The days of blissful ignorance about the calories in a bucket of movie popcorn or a twice-baked potato smothered in chives, sour cream and cheese are coming to an end, and whether that’s good or bad for restaurants and other food-sellers depends on who you ask.
After years of negotiations and delays, the Food and Drug Administration last month released guidelines requiring restaurants, supermarkets, movie theaters, vending machines and even convenience stores to list calories for all featured and side dishes by the end of 2015.
Health advocates, who pushed for the rules, argue it’s a necessary step to help tackle the nation’s obesity problem. The Obama administration listened and made it one of the priorities of the Affordable Care Act.
But some metro Atlanta restaurant execs said the move means spending thousands of dollars not only on new menus and menu boards, but on laboratories to analyze the calories in every item they serve — from seasoned nuts to the juiciest cut of Angus beef.
That’s a big burden on an industry that has low profit margins and is one of the first hit when the economy falters and consumer spending tightens.
“It’s not my responsibility to save the world,” said Jesse Gideon, chief operating officer of Atlanta-based Fresh To Order. He said he supports healthy menus, but that calorie counts are just a piece of the picture. Salt, sugar, carbohydrates and other diet risks are not part of the calorie numbers and therefore consumers would only be getting a partial health picture.
Other restaurant companies, such as up-and-coming pizza chain Your Pie, see the labeling as a competitive advantage. The Athens-based operation offers a few pizzas with less than 600 calories, a factor founder Drew French hopes will attract customers who might otherwise avoid pizza.
“Pizza can be viewed as unhealthy and that is a stigma,” said French, explaining that food researchers have been able to subtract calories from bread and cheese while maintaining pizza’s flavor. “We think posting calories will have a positive effect.”
Maine led way
The push to include calorie labeling has grown steadily since the first such legislation was introduced in Maine in 2003. Much like they did in tying sugary drinks like Coke to the obesity epidemic, health advocates have used the nation’s growing waistline to push government to link restaurants with an increasingly fatter United States.
A recent study by Public Health Nutrition found that compared to those who eat at home, Americans consume on average 200 more calories when they eat out.
Though they initially opposed menu labeling, restaurant industry leaders later embraced a national standard after cities and states passed a hodgepodge of different laws regulating menu labeling. It’s unclear how — or how aggressively — the calories list rule will be enforced.
Some in the industry continue to balk, especially pizza operators such as giant Domino’s, which has complained that it would be impossible to list the caloric make up of every pie combination.
Operators of convenience stores also remain opposed, arguing the rules should apply to businesses whose prepared food make up at least 50 percent or more of sales.
“The one-size-fits-all approach that FDA announced today would treat convenience stores as though they are restaurants, when in fact they operate very differently,” Lyle Beckwith, senior vice president for government relations for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said in a release after the rules were outlined last month.
Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for health advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., said the convenience store industry is trying to have it both ways. The industry has pushed hard over the last five years to convince Americans it not only offers gas, sodas and chips, but restaurant-quality sandwiches, bagels and pizzas. If it wants to play in the category, it has to play by the rules, she said.
“The consumer has the right to know,” she said.
Some already list
Several Atlanta restaurant chains, including Chick-fil-A and members of the Greater Atlanta McDonald’s Operators Association, are already including calorie information on menus and menu boards. McDonald’s locations took the plunge in 2012 when the Chicago-based giant broke with competitors in anticipation of implementation of the labeling rules.
Chick-fil-A followed suit in spring 2013 when the company updated menus and menu boards for the introduction of a new line of salads, said David Farmer, the company’s vice president of menu strategy. The move was risky — Chick-fil-A initially decided against it — because jumping out before the FDA finalized guidelines meant the possibility of having to re-do menus at considerable expense.
“I think as a trend, eating healthier is here to stay,” said Farmer, noting the company’s caloric labeling appears to be in compliance. “If we help customers like we would want to be helped, it will help us in the long haul.”
The jury, however, is out on whether the labels change consumer behavior. A survey in Washington state’s King County found consumers cut as much as 40 calories out of an average meal after calorie labeling took effect there, CSPI’s Wootan said.
But Debby Cannon, director of the hospitality program at Georgia State University, said most research suggests modest consumer change, such as passing on adding sour cream to a backed potato or getting a smaller serving at Starbucks. While that is a step forward, she said, consumers will still rationalize and give themselves permission for higher calorie items if they want it.
“The results are limited,” she said. “And if they are aware of (calorie labeling), do they even know what their average daily caloric intake should be?”
If the numbers supporting labeling aren’t there yet, it will be eventually, said Matt Andrew, chief executive officer of Atlanta-pizza chain Uncle Maddio’s Pizza Joint. Consumers are pushing the trend to reduce calories and restaurateurs will have to respond to stay relevant.
“We’re putting research and development in creating more healthy items,” he said.
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