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Even McDonald’s can be healthy!

Jul 30, 2010

Healthy eating at McDonald’s is not an oxymoron, says the registered dietitian who oversees nutrition at the company’s 14,000 fast-food restaurants in the United States.

Cindy Goody, U.S. director of nutrition for McDonald’s, concedes nutrition used to be “a dirty word” at McDonald’s, but now the chain is seeking to be a leader in nutrition in the fast-food restaurant industry.

fruit-salad
Goody told Viterbo University dietetic students earlier this month that McDonald’s offers a wide range of balanced choices, which include more healthy options than ever before. McDonald’s has focused more on fruit — 100 percent fruit juice, apple dippers, fruit yogurt parfait and a fruit and walnut salad — along with salads and snack wraps. McDonald’s has reduced the number of calories in kids’ meals by almost one-half. The chain is testing a fruit and apple oatmeal that has 280 calories, and is low in fat and sodium.

Although restaurants have not been required to analyze their food, McDonald’s has provided nutrition information in some form for 35 years. The chain offers nutrition information in brochures, on the package and on the back of tray mats.

Like other restaurant chains with more than 20 locations, McDonald’s must post calorie and nutrition information on menu boards in the next few years as required by rules in the recently passed federal health care law.

In addition to infusing more healthy food, McDonalds is seeking a healthy environment. McDonald’s extensive food safety program selects quality suppliers, implements good manufacturing practices and food tracking. Each restaurant goes through 72 food safety checks each day, she said.

Then there comes McDonald’s ethics and the company’s belief in strong labor laws. Recently, one potential supplier was rejected by McDonald’s because it hired children to pick fruit.

And with McD’s entry into the coffee market in a big way here is a fact most don’t know — McDonald’s serves “fair trade” coffee from Central America and South America.

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Could “skinny” adult beverages be the next big thing?

Jul 25, 2010

adult-skinny-martiniIt’s no surprise that consumer tastes are more on the lighter, healthier side these days. This healthy trend is not just limited to food, however.

I’m sure you’ve seen all the light, low-calorie beer commercials. But now you can get low-calorie “skinny” adult beverages at your favorite restaurants, too. Check out Fleming’s Steakhouse’s new 99 Calorie Summer Cocktail, the “Bikinitini” – a refreshing, citrus martini that’ll keep you guilt-free. According to Fleming’s, “We embraced the challenge of creating a summer cocktail, and we had three criteria. 1) It had to be refreshing, so citrus was a must. 2) It had to be fun and colorful. 3) The real challenge: it had to be under 100 calories.” Even popular restaurants like the Yard House and Cheesecake Factory proudly feature a, “bikini martini” drink.

It is clear that menu choices are beginning to expand to include “skinny” adult beverages to cater to those watching their waistline. In today’s progressively competitive restaurant landscape, it is crucial to identify consumer trends, which really boil down to their own personal concerns – in this example, it is obviously a health issue. Become the restaurant that will accommodate to a wide range of consumer tastes and you will undoubtedly see high guest frequency! Stay tuned as we’ll be keeping you up-to-date on the latest restaurant trends.

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Careful Menu Selections Part 1

Jul 22, 2010

As an informed restaurant owner, you can help customers make healthier choices and still enjoy the convenience of a restaurant. Over the next series of blog posts, we will discuss what restaurant owners can offer both on and off the menu to create healthy choices for guests. This creates a sense of care and concern for your guests as well as keeps profitability higher with patronage of people seeing efforts on their behalf.

Make careful menu selections for your patrons – pay attention to the descriptions on your menu. Dishes labeled deep-fried, pan-fried, basted, batter-dipped, breaded, creamy, crispy, scalloped, Alfredo, au gratin or in cream sauce are usually high in calories, unhealthy fats or sodium. Highlight items with more vegetables and leaner meats.

Encourage patrons to drink bottled water with their meal. Soda is a huge source of hidden calories. One 32-oz Big Gulp with regular cola packs about 425 calories, so one Big Gulp can quickly gulp up a big portion of daily calorie intake. Suggest Iced Tea or bottled water. There can be a profit margin and a healthy choice for the guest. Try adding a little lemon to your water.

Suggest clients “Undress” their food. When choosing items, help customers be aware of calorie and fat packed salad dressings, spreads, cheese, sour cream, etc. For example, if they ask for a grilled chicken sandwich, suggest skipping the mayonnaise. Offer a packet of ketchup or mustard they can add themselves, controlling how much they put on a sandwich.

