Burgerville Chain Adds Calorie Counts To Receipts
We've heard about fast food restaurants posting calorie counts on menus, but a small regional chain in the Northwest is experimenting with putting nutritional information on receipts.
At a Burgerville in Portland, Oregon, customers get calorie counts that fit the details of their orders.
"Guests order and ask for different things: different buns, different cheeses, different sauces, different everything," said Jeff Harvey, president and CEO for Burgerville. "So to put a label on the menu is not going resolve that challenge."
But if the calorie info only appears on the receipt, isn't it too late? Under this plan, the only way to find out how many calories you'd save by ordering a fruit smoothie instead of a shake is to buy both.
To its credit, Burgerville is also planning a bicycle drive-through program. So by encouraging cycling, they're allowing customers to consume more calories than they otherwise would. Everyone wins!
Burgerville: Get your calorie bill here [KATU.com] (Thanks to Hillary Gibson!)
Burgerville Opens Drive-Thrus to Bikes
(Photo: Brynt D. Payne)
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Way to make people feel guilty. Nothing ruins a great hearty meal like the realization that you just ate your weeks quota of fats and carbs.
Maybe they should train the waiters to call out the calorie count too.
So, you ordered the Spam egg sausage and spam sandwich with a side order of spam and buried in three cheese topping, with an extra thick caramel shake blended with M&Ms... that will be 15 dollars 20 cents, 5730 calories, 7x the daily fat requirement, and 5 days worth of sodium. Anything else? Cool. Heres your $10 off your next EKG.
Burgerville also uses seasonal and (IIRC) locally grown ingredients when possible. They are truely one of the coolest fast food chains.
If it prints on the receipt, can't they make it so that it shows up on the register? Either on the order screen that the customer sees, or for the cashier, who can tell you the calorie count before you pay, if you request the info?
There was an upscale healthy restaurant in Toronto that included nutritional information on both the menu and the receipt. The advantage of having it on the receipt is that the receipt is something you can take with you. A lot of people use tools like Daily Plate, FitDay, etc, to track their meals throughout the day, and a receipt with calorie counts on it would be really awesome.
Of course, it should still be available ahead of time, whether on the menu or in a nutritional brochure or whatever. But a take home version is definitely desirable.
Love the Burgerville. I don't actually get sick when I eat there!
That sounds like an attempt to comply with disclosure without discouraging a patron from ordering something horrible, which I think is a cop-out.
It wouldn't be difficult to put approximate calorie counts next to items and then put additions for different buns/cheeses, etc. Even if the calorie count is within a few hundred calories, that'll tell you whether that triple bacon-cheeseburger with a fried egg smothered in hollandaise sauce and topped with deep-fried onion rings on a jelly-doughnut bun is going to give you a heart-attack.
Even better, how about both? Post approximate calorie counts on the menu, and then the actual ones on the receipt as a souvenir.
@MostlyHarmless: Fortunately Americans never look at their receipts anyway, so if they could only list the calories on the parsley paper we could all eat guilt-free once again.
I appreciate the comedy, but in case there is an ounce of earnestness in your comment, it is fairly clear that Burgerville, the land of blackberry milkshakes and cherry chipotle pulled pork sandwiches, has no business desire to guilt their customers. That said, they may be trying to guilt our government regarding the calorie listing laws by trying to make it as accurate as possible.
As the worker punches the cash register with your order, how about having a giant TV screen adding the calories so everyone within 5 miles can see how many calories you are going to consume if you finish the meal. All this stuff has gone too far. I feel Uncle Sam is too much in my life already. It just seems more and more federal government laws, regulations and the like. Is everyone so stupid and helpless that they need this kind of stuff? Whatever happened to freedom and personal responsibility? I don't want the guilt trips that these laws create.
@MostlyHarmless: What's wrong with more knowledge?
After all, just because you're not aware that you're about to eat something that might kill you, doesn't mean it might not still kill you.
