Calorie counts on restaurant menus, required in just a few cities until now, will soon be mandatory nationwide.
Starting in May, the government will make nearly all businesses that serve food — from sit-down and take-out restaurants to bowling alleys and movie theaters — to say how many calories are in their menu items.
The idea is simple enough: Make the information available, advocates say, and consumers will eat smarter and be healthier. There’s a problem, though: It might not help. Research suggests that most people don’t choose lighter meals after seeing calorie information on menus. Many consumers don’t even notice it.
Restaurants, meanwhile, have learned to game the system, highlighting their lowest-calorie options — like salads without dressing — to improve their numbers. And it’s hard to be precise about calorie counts, raising questions about how useful the data are in the first place.
But there’s reason to believe the requirements could help make Americans healthier eaters. While it might not change a diner’s mind as he or she considers a menu board, it might inspire a healthier choice later, or the diner might head to a different restaurant the next time, and that possibility is motivating restaurants to make changes.
While chains have been reluctant to touch popular menu items for fear of turning off their regulars, the new requirements have prompted them to add healthier options. Some experts say it’s industry choices, not consumer habits, that will really improve America’s weight problem. Others insist consumers will have the final say.
Restaurants “will do what they have to do, but they’re not going to compromise the brand,” said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant industry analyst for NPD Group. “People can walk into a fast-food restaurant with good intentions, and when they get there good intentions go out the window sometimes.”