Don’t be afraid to let them special order. Many menu items would be healthy if it weren’t for the way they were prepared. Ask if vegetables and main dishes can be served without the sauces. Serve olive oil and vinegar for salads or offer the dressing “on the side” and spoon only a small amount on at a time. If your food is fried or cooked in oil or butter, ask if guests prefer to have it broiled or steamed.

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Are we getting too much information about food we order?

Jul 17, 2010

Walk into a restaurant these days and you might be able to check the calorie count of your enchilada, the salt content of your fries, the “heart healthy” status of your steak and — in at least one pioneering restaurant— the carbon footprint of your vegetable lasagna.

 

This is the Information Overload era of the menu as a spreadsheet.

Either by mandate or by choice, more and more restaurants are bombarding diners with calorie counts and loads of other information. The disclosures on menus, menu boards and pamphlets are considered a victory for health advocates who believe informed consumers will somehow make better food choices.

Is it possible to give diners too much information about their food?

A similar nationwide requirement was approved recently as part of health care reform. The Food and Drug Administration has a year to write the rules.

Philadelphia, home of the Philly cheesesteak, goes even further than New York, requiring chain restaurants to list calories on menu boards and additionally, sit-down chains with written menus must also include information on carbohydrates, sodium, saturated fats and trans fats. The narrower federal law will pre-empt local laws, but Philadelphia intends to petition for an exemption.

Maybe the most unique drill-down-deep information is provided by Otarian, a vegetarian restaurant with two locations in Manhattan.

Each item on the menu board is listed alongside its carbon footprint, in kilograms, and the footprint of a similar meat dish. For instance, Otarian figures that 1.38 kilograms of carbon are released to make an order of tacos, compared to 2.43 kilograms for beef tacos. The menu board thus informs taco eaters they have saved the release of 1.05 kilograms of carbon into the atmosphere. (For the record: that’s roughly the same amount of carbon released by driving a car a few miles).

But does any of this make the food healthier? Sadly, probably not.

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The results are in: eager and healthy-conscious diners this summer

Jul 16, 2010

A recent study of 4,600 consumers, conducted by MarketForce, has indicated some new insight into today’s restaurant dining trends. First off, the good news is that consumer confidence with regards to eating out is way up! And even more notable is the fact that consumers are very concerend with eating healthy. Let’s take a look at the numbers and facts:

1)      1 in 4 consumers surveyed said they would eat out more during the summer months – this is up from a mere 5 percent when surveyed in December 2009!

2)      When it came to organic ingredients used by restaurants, 60 percent said this was somewhat important and 79 percent of those polled found locally grown ingredients to be somewhat to extremely important for their meals.

3)      Are nutrition facts like calorie counts important to diners? Absolutely! Actually 45 percent of surveyed stated it was somewhat important whereas 42 percent said this was extremely important.

4)      How important are social media like online reviews when choosing a restaurant? Nearly half of those respondents had consulted an online review in the past 30 days and 13 percent went on to post their own review.

How will this recent study impact your restaurant management decisions?

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UFood Grill Healthy Eating Brand Signs for 10 Airport Locations

Jul 13, 2010

UFood Restaurant Group, Inc. announced that it has signed a Master License agreement with premier travel retailer Hudson Group Retail LLC for the expansion of its UFood Grill concept to 10 additional US airports.

UFood Grill currently operates fast casual restaurants in Boston’s Logan International Airport and the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, two of the busiest airports in the world. The company recently entered into a franchise agreement for a location at Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport.

 

The company slogan is “Feel great. Eat Smart.” They specialize in cuisine that contains “better-for-you” versions of traditional fast food favorites. Offerings include healthy, low-fat dishes made with natural and organic ingredients, fresh produce, whole grains and light cheeses and dressings. All UFood menu items are baked, grilled or steamed; nothing is fried. In addition, nutritional information for each food item is accessible and accurate.

Airports have burgeoning “healthy eating” segments in the Food & Beverage market and UFood is seeking to clearly be on the cutting edge.

Headquartered in Boston, Food Restaurant Group, Inc. is a franchisor and operator of fast-casual food service restaurants. UFood Grill offers healthy lifestyle alternative to consumers in the fast-casual restaurant space and is positioned to become a leading player in the “better-for-you” quick-serve restaurant category. The Company is led by franchise innovator George Naddaff, who founded Boston Market and led the franchising of several companies including Sylvan Learning Center and Ranch 1. Mr. Naddaff has a veteran management team with a successful record in the franchise market. UFood is currently launching a growth plan to franchise nationwide.