@Monty: Actually I was about to mention that I never see my receipts either, unless I am signing them. In that case they would have to make the calorie count prominent looking.
@TinaBringMeTheAx: I was kidding about it of course. I actually prefer knowing when I am being tricked into having a 2000 calorie fruit smoothie.
@☠Grяrяrяrяrя sings the doom song now!: Its kind of redundant, but I suppose it is probably the only accurate and practical solution. or neither.
But I would imagine it would help people with their math if they had to add in all the calorie counts for the extras before ordering. But then, it will backfire terribly, since apparently most people are lazy AND bad at math. They'll just ignore the calorie count. Just like my sister used to ignore the price tag when we were kids.
I told my wife about this plan. She looked at me with a grimace and said "Thats so MEAN!"
I lol'ed.
I'm in favor of nutritional information being available to restaurant-goers, but this is horrible. It's like telling somebody after their speech that their fly was open the whole time.
This is great if you're keeping a food diary and need to track your calories. It's nice to have something to refer back to when recording your food for the day.
But, with that said, the information also needs to be disclosed beforehand as well.
I think it should be on the receipt, although maybe not as the sole location. The reason is, as someone mentioned, so you can track your calorie intake easily with tracking software.
However, how many people who think calorie counts should be on menus also know how many calories are in the food they prepare at home? I'm curious. You can figure it out, but I'm curious how many bother to do it.
"Under this plan, the only way to find out how many calories you'd save by ordering a fruit smoothie instead of a shake is to buy both."
No, you can compare all you want on their website:
Perhaps, but then they'd have people customizing and re-customizing things as they order.
@Fujikopez: Yup! Their salmon fish and chips are amazing, and all their dairy products are Tillamook.
@HawkWolf: I use a food diary and for home cooked foods you have to kinda approximate. The USDA has average calorie counts for most homecooked meals, as well as some fast food and packaged foods. [www.ars.usda.gov]
Or perhaps consumers should be aware of what type of food they normally eat? Why is it the restaurants responsibility to make sure you are absolutely aware of the amount of filth put into your body? Check the website beforehand.
Besides, anyone who is counting calories should not be eating at any fast food place, let alone a burger joint.
@Mr.Duke: Who said anything about laws? The chain is doing this as a voluntary action -- and if it helps them sell smoothies instead of shakes and otherwise promote their healthier options, they're able to transition customers to less commoditized products and distinguish themselves in the marketplace.
@Bush2008: If you read the article, they offer more than typical burger joint items -- and their receipts also offer suggestions on what you could do next time (ie. the calories which could be saved by having a smoothie instead of a shake).
@HawkWolf: "The reason is, as someone mentioned, so you can track your calorie intake easily with tracking software." BRILLIANT!
Every restaurant's cash registers are connected to the internet, and you just (voluntarily) give your email address to the order monkey, and all the nutritional info is sent to your email as an attachment in a standard format for import into some tacking program.
@italianscallion33: It really depends on what sort of register system they're using. Some POS units probably simply cannot do that sort of displaying without a total overhaul.
The newer systems using full sized LCD monitors which are hooked into tower PCs are a heck of a lot more flexible to customize display output on the screens compared to the old 1-2 line display systems that use IBM's custom hardware out of the 80s.
Countdown to someone attempting to return their order because "I didn't know it had so many calories" in 5....4....3....
Hardly anyone looks at receipts anyway - so many customers will be none the wiser, and those who DO NOT want to know, can just crumple up the receipt without looking at it and toss it.
P.S. I love Burgerville - but although I know it's higher quality food, it's not *that* much higher quality that I think it's worth the price premium.
@Fujikopez: Agreed, I live in Chicago and look forward to my annual visit to Portland, and annual visit to Burgerville.
"But if the calorie info only appears on the receipt, isn't it too late? Under this plan, the only way to find out how many calories you'd save by ordering a fruit smoothie instead of a shake is to buy both."
Wow, how on earth could a reasonably intelligent person not understand how calorie counting works?
