You are very observant! I noticed the same thing while I was away on Spring Break.
Some states have made a law that requires restaurants to post the number of calories in food items. Massachusetts, California, Maine, New Jersey, and Delaware have all -passed laws requiring the calorie posting. The idea is to give consumers more information about the food choices so they can make a decision based on taste as well as nutrition.
Some research has been done on the effectiveness of this added information - does it change people's food choices? "The Stanford study, released in January (2010), looked at customers at New York City Starbucks locations and found that customers ordered an average of 6% fewer calories (232 versus 247) after labeling rules were implemented. Most of the calorie reductions came from consumers’ food (rather than beverage) choices; Starbucks’ revenues were unchanged."
Source:http://www.rimag.com/article/452343-Menu_Labeling_Full_Disclosure.php
Update: As part of the Health Care bill passed on Sunday, March 21 all resturants with greater than 20 locations will required to list the calorie levels on their menus.
ReplyDeleteThis law supercedes any state or local laws so we will see this all over the US.
That is so interesting. I never noticed that, which is surprising because I lived there for a long time. There is a question that I have had for a long time that is similar. It is: "Why do restaurants in California get graded on cleanliness and have to display a sign in their window with the grade that they got (ie: A,B,C) and restaurants in Texas don't?"
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