Healthy Innovation

Reid A. Paul, Managing Editor

4/9/2007

Restaurants: Ignore the health concerns of your guests at your own peril. That seems to be the underlying message of the spate of obesity lawsuits filed recently. Whatever the merits of the cases (or the lack thereof), it is clear that restaurant companies need to do a better job providing healthier dishes and giving guests the tools they need to measure the nutritional content of their meals.

While most multi-unit restaurants offer nutritional information pamphlets, few experts (or lawyers) feel that pamphlets do enough to answer health concerns. Donit expect the recent attention to this issue to die down any time soon. Even though most polls indicate that Americans do not hold restaurants responsible for obesity, health experts and activists will continue to push the issue until restaurants respond.

With customers adhering to diets ranging from Atkins to Weight Watchers, low sodium to high fiber, and that does not even include the multitude of food allergies to contend with, it may seem impossible for restaurants to satisfy everyone. However, as a growing number of restaurants have discovered, a little innovation can go a long way.

Take McDonald's, for example. Earlier this year, amid a number of lawsuits aimed directly at the quick-serve leader, McDonald's rolled out a new website that provides detailed and customizable nutritional information. While any pamphlet can tell you that a Double Cheeseburger has 480 calories, 27 grams of fat and 37 grams of carbohydrates, only the interactive website can tell customers that removing the bun cuts it to 330 calories, 24 grams of fat and 8 grams of carbohydrates. Guests with wireless enabled PCs and handhelds will even be able to access the website in the growing number of wireless McDonaldi's sites.

Au Bon Pain has gone a step further. In addition to providing nutritional data online, Au Bon Pain has installed touch-screen kiosks in each of its more than 230 restaurants. The kiosks suggest low sodium, low calorie and low carbohydrate items as well as those high in fiber, providing an up-sell opportunity.

At Darden's new concept, Seasons 52, the waitstaff bring nutritional information directly to the table. Seasons 52 already uses a handheld ordering system, so it seemed a natural fit to provide in-depth information about all the ingredients at the table. Waitstaff can calculate the complete nutritional information for an entire meal right at the table, helping guests choose dishes that are right for them.

More than a vigorous legal defense, these technology innovations will go a long way toward establishing the industry's commitment to healthy food. And if the technology attracts a few more guests, and pushes them toward higher margin healthy selections, that wouldn't be so bad either.