I hope when we get nutritional disclosure that it is accurate. I doubt that when these fast food places test their stuff that it is dripping with grease like it often is in reality. I HAD to eat fast food twice over the past week (usually only occurs once every couple months) due to my car being worked on. Both the McDonald's and Captain D's (a regional seafood joint) meals were nasty greasy which my body regretted for 2 days. I did not know french fries, hamburger, clam strips, and hush puppies could hold so much grease. I love all those foods and cook plenty of fatty foods myself at home, but for the love of god what is up with the quantities of grease at these places?
@wvFrugan: I was starving so picked up Long John Silvers on my way home from work. 20 minute drive home the box the food was in was soggy because so much grease. Doesn't bother the bowels unless its white castle though.
@MostlyHarmless: Well, I mean let's face it, most people aren't going to read the calorie count. If you're standing in line at a burger joint, chances are just about everything is going to be bad for you anyway and you know that. But, for the rare person that does actually want to know, it can be there.
You're right, though, I certainly wouldn't expect anyone these days to be able to add in their head!
One thing that I do find useful after looking at calorie counts for fast food joints is finding that the "salad" had 1500 calories but the double-cheeseburger and fries had only 1200, so screw the salad! :3
@brain_grenade: I thought I made that up, but it turns out it exists!
I want mine with a side of chocolate-covered bacon.
@TinaBringMeTheAx: Knowledge has always been extremely dangerous to those in society that seek personal gain by keeping the populace ignorant.
I love this idea, am all for it becoming mandatory at junk food places large enough to be a chain.
Who cares if "most people don't look at receipts, anyway"? A whole bunch of people thought that it was a brilliant move to use their houses as ATMs. We aren't exactly a brilliant society, folks.
I look at nearly EVERY receipt I get because I track costs, and would certainly look at it even more if it contained dietary information. It'd bring my mind more into the buying and eating process rather than letting the highly subliminal advertising industry run the whole show.
And even the sticks in the mud passing for citizenry here may find reading receipts to be useful if they had this sort of information on them. Seriously, how many of you have actually gone to find the "nutrition information" poster in your local fast food place, located your entire order then read the 10 point black type over a dark colored background?
Customized receipts FTW!!!!
@MostlyHarmless: So your philosophy is basically "ignorance is bliss" (until the ambulance carts you away). Ok, that's valid.
@Fujikopez: Where is this "Burgerville" - I have been in northern Oregon and have never seen their police department nor City Hall. I call shenanigans!
@From the cubicle of PGibbons: But in this case, it is the (mostly) ignorant American populace who is getting the knowledge.
The corporation already had (if they wanted) the knowledge of exactly what everyone was eating.
This burger vendor is not the government. They are not responding to any mandate; they are responding to the market. And you know what? If they lose business because of it, it will be out the door faster that a rational thought in an NRA member's head.
@Bush2008: Sometimes you are with a group and your choices are quite limited. Go off on my own to a healthy tofu hut or socialize with the crew at Fatburger or whatever. With more information available at these marginal places, there's a way to eat smarter.
And, you might decide to dump out a good portion of the fries once you see the cost of them.
@wvFrugan: These fast food chains are all just factories for the biodiesel cabal nowadays. Too much reliance on cooking oil? Send a soldier to McDonald's to take them out.
@Monty: Some of us like to know this sort of information so we can eat better. I guess if you're the "It's tasty so I should eat it regardless of what it is" type, then you'd rather not know though?
@Kogenta: Would an old unit be able to count the calories though? Not that it's that complicated, but if it can't display an arbitrary number, I doubt it could generate it either..
Not only should this data be on the receipt (hopefully split out by person/order), it should also be shown in real time on the register when ordering:
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! That smoothie has *how* many calories? Forget it, just give me a water instead..."
@From the cubicle of PGibbons: My philosophy is more like "Joke about it, whether or not it goes over the top."
Two brilliant ideas.