Moe's to get new, fresher menu

By Jeremiah McWilliams

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Moe's Southwest Grill is about to go all healthy on us.

The Atlanta-based burrito chain will roll out a new nationwide menu on Jan. 24, top executives told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Coming soon to 420-plus restaurants will be grass-fed sirloin steak with no added hormones. The pork will be hormone-free, steroid-free and grain-fed. Moe's says its chicken will be hormone-free and not raised in cages, and the tofu will be organic.

"The Moe's consumers have told us this is something they want," said Paul Damico, president of the brand. "We take that information seriously. They tell us they want fresh, they want sustainable."

The drive to guarantee better ingredients in each Moe's restaurant has been in the works for 18 months. The menu change will be advertised on television, radio, online and in magazines. Moms with kids are the main audience, but the kids themselves are in the marketing plan. Starting around April 1, kids' meals will be served on green Frisbees. Moe's just placed an order for 1 million discs.

In its drive to freshen its menu, Moe's has big company. Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill bought about 8.2 million pounds of local produce in 2010, exceeding its previously stated goal by about 60 percent. The company's main marketing hook is what it calls "food with integrity."

"We're building a food culture that allows us to serve great-tasting food made from sustainably raised ingredients typically found only in high-end restaurants and high-end grocery stores," Steve Ells, Chipotle's chairman and co-CEO, said in October. "These things are at the center of our mission to change the way people think about and eat fast food."

Over the past decade, American consumers cut back on their ordering of foods high in sugar content or fat -- including regular soft drinks, hot dogs, fried chicken and french fries, according to the NPD Group, a research firm.

That shift "is partially due to the increasing availability of healthier foods on restaurant menus," said Bonnie Riggs, an NPD analyst. "Restaurant operators are responding to their customers' needs for healthier or lighter foods."