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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Food for thought

Calorie plan would force restaurants to make big changes

If Congress approves a bill that makes restaurants disclose calorie information for their dishes, Spokane diners would see exactly how healthy – or not – that Big Mac or kung pao chicken really is.

In a national health bill sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., the legislation is similar to a law put into effect in January in King County.

If the federal law is adopted, many restaurants will see an upside and a downside, said Bob Donegan, CEO of seafood chain Ivar’s Inc., based in Seattle.

The bill would apply to restaurant companies with 20 or more locations. That would include giant chains such as Pizza Hut and smaller ones like Ivar’s, which has 60 restaurants in Washington.

The positive impact would be a uniform system for menu listings across the country, as opposed to a patchwork of requirements adopted by counties and states, Donegan said.

For instance, the King County ordinance differs in many ways from a law adopted more than a year ago in New York City, he said.

Several other states are looking to require calorie menu information. Advocates for such disclosure say Americans are becoming more obese and need better information to eat more healthfully.

Donegan said the federal law, by creating a level playing field for all restaurants, is a better way to go.

“Let’s do menu labeling so that it’s the same for everyone. That’s easier for consumers and it’s easier for us,” he said.

The downside of the new law? The cost, Donegan said.

Determining the calorie count requires some form of analysis or research. Anytime a new item is added, more work is needed to determine the calories.

Some firms might choose to get that information through lab analysis. Some labs charge about $1,500 per dish, Donegan said.

Others should have a less costly choice – like the one King County officials allow restaurants – to use computer software to determine calories. And there still would be the cost to change menus and add brochures for diners.

“That cost is significant” for a restaurant, Donegan said, especially if it offers many items and changes its choices often.

The King County law requires menus to list calorie totals. It also asks restaurants to provide brochures with information on serving totals for carbohydrates, sugar, saturated fat, unsaturated fat and fiber. “We’ve already done that (listing nutritional data) on our Web site. So it wasn’t hard to get. But it did cost money to produce all those brochures and menu cards,” Donegan said.

While he understands the benefit of such disclosures, he’s not sure consumers take that information to heart.

Since the King County law started, Donegan said Ivar’s has not seen any one item lose sales or become more or less popular.

“People don’t come in and ask for an item, then change their mind because of the calorie information,” he said.

But the calorie listings sometimes confuse customers, who see them on lunch boards and mistake them for prices, he added.

Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Restaurant Association representing about 5,000 members, said the federal bill is doubly important if it becomes law. “It’s a huge win for restaurants and for consumers in leveling the playing field by settling on a consistent set of ways to list nutritional information,” Anton said.

Second, the bill would be a good first step in motivating customers to give more serious thought to the kinds of meals they buy, he said.

“It’s not the answer, but it’s a start in the dialogue,” he said.

For three decades the restaurant industry has tried to move consumers toward more healthy food choices but failed, he said.

With the new bill, however, consumers and the food industry would start looking seriously at the full picture of how food is prepared and what it contains, Anton said.

And the bill, if it became law, would push chefs to reconsider their choices, he added. “For 2,000 years all we’ve asked for chefs to do is cook food that tastes good. Now this will force them to say, ‘How do I make that dish taste good for only 700 calories?’ ”

Anton said restaurants in Washington would greet the new law with mixed views. The ones who’d most likely see it as negative are those operating on a thin margin.

“They’ll say, ‘Yeah, I get the public health thing. But how much money can you get from a stone?’ ”