Make It Healthy

Menu items labeled as “healthy” grew 65 percent between the second quarters of 2009 and 2010, according to Mintel Menu Insights.

From Q2 2007 to Q2 2010, Mintel research finds there has been a 10 percent increase in menu items that contain fruits or vegetables and a 12 percent increase in menu items labeled vegetarian. Still, according to the latest recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC), restaurants still have a ways to go.

The DGAC is urging restaurants to include more specific information on kids’ menus, noting that “Prevention of obesity in childhood is the single most powerful public health approach to combating America’s obesity epidemic.”

Adults need their fruit and vegetables as much as children do, according to the DGAC, and restaurant menus should provide them. Meanwhile, Mintel’s research finds that among restaurant-goers who claim to be eating more healthfully when dining out, more than half are doing so by including more fruits and vegetables.

“Healthy menu development opportunities exist in providing vegetable- and seafood-based appetizers, soups, salads and entrées,” says Eric Giandelone, director of food service research at Mintel. “An added bonus in offering these ingredients is… they will naturally cut down on the fat and calories of a menu item.”