What does IHOP have to hide that Denny’s doesn’t? And what’s so mysterious about Krispy Kreme? Why is their info so difficult to find, while competitor Dunkin’ Donuts has extensive, easy to locate information on their website? These are the questions we found ourselves asking after evaluating 51 chain restaurants websites and their nutritional information pages. Or lack of them.
We rated the restaurants on the availability/completeness of information, how easy it was to locate and retrieve the information, and whether or not there was additional information such as allergy info.
The best sites had it all. We saw nutrition calculators, tips for healthy eating, gluten info, allergy info, and special information for diabetics. The worst sites had nothing at all. We were surprised to find that it wasn’t simply small restaurant chains that were failing to provide nutritional information. There were several major restaurants that completely failed to provide even basic information about their food.
IHOP, California Pizza Kitchen, Olive Garden, Bennigan’s and TGIF were among the biggest names that failed to provide any nutritional information. Applebee’s made excuses in their FAQ about “distributors,” but similar restaurants like Chili’s seem to have no problem providing information for their entire menu. Red Lobster provided allergy info and nothing more. Quiznos provided nutritional information on only two of its menu items, while competitor Subway had some of the most extensive information around. What are these restaurants hiding?
We challenge the restaurants who received ratings of “Nonexistent” or “Poor” to address the way in which they provide nutritional information to their customers. Because if a restaurant is hiding something in their website, goodness knows what’s in the food. —MEGHANN MARCO
| Restaurant |
Nutritional Information Provided For All Items? |
Nutritional Info Easy To Locate? |
Allergen Info? |
Rating? |
Is there a nutrition page? |
| Applebee’s |
No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No, Just some Weight Watchers stuff |
| Arby’s | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| A&W | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Baskin Robin’s | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Bennigan’s | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent | No |
| Boudin’s | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent | No |
| Burger King | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| California Pizza Kitchen | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent | No |
| Chipotle | Yes |
No |
No |
Poor |
PDF only |
| Chili’s | Yes |
No |
Yes |
Average |
PDF only |
| Chic-Fil-A | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Dairy Queen | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Denny’s | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Average |
PDF only |
| Domino’s Pizza | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Above Average |
Yes |
| Dunkin’ Donuts | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Fat Burger | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No |
| Friendly’s | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No |
| Fudrucker’s | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No |
| Hardee’s | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Above Average |
Yes |
| Hooter’s | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No |
| In-N-Out Burger | Yes |
No |
No |
Average |
Yes |
| International House of Pancakes | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No |
| Jack In The Box | Yes |
No |
Yes |
Average–the Nutrition & Allergy info is hidden away on the “Our Food” page. |
No |
| Jamba Juice | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Above Average |
Yes |
| KFC | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Krispy Kreme | Yes |
No |
No |
Poor |
PDF only |
| Little Caesar’s | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Above Average |
Yes |
| Lone Star S teak House |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Above Average |
Yes |
| Long John Silver’s | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| McDonald’s | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Olive Garden | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No |
| Outback Steak House | No |
Yes |
Yes |
Poor-No specific information on menu items, but plenty of suggestions on eating. healthier |
Yes |
| Papa John’s | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Panda Express | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Perkin’s | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No |
| Pizza Hut | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| Quiznos | No |
No |
No |
Poor–only two items listed on “nutrition” page. |
Yes |
| Red Lobster | No |
No |
Yes |
Poor–no nutrition page, only brief allergy page. |
No |
| Red Robin | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No |
| Ruby Tuesday’s | Yes |
No |
No |
Poor–hard to find. pdfs suck |
PDF only |
| Sbarro | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Above Average |
Yes |
| Sonic | Yes |
No |
No |
Poor–nutrition guide is extensive, but it’s only available by 9-page pdf |
PDF only |
| Starbucks | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Above average (they have no allergy info, but give a customer care phone number) |
Yes |
| Steak ‘N Shake | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Above Average |
Yes |
| Subway | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent–extensive info, as one would expect. |
Yes |
| TGIF | No |
No |
No |
Nonexistent |
No |
| Taco Bell | Yes |
No |
Yes |
Above Average– the nutrition calculator is great, but not super-easy to find. |
Yes |
| Taco John’s | No |
Yes (though it’s “under construction”) |
No |
Poor–they tease you with a Nutrition link on the home page, but then it’s “under construction” and they give you phone number. |
No |
| Uno’s Chicago Grill | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent–nice presentation |
Yes |
| Wendy’s | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Excellent |
Yes |
| White Castle | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Above Average |
Yes |
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I have Celiac disease which requires a strict medical diet. I have found your website very useful. BTW, I avoid wheat which could be in some flavored coffee, so I would always ask the person serving just to be safe.
Wanted to let everyone know that “Red Robin” now has their Nutritional Information on their Web site along with a really neat program that lets you customize a meal.
Great Article. I just thought that everyone should know that Carls Jr. Has it posted in plain view, and it is posted on there website
At Bennigans, the have so many wonderful burgers.. I got the Bleu cheese burger.It is HUGE..I wasn’t eexpecting that. So I cut it in two and brought the rest home to eat today… well, in the process of heating. I put the top of the bun in the toaster, and separated the meat and frizzled onions into the microwave. The toaster, set on a normal cycle darkened the bread, indicating a lot of sugar in the bun, and there was a lot of grease from the onions on the plate, I measured it.. it was a teaspoon and a half recovered just from the onions.. I think I know why they don’t post the information.
I want to chime in that I am no longer going to restaurants that don’t offer nutrition information. I know that the restaurants I go to don’t have the healthiest foods but I’d like to be able to make informed decisions about what I am eating in those establishments.
As an FYI Quiznos does have extensive information online since this article was published.
How about any Chinese restaurants. I had an argument at work when someone was telling me that Chinese food is “good” for you and there is nothing bad about it. I saw an MSNBC article that talked about how bad Chinese food is in just about every way. I wonder if they are giving full disclosure.
?
jamlnburg
Houston’s seems to hide completely. Their website has no nutirtion info, and they don’t even have an email address to ask. I wanted to have an office party there, but several secretaries won’t eat in a place that won’t list calories, and I can’t blame them – some salads in the city list their calories at 260, and some at 1780 – all bets are off without some guidance.