Dining out - availability of nutritional information

Not being able to see the nutritional information on the menus doesn't really deter me from eating out. I usually read what's in each entree and pick out the obviously unhealthy ones, from there I look up the values from my phone. It would be much nicer if they offered another special menu with all of facts next to the entrees, but then again they'd lose customers.

adding an insert to the previous menu, and put the healthy choices with cal counts... If someone is really wanting to know and or they are watching what they eat... then more convenient for them... Me, I don't know if it would've stopped me before if I had known there were 500 cal in a lg mcdonalds fry... or 270 in Mc D's sweet tea... But now that I am looking and watching, it would be easier if there was a "special menu"....

It doesn't deter me if it's unavailable, but it definitely draws me in if it is.

I've never seen that info on a menu, but I'd pay attention to it if it was there. I have looked stuff up online now and again, but its only fast food and some franchises that have that info here (Australia) and it's rare for me to eat that kind of food.

If it was my restaurant I would have the info online and on a separate printout that people could pick up and see if they wanted to. Then you aren't confronting people with that info if they don't want it.

Edited to add: this info itself wouldn't make me eat there or not, I'm smart enough to choose something healthier from the menu if I want to. It's the quality of the food and the service that will get me there and keep me coming back.

I agree with some of the other posts. It won't keep me from going if I don't have the info, but I do tend to frequent places where I have been able to get the info and know there are healthy choices available (Subway, Applebees, etc.). A lot of times if I know where we are going ahead of time I will even look up the menu online so that I can see if they have nutrition information available so that I can make the most informed decision I can.

I like having the nutritional information. Not knowing has deterred me from some restaurants. When I was doing WW I used

http://www.dwlz.com/restaurants.html

This site was very helpful!

Maybe I'm too picky or I'm taking my new lifestyle seriously, but I won't go to a restaurant without knowing ahead what I'm going to eat, how many calories and how much sodium is in the food. I've learned that if I plan ahead I do well, if I don't.. well you know,, I go over on cals or sodium.
If I owned a restaurant I'd list the calories of the healthier choices for those who eat healthier. I wouldn't bother listing the higher calorie stuff because if someone is going to eat that, they already KNOW it's bad for them and they probably don't care anyway.
As long as the place is clean, having a restaurant with healthy options is the first thing I look for before we go out. Second is the sodium content.

I go to restaurants to enjoy my food. I am capable of making reasonable choices when I go out. I am definitely not going to choose some crap like Applebee's over an independent restaurant that probably has better quality and more nutrition.

I think it should be a law that it be provided for everything at least online - but I think on principle all restaurants should have at least a little separate handout with the nutritional info in it that you can ask for. I definitely go out of my way to eat at places who have the info clearly listed or at least easily available online. If I were your mom I would make a separate mini menu full of all the healthiest meals based on calories, carbs, and points, that people can look at if they want, and then just maybe put a little sticker about it on the normal menu or a little sign on the tables to let people know about it like "Ask us about our healthy choices menu!" Hope this helps!

As long as the information is available online I really don't see it as an issue. I know that if I am wanting to go somewhere and it doesn't have nutritional information available I will still go there and eat but I will try and pick what I feel is the healthier options by reading what is included in the meal. If it was available online it would definitely be helpful and I almost always look online before heading out to eat to see what some of the healthier options are. For example for Father's Day we went to Mimi's cafe and I was really wanting the crab cake benedict but I looked up the nutritional information before ordering and discovered it had over 1300 calories in it so that was definitely out and then I noticed that another egg benedict option had only 600 calories in it, so I definitely choose that one over the latter. I tihnk it might deter some people away but if it's available it does come in handy for those of us that are calorie counting. I do not think that she would lose business though however. Even if she doesn't want to list the nutritional information for all of the meals maybe picking the top 4 or 5 healthier options and putting those in a seperate insert would help those people counting calories. Put in meals under 400 calories or something like that. That way you aren't listing the foods with high caloires and scaring people away from those items, you are just "show casing" a few items for people if they are wanting to pick healhty and don't know how to pick otherwise.

I wish all places could/would do this - I know that restaurants with 20+ locations are required to, but I rarely visit restaurants like that :grumble:

I would show your mom these post to help with your argument...maybe it will make her understand the importance to some people that they want the nurtritional information. But like others have said if she doesn't own a chain resturant her food and ingredients are probably of better quality anyways which would make me want to go there, before choosing a large chain resturant.

It's important. There are items on menus that LOOK healthy, but really is not the best choice. Went to a restaurant the other day, and asked for a nutrional print out of their menu. Was shocked as to how much calories was in most of the items were 1300 + in calories, BIG calories. Very deceiving. I chose the steamed brocolli....that's it! Everything else was too scary. Tell your mom to post the nutritional info, the market is out there....may be a low percentage but worth it, as they will be loyal repeat customers who know what they are getting.