From September 2007

By Fiona Soltes

If the Weight Watchers crowd in San Diego has a collective hero, it might well be Brett Weiss. The area developer for the Extreme Pita restaurant chain recently incorporated a solution that tells each diner the amount of fat, carbs, protein and calories in his or her meal – taking into account each substitution or special request.

It’s called the Nutricate Receipt system (www.nutricate.com). It became operational at Extreme Pita in March, and Weiss says he’s been “very, very happy” with the positive response from customers, the increased number of return visits – and word that his restaurants have been a topic of discussion at a Weight Watchers meeting.

“Our initial feedback has been just phenomenal,” Weiss says. “I’ve had responses like, ‘Thank you for doing this. We wish all restaurants would provide this info.’”

At some point, all restaurants may have to do just that. Due to the overwhelming growth of America’s collective girth, various states have been considering legislation that will require eating establishments to offer such details to customers. Nutricate offers a chance for restaurant owners to be ahead of the curve, building brand loyalty with a “we care” message in the process.

In addition to offering the numbers on what’s been ordered, printed receipts provide coupons, health quizzes and suggestions for saving calories and fat by, for example, substituting sauces or switching grilled chicken for fried.

“We all understand it’s important for consumers to know what they’re putting into their bodies,” says Nutricate founder Jay Ferro, who developed the concept in 1994 as a new college grad planning to open his own restaurant. Nutritional fact labels had been mandated for food products just a few years prior, but restaurants were exempt.

“When I was writing my business plan, I wondered why restaurants didn’t have to participate in [that] legislation,” he says. “Once I started diving into it, I realized that restaurants are a different beast than packaged food. They have a select number of menu items, but when you look at all the different ways those items can be ordered, I realized how impractical it is to disclose nutrition information in a pre-printed format.”

Nutritional values per item
What made more sense was to calculate the nutritional values for each item as it was ordered, with, for example, no sauce, or extra mayo, or with vegetables on the side instead of French fries. Ferro received patents for the new system, but since it was the height of the “supersize me” era, he held off implementing it until the timing was right.

Ferro went on to open his restaurant, Silvergreens, and, in 2006, as consumer desires for health information increased, installed the first Nutricate system. Even though focus groups showed that customers wanted the numbers, he was still concerned that they would be surprised by what they actually saw on the receipts.

“Extreme Pita is a fairly healthy concept,” he says. “But Silvergreens, that was more of a challenge. We have burgers, fries and a variety of menu items that are not perceived as being as healthy. And really that’s at the core of what the industry is concerned about with legislation. Are customers going to run out of the store and never come back when they see the information?

“But the thinking was, ‘Let’s continue to educate the consumer on how easy it is to eat healthy at my restaurant.’ Not everything on the menu will be healthy, but the fact that they know that they have a choice, the accountability ends up with the consumer. We’re just giving them the tools to make the choices that are right for them.”

Weiss received a call from Nutricate last year telling him about the service; since Extreme Pita is a quick-serve restaurant known for its large selection of fresh ingredients, it was an easy fit. The eatery has installed the system in two of its California stores, and is in the process of adding more.

Differentiator
“We’ve always been looking for some way to differentiate ourselves, and we really believed Nutricate would be that ticket,” Weiss says. The restaurants offer “a nutritional board and pocket guides, but this just takes it to another level.” (One requirement for restaurants interested in Nutricate is that they already have identified the nutritional information for menu items. If they don’t, Nutricate can recommend companies that can help.)

“Ninety-nine of the top 100 chains already have it, but it can be tough for consumers to find,” Ferro says. Some use software to determine values, while others are more scientific and actually place their menu items in a blender to get the nutritional calculation.

In Ferro’s mind, Nutricate works because it’s component-driven rather than menu-driven. He points to figures from the National Restaurant Association showing that more than 70 percent of all meals are customized, and believes he offers a win-win solution for diners and restaurants alike.

Granted, Nutricate is located in health-conscious California, and some have questioned whether consumers in, say, the Midwest will want as much information about their restaurant meals. Weiss isn’t concerned about the concept’s portability.

“If it’s cool in California, then it will be cool in Iowa,” he says, predicting that as a result of the recent focus on nutrition labeling, “consumers are going to be demanding it.”