Here are the funny PR responses from when Men’s Health asked the PR people for several different restaurants for the nutritional information of their foods:
Outback: “Ninety percent of our meals are prepared by hand…Any analysis would be difficult to measure consistently.”
IHOP: “We do not maintain nutritional data on our menu items, so I am unable to assist you.”
Hooters: “Because of the millions of combinations available and our desire to frequently give you new menu options, it is impossible to provide accurate nutritional data,”
Fuddruckers: “Providing nutritional info would be “very extensive [sic] and timely.”
Papa John’s: “At this time, we have no additional regular menu items that are targeted toward eating lighter.”
Magginao’s Little Italy: “Sorry for the delay! I had to wait for corporate’s approval. Unfortunately, they have declined to participate.”
So they spend lots of money to focus group every aspect of their business, but don’t know their menu’s nutritional content? We’re not buying it.
16 secrets the restaurant industry doesn’t want you to know [Men's Health]
More From Consumerist
-
Restaurant Imposes 1% Property Maintenance Fee On Tabs, Hopes No One Notices
-
Chicken Processing Plant Worker: I Will Never Eat Fast Food Nuggets Again
-
Restaurant Stays Open But Admits: “Yeah, We’re Infested With Cockroaches Right Now”
-
Yelp To Include Health Dept. Ratings For Restaurants In Some Cities
-
Restaurant Tells Off Displeased Customer On Facebook: “You Must Enjoy Vomit”
Outback: “Ninety percent of our meals are prepared by hand…Any analysis would be difficult to measure consistently.”
Good answer! These places know that if they claim a number someone will double-check and sue the because it’s off by like, 2 calories. I don’t blame them for trying to cover their asses.
McDs can claim with accuracy, because everything is pre-packaged and pre-made and pre-bad for you.
I think they toss the tuna (eww) in full fat mayo, vegetable oil, and lard.
The free market works guys! ::rolls eyes::
@realjen01: In a universe where, thankfully, dipshits who think that anything that doesn’t come from a goddamn micron-sized hole in the wall tastes like, well, you said it, slop. Fortunately, there are those of us who aren’t total snobs who have the good sense to realize that the size of the establishment has nothing to do with the tastiness of the food, which is a subjective thing.
And yeah, I’m annoyed. I’m sick of the stuck-up behavior that I see coming from people who think that they’re elite connoisseurs or something and feel the need to sneer down their noses at people over something.
Would it make your head explode to know that some people in this thread have, in all likelihood, shopped at Wal-Mart within the past year?
@realjen01: add, after “slop”, “… aren’t in positions of authority to push their judgmental asshole opinions on others beyond stupid forum comments”.
@Buran: We used to have an Uno’s here. It went out of business over two years ago and my husband and I still miss it.
Shhhh, it’s a secret.
There are tasty foods to be had at some of these chain restaurants. I don’t discriminate. I know there are good local joints around, but sometimes I like Pizza Hut, you know?
Except for IHOP. IHOP is gross.
Alright..so you don’t know what’s in your own food? well I’m gonna have to report you to the FDA.
@fitjulie: I used to eat a Uno’s, then I worked there. The reason they are able to give you calorie counts there is because EVERYTHING is pre-packaged and frozen. That and if you ever saw the disgusting shape of their kitchen, you would never eat there again. I quit after a very short stint. I even got sick once because Terminex came at bombed the place the evening before, and we couldn’t get rid of the smell/taste of it for a week. And we still had pest issues after that.
@FitJulie:
No one is talking about the foods containing direct poisons (yeah, yeah, you can try to argue that poor nutrition is poison. It’s not. Give me a break, that’s a total strawman.
If you insist on having all ingredients and nutritional information published, simply eat at those places that do. It’s really not a big deal. If enough people decide to eat elsewhere, they will change their ways. There’s no need to legislate it. The government isn’t our nanny.
@ceejeemcbeegee: McDonald’s is actually quite healthy if you choose your meals appropriately. Start by staying away from non-diet soda, and the fries. The rest isn’t nearly as bad as people make it out to be.
I’d say that if you’re eating at some place like Hooters or Papa Johns, you aren’t too concerned with nutritional info.
And ditto on the argument about chain restaurants. I eat at places that have good food. Whether it’s the only location in the world, or one location out of thousands is irrelevant to me. Have I found that typically, the small family owned places have better food and service? Yes, but there are also several chains that have just as good food.
