-posting requirement, for example. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
The Capital Grille is among the many chains that take advantage of that exception. Bernstein says the chain chooses not to voluntarily disclose calorie counts on items not covered by the city’s regulation because of the expenses associated with lab analysis. So Capital Grille does not disclose the calories for some items, such as macaroni and cheese with lobster. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
The Houston’s chain has taken another approach and avoids disclosing calorie counts on the menus at its two New York locations. The company rebranded its two Manhattan units with the name Hillstone. Brands with fewer than 15 locations are not required to disclose any nutritional numbers. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Though menus now refer to the restaurants as Hillstone, the stores’ signs still say Houston’s and at least one person answering the phone there called it “Houston’s.” —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
A receptionist at one of those locations reported that the parent company, Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hillstone Restaurant Group, changed the name “so they can offer seasonal menu items” exclusively in New York City. But when asked for calorie listings, that receptionist said her company is not required to divulge them. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Yet even when calorie counts are offered to diners consistently, they’re largely ineffective without consumer education, one nutrition expert says. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Fabienne Volel, a recent graduate of New York University who holds a master of science degree in nutrition, analyzed consumers’ purchasing in New York City fast-food chain restaurants for her master’s thesis. Volel also is a temporary employee of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the organization that passed the menu-labeling initiative. For her thesis she studied “whether the availability of calorie information would influence fast-food consumers’ ordering behavior,” and found 47 percent of the 69 people interviewed said calorie listing influenced their purchase. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“But I don’t believe it is that high,” Volel says, after actually watching if people ate what they said they ordered. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
They often did not. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Calorie consideration was the second least popular reason for picking a dish, according to Volel’s study, which found that only 10 percent of the respondents chose what they ate because of calorie content. The primary reason dishes were picked was taste preference, according to 71 percent who were polled. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“In lower-income areas, barely 15 percent were looking at the data,” Volel adds. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Additionally, most people were unaware of how many calories are recommended, she found. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“Calorie information on menu boards influence [the] ordering behavior of those who are interested in their health, but overall it is not useful for the general public who do not know the amount of calories they should be eating,” she says. “More education is needed.” —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
Applebee’s Tankel expects significant changes in diners’ eating and buying habits to happen gradually. —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
“People who grew up eating fried foods don’t change because you put a calorie count on a menu,” he says. “Their kids may change. But you know a big country like ours takes a long time to move either way.”— [email protected] —One year after New York City officials began requiring that chain restaurants display calories on menus, operators and nutrition experts alike say the data’s impact on ordering habits has been minimal.
