June 2, 2008
City Says 3/4 Chain Restaurants Ignoring Calorie Rules
Courtesy NY Post.
The city’s Health Department has been schooling restaurants on the new law that requires any eatery with over 15 locations nationwide to display calorie information on all food and beverages. After numerous lawsuits from the New York State Restaurant Association, a judge ruled that the city could impose the new law, and it went into affect May 5th.
But many restaurateurs are ignoring the directive, and the Health Department has been citing them with gusto. 81 chain restaurants have been cited, though the city will hold off issuing fines until July 18th, at which point scofflaws could be forced to pay as much as $2,000. "We see this as an educational period. We are not issuing fines, we are trying to help the owners of the establishments understand the new rule," Health Department Deputy Commissioner Jessica Leighton told the Post.
Leighton estimates that about one quarter of the 2,000 restaurants affected by the rule are currently in compliance. Among them are the Dunkin’ Donuts at 243 Third Avenue, managed by Amin Bashirul. After he posted the info, he’s watched his customers change their habits, telling the Post, “I got one customer, he used to buy one of these [630-calorie chocolate-chip muffins] every day. He didn't buy it today. He bought something else.” And McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner recently blasted calorie info laws at a Chicago trade show as “redundant and flawed.”
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630 calories for a freakin' muffin is ridiculous.
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he should go to his local bakery/deli and get his 630 calorie muffin from there so he doesnt have to feel so bad about himself.
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I am so glad the city placing such an emphasis on this, now that the issues of ancient water mains and faulty cranes have been resolved.
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Obesity and heart disease kill more New Yorkers than crane accident. While I'm not certain this is the best approach to the obesity problem, it seems to me an appropriate area for government to be concerned about.
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I heart Crown Fried Chicken. Best spicy chicken sandwich ever. And chicken rings: what a bargain!
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I wonder if the movie theater chains are subject to this ordinance. They should be. That couple in line at the concession in front of me this past weekend probably had no idea how many calories were in those nachos with liquid cheese, large bucket popcorn, with super sized Cokes.
And I wish the city would fine every movie theater showing that crappy Indiana Jones movie 2 grand, and also tell George Lucas he is all washed up.
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@ JMH: No, he's saying it's a bad thing that his informed customers are buying less.
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If keeping customers ignorant is a key part of your business, maybe you should reconsider what you're selling.
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Agree with Art Stewel, at least with respect to the idea that movie theaters should be required to provide this information too.
Though I suppose the variance in how much butter flavoring is on a bucket of popcorn, or how much cheese is on the nachos, would make those calorie estimates subject to a pretty wide margin of error.
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Wendy's also has yet to list the calorie count on their menu's.
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@Art Stewel Liquid cheese is the best!!! Mmmm.
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@AHT
It's hard to tell, but from how the story reads it sounds like he choose something else from inside the store. So it's just helping people make more informed decisions, not necessarily driving people away or selling less. At least from that quote.
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@AHT, @driftwood
Agree with driftwood; it doesn't sound like he's passing judgement either way. And the full Skinner quotation from The Bismarck Tribune is, "McDonald's Corp. has offered abundant calorie information for 30 years," which my memory confirms. Either way, anyone who needs to see calorie information on buttered popcorn or a fast food milkshake to know it should be an irregular treat is probably obese already.
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Why don't they just cook all their greasy shit in Olestra and let their patrons blow it out their asses. Result? 0 calories.