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Transparency is the Key to Successful Menu Labeling

May 31, 2011 by Betsy Craig — pres, menutrinfo.com

My NRA show experience started out with a session on Menu Labeling first thing Saturday morning and was a perfect way for me to begin this amazing conference. Unsure what I was expecting but it turned out to be a full room with panel members from all parts of this new trend with lots of experience to share.

The restaurateur that presented was Scott Davis, Executive Vice President and Concept Development Officer for Panera Bread. He shared a great deal in this session that was clear, informative, and a wealth of knowledge for those in the room. A prefect pick for this topic.

His concept has a challenge in that ½ portions are by far the biggest sellers in Panera Bread. The “You Pick Two” menu option is wildly popular so making a meal that is enough to split but not over kill for a single portion on calories is a tight rope they had to walk carefully. With Menu Nutritional transparency the only way to handle this calorie concern is truthfully and clearly.

Scott’s method for breaking down the menu items after the initial work was done was an awesome way to describe what any restaurateur goes through after the first look at the nutritional analysis.

Each menu item on anyone’s menu breaks down into 1 of 3 areas:

1.) Good for you: Healthy, great numbers and easily healthiest items on the menu.

2.)Indulgent: These are the items your diners are usually well aware that they are not the best nutritionally but easily a treat and usually something not to change much.

3.) Gotchas: Are the items that surprise you when you look at what the numbers are before any alterations are made.

Having help from a professional or service organization at this stage can prove absolutely invaluable. It took Panera a total of 3 years until all locations presented calories on the menus boards and additional information in writing on the premises. Presenting menu labeling properly can make people seek you out for this food transparency or they may go elsewhere. It was shared that some of the healthier items on the Panera Menu are super popular choices.

The NRA had the subject matter expert, Joan Rector McGlockton, Vice President, Industry Affairs, and Government Relations for the NRA to present the facts and to help dispel the fiction. She expertly reviewed pending laws and implantation of the regulations all the way down to the fact that additional time was being requested for comments on current FDA regulations. The FDA did in fact extend the deadline from June 6 to July 5th for comments on the law. Great to have the facts presented clearly.

There will be more to come on the Menu Labeling in the next few weeks as it continues to develop because eating healthier is here to stay in our industry ~ no matter where you come down on the movement.

About Betsy Craig

To date MenuTrinfo is responsible for menu nutritional information at over 100K US restaurants, food allergy and gluten free ANAB accredited training for hundreds of thousands of food service professionals. AllerTrain is the chosen food allergy training by NEHA providing continuing educational credit hours for those that take and pass its course. Finally, MenuTrinfo delivers food allergy confidence and allergen transparency to today’s food allergic consumer through its onsite division offerings, AllerCheck, Certified Free From allergens for spaces and food products which is an ISO 17065 certification and expert consultation and incident response support when needed.

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