The Future of Menu Marketing

Various menu-labeling policies have passed in regions throughout the country, including calorie-posting requirements in New York City restaurants as of June 2008. CSPI made a comparison of menu items in the city before March 2007 and after the requirements went into effect. Turns out, many operators modified products in order to post lower calorie contents. For example, Dunkin’ Donuts’ glazed cake stick shed 130 calories, while McDonald’s large french fries dropped 70. Starbucks cut a significant portion of fat and calories from its pastry and beverage items. On average, 5% of the calories and 15% of the fat have been cut from pastry items. Beverages, on average, lost 14% of the calories and 36% of the fat, reports CSPI.

“It’s been a slow process, but everyone involved in foodservice is starting to think about nutritionally responsible options,” says Crowell. “This concept did not exist in most foodservice product developers’ minds just 5 years ago.”

Crowell explains the approaches to showcasing nutritionally responsible foods on a menu: “The easiest way to get there is to reduce portion size. This reduces calories and fat, without changing the expected taste and texture of the product. The next-easiest thing to do is to lower something, and that is generally fat. Some changes are easy to make, especially if this is the first time a product is being reformulated.”

An example is what Così did with its club sandwich. Switching to low-fat mayonnaise brought the calories down from 800 to 450. On its Signature Salad, reduced-fat dressing and reduced-fat cheese cuts calories from just over 600 to about 375.