Restaurants that Don't Post their Nutrition Info

simplysonya
simplysonya Posts: 12 Member
edited September 26 in Food and Nutrition
Hello,
We went out of town this weekend and ended up eating at a couple of restaurants that didn't have their nutrition info posted.
We tried to do the best we could to pick healthy choices, but what do you do in this instance?
Does anyone know of a website where I could find nutrition info for restaurants that don't post them...like Cracker Barrel?

It should be illegal for them to not have that information public!

Thanks,

Sonya

Replies

  • Mightytaco84
    Mightytaco84 Posts: 76 Member
    http://www.crackerbarrel.com/about.cfm?doc_id=5#8

    This is their reasoning for not having that information. I don't think a restaurant should be required to do so, since it costs them money to get their items tested and retested. Not every mom and pop restaurant could afford that.
  • zmobiegirl
    zmobiegirl Posts: 1
    You can get a mobile calorie tracker and guesstimate, but I don't think restaurants should be legally required to post that information. It's our responsibility, since we're talking about our own bodies, and you can use basic research to figure out ABOUT how many calories something has. If you order pancakes loaded with syrup and fried pork, you know it's not as good for you as oatmeal.
  • kdouglas11
    kdouglas11 Posts: 185 Member
    Interesting, I thought they had to provide information on request.
  • garysgirl719
    garysgirl719 Posts: 235 Member
    Isn't it law in New York now that it is provided. I love the way Starbucks has not starting putting the calories on all of their "treats".
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 Member
    Best guess via a similar restaraunt's items is about all you ... well it's about all you can do if you've already gone and eaten there, but ask them for nutritional info at the site (big chains are required after a certain number of locations) and if a chain doesn't have the info tell them you won't be coming back until that's available. Vote with your feet and your dining out dollars for the places that do.
  • Kassul
    Kassul Posts: 16
    Typically legislation on requiring nutritional information for restaurants includes a bit about the size of the place.
    That way, mom & pop's don't need to worry about it, but chain restaurants with loads of locations? They can and should.

    I'm not sure that the crackerbarrel website actually has any 'reasoning' for not having that information. They simply assert that they "cannot" provide it.
    I have never eaten there, but it does seem kind of odd to me that a company that (as of Sept 2009) had "591 full-service locations located in 41 states" couldn't provide estimates.

    Are their foods really that variable from location to location, from order to order? Even something along the lines of this would be helpful:
    Item A - Calories(400-450), etc etc...
  • perrytyra
    perrytyra Posts: 357 Member
    http://www.crackerbarrel.com/about.cfm?doc_id=5#8

    This is their reasoning for not having that information. I don't think a restaurant should be required to do so, since it costs them money to get their items tested and retested. Not every mom and pop restaurant could afford that.

    I never thought about that. I think it is great that they provide healthy alternatives like the boiled chicken(not sure how tasty that would be) skim milk, etc.....
  • simplysonya
    simplysonya Posts: 12 Member
    Yes, I suppose I understand the challenges for mom and pops, but after looking at the nutrition information for Applebees, it can be alarming how much something that appears to be healthy may not be.
    For example, a lot of the low cal, low fat meals at Applebess are extremely high in sodium, which is not necessarily a good trade off. It's nice to know that kind of info.

    I tried the 6 grain & granola pancake breakfast with turkey sausage and no syrup, so was really looking forward to seeing the nutrition info for that, but I couldn't even find something similar with posted nutrition info.

    Thanks,

    Sonya
  • elliecolorado
    elliecolorado Posts: 1,040
    I live in a small town where the only chain restaurant is Subway everything else is small mom and pop restaurants, so I know that they don't have their nutrition info available. When I go out I just find something similar from a large chain restaurant and guesstimate based on that. I don't worry about it to much because I don't go out and eat a lot. Not it shouldn't be legally required that they post their nutrition info, like was mentioned above it is expensive to have your food tested.
  • zenfocus
    zenfocus Posts: 106 Member
    I've had to do this with a lot of local restaurants in town. I've got pretty good at guessing now what's in items of food. You can't always be exact but you have to do your best. I'm also pretty good at measuring portions based on hand size. You can measure things in restaurants by just using your hands!
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    Guesses are the best you can do. If it is a big chain and I don't know their nutrition info before hand I ask for it. If they say I can get it on-line I ask if they provide free wifi so I can check with my netbook or tablet whichever one I have with me. If they don't I nicely say thank-you but I will go eat elsewhere. Even places that tell calories like Applebees because I watch sodium I push for them to make it available on site. I understand with small businesses, although even they could give an estimate using one of the many recipe calorie calculators out there, many of which are free, but for huge chains there is no excuse. I vote with my dollars on that, but also encourage laws to make posting nutritional information (at least calories and I would like sodium numbers as well) for chain restaurants, preferably right on the menu or menu board.
  • LexieSweetheart
    LexieSweetheart Posts: 793 Member
    all the info you need http://www.shapefit.com/restaurants/cracker-barrel-calories.html
  • eating4balance
    eating4balance Posts: 743 Member
    Hello,
    We went out of town this weekend and ended up eating at a couple of restaurants that didn't have their nutrition info posted.
    We tried to do the best we could to pick healthy choices, but what do you do in this instance?
    Does anyone know of a website where I could find nutrition info for restaurants that don't post them...like Cracker Barrel?

    It should be illegal for them to not have that information public!

    Thanks,

    Sonya

    There are a lot of cracker barrel entries in the database where people either have guessed or requested the information. I would check those out to see if your food is on there.
  • missbp
    missbp Posts: 601 Member
    It is the law now in NY and some people hate it and some people love it. I am happy to report, I am not one of the LOVERS of this new law.