To all the people who say that if you’re eating at places like this, you’re not concerned with nutritional info: this is totally false. I’ve been doing Weight Watchers for the past year and I’ve lost 35 pounds so far, but it’s difficult on occasions where family dinners are happening at restaurants like these that don’t post nutritional info. It would be nice to know if there is actually something I can eat there instead of eating beforehand and just ordering a salad. You can’t even assume that if you know the stats for a similar homemade dish, the restaurant’s stats will be the same. See the above ludicrous example with Quizno’s tuna melt sub. It defies logic how they even manage to pack that much fat into one sandwich. The only reason these places are dragging their feet is because they know their stats are awful.
@FitJulie: Yeah, I’m not crazy about IHOP either. And I agree on the “small places can be great but sometimes you feel like the chain stuff” thing.
@katewrath: Consider the source…. Men’s Health is not Time or Newsweek it’s the male equivalent of Vogue or Glamour. Replace scant female models with buff shirtless men, cosmetics ads with tech ads, and add more fluff than a pound of dryer lint.
Oh… don’t forget the alluring numbered article titles:
20 Reasons to Lose 20 Pounds
14 Ways to Seduce Her Parents
10 Tricks to Beat Back Pain
7 Ring-Buying Tips for Every Guy
5 Seconds to a New Body
5 Steps to a Merry XXX-Mas
5 Ways to Stay Sane This Season
I think the request from a more respectable source source, the responses would be given more thought.
Edit: I think if the request came from a more respectable source, the responses would be given more thought.
(Where’d the preview go?)
In New York City, there’s a law (I’m not sure if it’s passed yet) that says if you have nutritional information available, you have to put it right on the menu. Which creates a huge disincentive for chains to have any information available for the asking. Because if you have no information, then you don’t have to put it on the menu. I think the lawmakers didn’t quite think this one through. This is probably why chains won’t give out info.
Here’s an interesting tidbit. Brinker International (www.brinker.com) owns Maggiano’s Little Italy.
They also own Chili’s, On the Border, and Macaroni Grill. And there’s plenty of detailed nutritional information for those. But none for Maggiano’s.
Odd.
@Buran: Yep, me too, I went to Walmart. It was a prescription though.
The article was more fluff then substance. All they did was ask for ingredients, no following up on calls or actually getting the food analyzed. It was more like one of those rigged surveys then actual information.
I could care less about calories since I have a high metabolism. Corn and dairy is a big hassle for me, so that’s my lookout. Fast food is more likely to have that so, that gets avoided.
I still have no idea why this is even important, and here’s why. If you eat out every day you will be a big fat fuck. These restaurants should not be required to say how many calories are in their food. We know it’s a lot going in. The difference between too many calories and too many calories doesn’t really matter when you’re already getting too many calories.
Hmm, I thought it was consumers who were whiners for not wanting to show their receipts at the door or pay for calls they didn’t make. But all these food producers and restaurants mewling about how they CAAAAAAN’T tell people how many calories are in their food, it’s too HAAAAAARD!…? Big, fat, whiny diaper-babies. Why the hell are we humoring them?
@RamV10: What’s important is WHAT is in the food. I need know about corn and corn byproducts. Someone else is going to need to know about nuts as that can be lethal to them.
There’s actually a book that comes out every year that will not only tell you caloric count but carb count of major food places, along with all different kinds of meats veggies etc.
@Buran:
I’ve actually shopped in Walmart this week!
@zarex42: amen! nobody is forcing anyone to eat at those places, eat somewhere else. I know I’ll get bad comments for this but, I feel the same way about government banning smoking in all food establishments and bars. Nobody is forced to go to any of them. If the owner of the business loses money because he allows smoking, he’ll stop it himself, he’s there to make money…government should stay out of private business
@csdiego: So, we’re whiners about not wanting something to do something we’re not obligated to do? That is entirely different from trying to weasel out of contractual obligations that state that you are responsible for all charges that are incurred BEFORE you report your phone stolen.
Restaurants have to do something called “food costing” on all their menu items.
This is something you learn in culinary school, and basically works out to knowing how much of each ingredient you use per portion of food so you know how much each portion of food is costing you relative to what you are charging for that portion.
NO restaurant on the planet does not have up to date and accurate food costing stats on all their dishes.
This means that all restaurants can quickly and easily compile ingredient lists and quantities for all their dishes, which means they can quickly and easily work out the nutritional content of their dishes.
