Response to my letter to Carrabba's Re: no nutrition info

melsinct

I have to eat at Carrabba's here and there for work, mainly because a client who comes into town likes it. Fine. However, it annoyed me to no end that a national chain was not posting their nutrition information. I fired off an email to the company complaining about the lack of information available and I know I have seen others complaining about it on MFP.

Their response?

"Thank you for your interest in Carrabba's. I am sorry to say we do not have nutritional information for our menu items. However, we have many guests with special dietary needs and requests. Since most of our dishes are prepared to order, we are able to accommodate most special requests. Just let us know how you would like your meal prepared, and if we have the ingredients available, we are more than happy to make it for you. Just let us know!


We are currently working with a team of nutritionist and we will have nutritional information available in 2012."


I believe the health care legislation passed in the US last year REQUIRES them to reveal the info in 2012. It's not out of the kindness of their hearts. I'll just be happy when more places do give us the information!

NKF92879

jerks

ajbeans

That's surprising. I used to love Carrabba's, when we had one nearby, but that was before I started tracking my food. I assumed that, as large of a chain as they are, they'd have that available. Huh.

mhig011975

They have good food, but if they are being A-holes about your letter, don't eat at their restaurants

porcelain_doll

You can assume that most things you eat there are between 700-1200 cals, most of them probably closer to the 1200. There are many Carrabba's items in the MFP database; not sure where the cal info came from, but it's in there.

joehempel

Sounds like a perfectly good explanation to me.

They aren't REQUIRED at the time of the writing to reveal the nutritional information. Should they as a customer courtesy, yeah, but I didn't read any jerki-ness in the letter.

But they HAVE to have it next year...and then you'll see how bad their food is LOL.

Kelly_Wilson1990

It is not hard to get nutrition information on food. I use http://nutritiondata.self.com/ all the time to calculate the nutrition is foods I make. If this restaurant is having to work with nutritionists then they know their food is unhealthy.

vim_n_vigor

I had that exact same response from Buffalo Wild Wings. I don't kid myself about thinking that their stuff is at all low-cal, but how can I plan for it when I have no idea what they are doing to that food?

mialsya

I'm having that problem with Buffalo Wild Wings. They changed their menu and didn't update their nutritional info. First of all, you have to email them to request the info, it's not readily available. Second, it's all WRONG. It's been 2 weeks and I am still fighting them. I will NEVER eat their again. It's not worth it. When a restaurant won't post their nutritional info, it makes me wonder what they are trying to hide. If they won't tell me what's in my food, I don't need to put that into my body. Period.

bethdris

Its bad when places like that WON'T give out that info and places lke McDonalds, BK, etc have it plastered all over!

BrownEyedG1rl

I don't see anything wrong with their response. It's not like they were mean. Sounds like they are getting their info together.

I love Carrabba's and I just assume that everything there is bad for you so it's a treat every now and then for me.

jknight73

They don't provide their nutritional information for a reason. I'm sure once we see it next year, anyone trying to eat healthier will probably never step foot in their again. Carabba's is good but it's because of all the fat and salt in their food...even though it's yummy we know it's not good for us and in 2012 we'll have documented proof. :noway:

melsinct

You can assume that most things you eat there are between 700-1200 cals, most of them probably closer to the 1200. There are many Carrabba's items in the MFP database; not sure where the cal info came from, but it's in there.

I have a restaurant nutrition app on my phone (Restaurant Nutrition for Android) that lists some of the Carraba's items. Most are closer to 1200. The grilled salmon sounds like a good choice but it is 890 calories!!!!!

naesue

Bennigans is the same way and I am so frustrated with it!!!!! My family lokes to go there on a regular basis on Sundays after church and it is so hard to figure out what to eat! I haven't had the problem with Buffalo Wild wings though. I did have to e-mail them in order for them to send it to me and I saved it on my computer. There are other places that I have gone and they will bring me either a copy of the nutrition facts to keep or Bob evans let me look at their copy to get my information and I had to give it back. Joe's Crab shack is another one that doesn't have their information available at all!!

yaddayaddayadda

The chain restaurants must post the calories for each menu item on the menu in the county in which I work. I heard on the news that this has had an negative impact on their business b/c people do use the information when making choices. (some of the lower calorie menu items are less expensive - I guess)

I bet that soon they will charge more for lower calorie meals... ARGHHH!

tam120

I was recently informed that the nutritional info restaurants provide isn't necessarily correct anyway. Because most everything is made in-house, the ingredients can vary greatly by location, stuff like how much butter or oil is used or how much is in a portion. For me, it's easier to just stay home and make it myself. I know that's not always an option for those of you who have social lives. lol

toots99

Sounds like a perfectly good explanation to me.

They aren't REQUIRED at the time of the writing to reveal the nutritional information. Should they as a customer courtesy, yeah, but I didn't read any jerki-ness in the letter.

But they HAVE to have it next year...and then you'll see how bad their food is LOL.

^What he said.:happy:

Qarol

I guess I don't agree that restaurants should have to post this info. It'll be nice to have, but to have the gov't force them to do it is wrong, imo. I'm sick of the gov't butting in everywhere anyway, but that's a separate argument.

And restaurants like that are hard to get accurate anyway, when you have different people making the same dish, some might put a little extra of this or that in, and the posted nutritional info is suddenly not accurate. Unless they make it assembly line style, where everyone gets the exact same dish, it's going to be hard to be accurate, anyway.

merrillfoster

I agree with those that don't take issue with the letter. I'm not going to kid myself and say their stuff is healthy, but they are under no obligation to reveal the information. Their letter was perfectly courteous--I mean, they didn't have to respond at all. If you are that desperate to eat somewhere with posted information, try the Macaroni Grill (same kind of food). Also, they would have to be working with a nutritionist to gather this information--that is no indication of the healthiness (or unhealthiness) of their food, there is just no other accurate way to do it. So yeah, I think that their letter was just fine. You're making the choice to eat there.

mbches14

I recently read a journal article on this topic, saying that chain restaurants (especially fast food restaurants) must have their nutrition information available to consumers, but not necessarily on display. The article then went on to say that many chain restaurants have been able to find loopholes in order to "hide" their nutritional information. For example, chain restaurants might make things "available" to customers, but make it incredibly difficult to find. Like having to up the ladder in order to get the information you're looking for. As long as there's some way for you to get it, that fits the definition of "available," no matter how much trouble you have to go through.

janiecaron

are you reading the same letter everyone else has. I thought the reply was very courteous and explained everything.

livinginwoods

Well. The Government should keep their noses out of it. If the restaurants wants to provide as a service, great. Applebees has a low cal menu and so do some others. I will still eat at places they don't show the nutritional info. I thought the letter was nice also.

krbn2

Carrabba's politeness was the very least they could do. Can I have all y'all houses and cars as long as I ask nicely?

Misestimating the calorie content of a meal by 500 calories is quite a lot, and if you have to eat somewhere multiple times for work it can really add up. Companies don't have to have my best interests at heart, but I don't have to appreciate it when I'm getting hurt as a result.

tinamatteson

I ate at a Carrabba's today (in Shreveport, Louisiana) and was seated at the "full service dinner bar" where I had a direct view of the cooks who were grilling the meat. I was dismayed to see that the steaks started out with a huge piece of butter on them (probably at least 1/4 cup of butter in each piece.) No wonder their grilled meat contains so much fat.

NKF92879

jerks

Yeah, so... I didn't write this. :ohwell: I've changed my password, and I'm sorry to the OP.