Sometimes all it takes is a simple idea right in front of you all the time…or at least every time you run through an airport.

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Taco Bell Chops into the Menu Calories

Jul 11, 2010

While it’s hard to dispute the statement that “fast food is bad food,” we all give in to the need for grabbing a quick bite to eat. Fortunately, many in the fast-food industry have responded to demands for healthier fare, and some restaurants are making it easier to alter existing menu choices.

For example, Irvine, California based Taco Bell restaurants offers customers what it calls a “Fresco-Style” alternative designed to help cut fat and calories but not the flavor. Consumers can substitute fresh Fiesta Salsa (a mild mix of chopped tomatoes, onions and cilantro) for the cheese and sauce found in many of the popular Mexican food chain’s dishes.
“Cutting your calorie and fat intake, combined with an active lifestyle, can increase energy and self-esteem and decrease the chance of obesity and certain diseases,” says registered dietitian Jackie Newgent, a nutritional consultant for Taco Bell.

In a world where consumers rank taste and convenience twice as significantly as eating healthy, a concept such as Fresco Style is essential to promoting a healthy diet without sacrificing taste.

And – for those who refuse to give up fried foods but still want to eat healthy – Taco Bell and other fast-food restaurant chains have responded to a nationwide concern about high levels of trans fat in fast food by switching from partially hydrogenated soybean oil to a zero grams trans fat canola oil.

Someday we might all eat healthier…even at the fast food restaurants.

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Finding Profits In Restaurant Insurance

Jul 09, 2010

Many restaurant operators consider buying insurance a “necessary evil”. You don’t like it, but you know you need it; when a guest or employee files a claim you’re glad you bought that insurance policy. But, how do you know you’ve spent your money wisely?
Our experience in working with restaurant operators has shown us that what you don’t know about business insurance translates to lost profits, for example:

• Insurance companies don’t like to offer restaurant insurance, considering it too risky, so the ones that do offer it charge more – but not to everybody
• The information you supply to your insurance broker is key
• Learning how to avoid common restaurant insurance claims is essential
• At least once a year, taking time to “look under the hood” to evaluate your insurance program could also mean a big difference in what you pay.

Please contact us for more information regarding insurance for your restaurant!

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National Restaurant Association vs Government on Salt

Jul 05, 2010

The restaurant industry, which has been lobbying for voluntary reduction in salt use by consumers, is getting assailed on all sides. The government simply wants to control how your restaurant can prepare its food and how consumers can enjoy it.

“Michael Jacobson, executive director of the CSPI, which has lobbied against trans fats and for menu labeling throughout the restaurant industry, said that the food industry would need regulating in order to successfully reduce the public’s daily sodium intake.”  Read the full article here: http://nrn.com/article/talk-sodium-regulation-boils-over

 

Food for thought

Did you know that the recommended adequate intake amount of sodium per the IOM (Institute of Medicine) is just  1,500 milligrams daily, or just less than 1/2 a teaspoon? 

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Healthy Menu Options for Restaurants

Jul 02, 2010

America has been called a “fast food nation” and for good reason. Everyday, one out of every four Americans eats fast food. A fast food restaurant is often the cheapest option, but unfortunately, not usually the healthiest one. Eating just one fast food meal can pack enough calories, sodium and fat for an entire day, but the quick-and-cheap temptation can be hard to resist.

As an informed restaurant owner, you can help customers make healthier choices and still allow them to enjoy the convenience of a restaurant. Over the next series of blogs, we will discuss what restaurant owners can offer both on and off the menu to create healthy choices for guests.

Making healthier choices at restaurants is easier if you prepare ahead by creating guides that show the nutritional content of menu choices at your restaurant. Create a free downloadable guide and promote it to help your customers evaluate options. Emphasize how much you care about people with special dietary concerns such as diabetes, heart health or weight loss. Focus on aspects of your restaurant menu that offer natural, high quality food.

Offer guests common sense menu guidelines to help make their meal healthier. For example, a seemingly healthy salad can be a diet minefield when smothered in high-fat dressing and fried toppings, so suggest salad options with fresh veggies, grilled toppings and lighter dressings. Portion control is also important, as many fast food restaurants serve enough food for several meals in the guise of a single serving or ‘value’ meal. Help guests understand the value of portion control and not wasting food.