Low price guarantee
We will do our best to match any genuine quote
Call us between 8:00am and 5:30pm
01977 687 580
Lease purchase available
on orders over £1000
Spend £50 or more for free delivery
Free delivery* on this order

Labelling nutritional information on menus

Author Damien Wilde
Posted On 8th May 2014

Food nutrition wheelA new piece of research suggests that the practise of listing the calorie content on café and restaurant menus may not be changing the way customers behave.

The appearance of information relating to the calorie content on menus of restaurants and cafes is a relatively new phenomenon and the practise is not widespread across the industry.

The authors of the meta-study looked at over thirty different academic conclusions drawn up in a six and a half year period ending in the summer of 2013 which dealt with how labelling influenced customer choices whilst dining.

Some indicated that labels altered the behaviour of the customers, others did not, leaving the researchers to state that “labels do not have the desired effect in reducing total calories.”

Familiarity

However, what has been common practise for a while now is the presence of the so called coloured coded ‘traffic light’ system on food packaging and this, the researchers said, was more effective than just simply linking a menu item to a number in black and white. These other forms of nutritional displays, they say, show promise.

Originally designed in 2005 by Bell Integrated Communications, the traffic light design has almost become an industry standard in the United Kingdom. Many – though not all – major retailers and brands have adopted the green, amber and red coding and as a result many people have become accustomed to this form of showcasing nutritional guidelines.

Other theories have been bandied about as to why the results were as they are. One factor that has been considered is that people are very familiar with menus already, especially those of establishments they frequent on a regular basis. A patron, the idea goes, is less likely to spend extended periods of time absorbing additional information when a quick glance more will likely suffice to determine the final order.

Moving forwards

With many health initiatives being promoted by departments of government, industry experts and chefs, what can restaurants and caterers do to help promote certain options of their menu? Well, many are already on the ball: establishments and chains now focus ‘light’ or ‘healthy’ offerings which are becoming very popular choices.

So from this can we presume that utilising highlighted key words and phrases is more advantageous than simply listing a number? It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on what can be done to help highlight the nutritional information of our options when dining out?

Share