    M
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
    This is their reasoning for not having that information. I don't think a restaurant should be required to do so, since it costs them money to get their items tested and retested.
    I didn't spot a reason, I thought they just said they can't give that information. Then again, it's pretty late here.

    Do restaurants really need to get their food tested? Maybe I am missing something, but I'm not a pro and I can work out the calories in food that I cook? Surely they know what goes into their meals? I'd assumed that because of ingredient / cost control, they'd have a pretty good idea of the quantities that go into each dish.
  • McPenguin
    McPenguin Posts: 67
    A very long time ago, I used to work in a restaurant cooking for upwards of 500 to 1000 people a day. I'd say the "reason" is laziness.

    I can cook a meal, measure all my ingredients, and get a calorie calculator to tell me what's in it. BUT for it to be the same calories every time I make it, I have to stick to those measurements.

    In the restaurant, when we cooked, we didn't measure quantities of oil we cooked with. We eyeballed ingredients and just poured oil. It was too fast paced to do anything but. (Or so we told ourselves.) When something started to burn in a pan, more oil was added. To make lettuce look fresher for longer, it was spritzed or tossed with oil. Pasta was coated in it after being drained so that the noodles wouldn't stick together. You get the idea. There really was no way to PROVE that every time someone was eating something that it had the same ingredients and caloric value.

    It was a 'mom and pop' shop - very hit or miss on the exact nature of these recipes. Man I am so glad I don't work there anymore.
  • simplysonya
    simplysonya Posts: 12 Member
    Awesome! Thanks Lexie!
  • simplysonya
    simplysonya Posts: 12 Member
    A very long time ago, I used to work in a restaurant cooking for upwards of 500 to 1000 people a day. I'd say the "reason" is laziness.

    I can cook a meal, measure all my ingredients, and get a calorie calculator to tell me what's in it. BUT for it to be the same calories every time I make it, I have to stick to those measurements.

    In the restaurant, when we cooked, we didn't measure quantities of oil we cooked with. We eyeballed ingredients and just poured oil. It was too fast paced to do anything but. (Or so we told ourselves.) When something started to burn in a pan, more oil was added. To make lettuce look fresher for longer, it was spritzed or tossed with oil. Pasta was coated in it after being drained so that the noodles wouldn't stick together. You get the idea. There really was no way to PROVE that every time someone was eating something that it had the same ingredients and caloric value.

    It was a 'mom and pop' shop - very hit or miss on the exact nature of these recipes. Man I am so glad I don't work there anymore.

    Wow! Who knew?
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    This is their reasoning for not having that information. I don't think a restaurant should be required to do so, since it costs them money to get their items tested and retested. Not every mom and pop restaurant could afford that.

    I agree. I generally hate chain restaurants, as I find their food sub-par to most of the independent restaurants around me. I just estimate as best I can when I go out to eat, make good choices, and keep in mind what a portion of meat or fish or whatever should look like.
  • qtpiesmom
    qtpiesmom Posts: 394 Member
    http://www.exercise4weightloss.com/weight-watchers-points.html


    This is a website I found that has a lot of information on various places
  • ivyjbres
    ivyjbres Posts: 612 Member
    From working in food service for almost half of my life, I can tell you its a better idea to make healthy choices based on common knowledge than to rely on posted nutrition info. The nutritional info is based on 1 perfectly prepared dish, with no substitutions or alterations. And most of the time, that's not what you're getting. Suppliers will change or substitute products in a restaurant's order all the time, and we just have to find a way to make it work and taste right. We can't actually guarantee that it will be anywhere near the posted into.
  • wsheaf82
    wsheaf82 Posts: 248 Member
    A very long time ago, I used to work in a restaurant cooking for upwards of 500 to 1000 people a day. I'd say the "reason" is laziness.

    I can cook a meal, measure all my ingredients, and get a calorie calculator to tell me what's in it. BUT for it to be the same calories every time I make it, I have to stick to those measurements.

    In the restaurant, when we cooked, we didn't measure quantities of oil we cooked with. We eyeballed ingredients and just poured oil. It was too fast paced to do anything but. (Or so we told ourselves.) When something started to burn in a pan, more oil was added. To make lettuce look fresher for longer, it was spritzed or tossed with oil. Pasta was coated in it after being drained so that the noodles wouldn't stick together. You get the idea. There really was no way to PROVE that every time someone was eating something that it had the same ingredients and caloric value.

    It was a 'mom and pop' shop - very hit or miss on the exact nature of these recipes. Man I am so glad I don't work there anymore.
    From working in food service for almost half of my life, I can tell you its a better idea to make healthy choices based on common knowledge than to rely on posted nutrition info. The nutritional info is based on 1 perfectly prepared dish, with no substitutions or alterations. And most of the time, that's not what you're getting. Suppliers will change or substitute products in a restaurant's order all the time, and we just have to find a way to make it work and taste right. We can't actually guarantee that it will be anywhere near the posted into.

    Both of these are unfortunately correct. I worked at a chain restaurant about 7 years ago. I worked for that food chain at 4 different locations for 6 years. Everyone that I worked at never measured out ingredients that were not already prepped before hand. Even though there was specific instructions on how each meal was supposed to be prepared. The fast past cooking during dinner rush and lunch rush just made it unfathomable to measure the correct amount of every non-premeasured ingredient in every meal. And it would get worse if the size of the rush coming was misjudged and you run out of the prepped food or ingredients.

    So yes, eating out is really bad for a diet even if the nutritional facts are given.
  • DaniJeanine
    DaniJeanine Posts: 473 Member
    Check out the Eat This Not That series of books. They give you the best possible options for chain and non-chain restaurants. Here's a link to their online "Menu Decoder" that gives you the inside info about the non-chain items...

    http://eatthis.menshealth.com/menu-decoder/
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