How Do You Handle Businesses Without Nutritional Info Readily Available?

Options
ehju0901
ehju0901 Posts: 357 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I recently ordered a coffee and a small breakfast from Door Dash from a local coffee shop here and found that they don't have nutritional information available on their website. While it isn't going to "break the bank" or anything calorie wise, I still like logging my foods.

This is a locally owned business so I'm not super surprised the information isn't available, but I also don't really want to be "that guy" and ask if they can send it to me. I'm sure they are busy enough and I don't want to be a pain.

I'm sure others have run into this, I'm curious what your experiences have been? I'm just going to find a like item in the database and estimate, even if the completionism in me is going crazy. :tongue:

Replies

  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    edited October 2021
    Options
    Is is something you can break down to individual parts (like 2 eggs, 2 slices toast, 2 strips bacon)? If so, I would do that and find reasonably complimentary entries in the database. Really, the best you can do is estimate and enter that. One breakfast that isn't 100% accurate isn't going to, as you said, break the bank
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,991 Member
    Options
    You can also use "Quick Calories" and just guesstimate a calorie number.

    Most food eaten out is a guess, even with the posted nutrition. You can't really pin down restaurant food that well unless it's some tightly portion-controlled place like McDonalds or Subway.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,141 Member
    Options
    I weigh the foods if possible with my portable food scale (to avoid doubling the uncertainty - portion size AND calorie density) and then choose the same foods in a large restaurant chain that does publish nutritional values. Or, as Earlnabby said, break it down in constituent (whole food) parts and log those.
  • danikat15
    danikat15 Posts: 106 Member
    Options
    I've totally been 'that' person and asked. I sent a message over facebook messenger and got an answer.

    (But as a note- I asked because I was a little skeptical of the product. People were saying they used REAL food in their smoothies and had all this chocolate and caramel in it. Less than 300 cals. I tried it and it was all Herbalife powders. Which is fine, but not something I'm interested in.)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    Options
    ehju0901 wrote: »
    I recently ordered a coffee and a small breakfast from Door Dash from a local coffee shop here and found that they don't have nutritional information available on their website. While it isn't going to "break the bank" or anything calorie wise, I still like logging my foods.

    This is a locally owned business so I'm not super surprised the information isn't available, but I also don't really want to be "that guy" and ask if they can send it to me. I'm sure they are busy enough and I don't want to be a pain.

    I'm sure others have run into this, I'm curious what your experiences have been? I'm just going to find a like item in the database and estimate, even if the completionism in me is going crazy. :tongue:

    I rarely eat at chain type of places, so nutritional information has for the most part never been available to me when I go out or get take out. Nutritional information is only required for establishments with 20 or more locations. When I was logging I just picked something similar from the database or just did a quick add with my best guesstimate.

    My guess is that even if you asked they wouldn't really be able to provide anything to you. For restaurants that provide nutritional information, their products are sent to a lab and either dissected by ingredient using a much more robust database than MFP (most common) or actually run through tests (less common). It is costly which is why mom and pops and local shops aren't required to provide it.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    Options
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    ehju0901 wrote: »
    I recently ordered a coffee and a small breakfast from Door Dash from a local coffee shop here and found that they don't have nutritional information available on their website. While it isn't going to "break the bank" or anything calorie wise, I still like logging my foods.

    This is a locally owned business so I'm not super surprised the information isn't available, but I also don't really want to be "that guy" and ask if they can send it to me. I'm sure they are busy enough and I don't want to be a pain.

    I'm sure others have run into this, I'm curious what your experiences have been? I'm just going to find a like item in the database and estimate, even if the completionism in me is going crazy. :tongue:

    I rarely eat at chain type of places, so nutritional information has for the most part never been available to me when I go out or get take out. Nutritional information is only required for establishments with 20 or more locations. When I was logging I just picked something similar from the database or just did a quick add with my best guesstimate.

    My guess is that even if you asked they wouldn't really be able to provide anything to you. .

    The exception to this is the protein. Many restaurants, including higher end ones, buy their meat in pre portioned units so they typically can tell you if they served a 8 oz chicken breast or 10 oz steak (pre-cooked weight). Helps a little with the estimating if you can get the central item reasonably close.

  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    Options
    Ask. You’re worth it.
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    Options
    Literally 💯 % of the restaurants I frequent do not have calories listed and I’ve had to be a diary detective to list things as accurately as possible.

    We dine out a few times a week so .. I have to break down the ingredients and do a bit of guesstimating on my part.

    I ask if it’s cooked in butter or oil and if I’m at a new place, I’ll ask how many ounces the fish or meat is..

Categories