Red Lobster is a whore about this. I wanted to know what the coconut shrimp contained and what the nutritional value of the clam chowder was (the only two things I’d eat there). They claim they rotate their menu so often they don’t have this data, but the clam chowder has been on there for YEARS. It’s BS.
@92BuickLeSabre:
“…We are taking it seriously…”
@Buran: You (if by we you mean you’re one of these restaurant owners or their lobbyists or whatever) might not be obligated now, but keep up the whining and footdragging and somebody might change your obligations.
@RamV10:
That is a silly, short-sighted, and unrealistic statement.
It’s no longer 1952. Social and economic conditions are such that many people practically must eat out every day, or nearly as often. People have far less free time than in generations past (thanks largely to longer hours at work and longer commutes). Single-income families are a thing of the past — with both parents working full-time-plus, who has time to cook all of the day’s meals? Further, many people are single and have no “domestic support”. Others have to travel frequently. Under these conditions, Americans are relying on restaurants for their daily sustinence, not just indulgence (as it was in generations past).
I often hear: “Why are you going to Chipotle if you’re concerned with calories?” But, that’s absurd! Do these people apply the same standard to other areas of their lives? For example, do they believe you shouldn’t shop if you have a budget? Or that you shouldn’t embark on a trip if you have to ask how long it takes to get there?
Of course not. Logical people ask “how much does it cost?” and “how long will it take?” before they do something. Only in dining out do people feel that they must accept an unknown amount of (caloric) cost when they order a meal.
Ahh not Maggiano’s! It’s the only Italian chain I actually like. My wife and I can go and share an entree and still have enough left for 2 full lunches the next day. The family style meal is great when you know your limits. She usually orders a appitizer and I get the entree to share. Plus we can usually make it out under $40 with tip. Unless she orders a cocktail, I don’t drink.
Keep in mind that it takes years of painstaking research to produce accurate counts for hand-prepared food.
That frozen chicken sandwich from the gas station is easy – every piece of chicken is weighed out to a precise measurement by robots, as is every bun and every square of cheese. Notice that they rarely include vegetables and condiments which, in addition to being hard to freeze (and reheat!), are difficult to measure precisely (who wants to eat a laser-cut tomato?).
McDonald’s, Burger King, Arby’s, Schlotzsky’s, yadda yadda yadda… they all have taken into consideration vast amounts of data on how people prepare the food. They have taken measurements on how people over- and under-measure every single item on a sandwich. They have statisticians designing precise formulae used to produce a model of the ‘average’ food item.
Hash brown? Easy, always the same weight.
Fries? A *little* more tricky. What does one extra shake of salt do to the sodium content on average? What if the server ‘packs’ the fries into the container? What if they don’t pack? What if you ask them to pack? What’s the average length of a fry? How high do they stick out of the container, on average? How much more fat is absorbed by a fry of average length and thickness if they’re left in the fryer for an extra 10 seconds? 13? 18? 26? If they aren’t shaken before they’re dumped? If they’re UNDERcooked? If the basket drips oil onto them in the warmer?
Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese? What happens if the preparer adds an extra half-slice of cheese by mistake? Extra catsup? Extra sauce? One more tomato? Leaves off half a slice? Will someone sue because they got less cheese and the calorie count was lower? What’s the ratio of consumers who will sue over a lower calorie count vs. consumers who will sue over a higher calorie count? How about sesame seeds? If a bun has 20 more sesame seeds on it, what will that do to the count? What happens if the burger flipper leaves the burgers on a few seconds too long? A few seconds too short? Over-seasons the patties? Under-seasons the patties? What effect does the heat lamp have on the burgers? Are burgers made with beef from cows in a colder climate going to be a little more fatty than cows in a warmer climate, and if so, how much fattier? Is it offset by having less meat in the burger? If there’s an extra quarter-ounce of fat in the burger, how much less meat is there?
Done! Here’s your average nutritional information! Your burger may have an extra 100 calories, or it may have 200 calories fewer, since we picked a slightly higher average caloric content as it was determined that you’re X% as likely to sue over a higher content as a lower one. Good luck, and have a nice day!
And would you like a hot apple pie with that?
@Nemesis_Enforcer:
I don’t think people understand that “Family style” means ‘FAMILY STYLE.’
A 2lb plate of spaghetti isn’t meant for one person, it is meant for a FAMILY of four, hence FAMILY STYLE.
Also, if fat little Johnny doesn’t need an extra ten scoops of sauce, just push some sauce off to the side.
They give you a lot of food. There’s no law requiring that you eat it all and lick the plate clean.