NEW YORK -- It's a choice that echoes what several studies in New York and other early calorie-posting cities have reported: People may notice calorie counts on menu boards at fast-food restaurants, but, so far, few use the data to make significant changes to their orders, reported The Chicago Tribune.
Restaurant chains with more than 20 locations will likely have to disclose calories on menus later this year as part of the Obama administration's health care reform.
Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's inspired headlines last week for launching calorie listings before it was required, said the report (see Related Content below for previous CSP Daily News coverage). But studies and informal interviews with customers of the chain indicated that any risk of the calorie listings scaring away people or significantly cutting into sales may be minimal.
The chain's chief marketing officer, Neil Golden, said data from areas that require calorie postings (New York, Northern California and Seattle) indicates that the most prominent effect may be happier customers. "We haven't seen any measurable shift in purchase patterns as a result," Golden told the newspaper. "But in talking to customers, we found that they are pleased and surprised to find that the choices they have always made fit easily within a healthy diet."
NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y., said its analysis of data found that "when consumers eat out, they want to indulge and leave concerns about which foods are low-fat, low-calorie and low-sodium at home. And in tough economic times, price concerns outweigh health concerns when it comes to eating out."
To test how labeling might play out, last year NPD presented subjects with a regular hamburger restaurant menu and another that listed calories.
"What we found was that the impact was minimal," NPD's restaurant industry analyst, Bonnie Riggs, told the paper. "Consumers indicated they may be likely to change the size of their soft drink and french fries, but they are not willing to give them up entirely. We think [calorie counts] may have a small impact initially, but then consumers will just kind of go back to what they have always done."
Riggs noted NPD surveys indicate that only 9% of consumers cite "healthy" or "light" offerings as the primary reason for choosing a restaurant. The main reasons cited for patronizing fast-food restaurants is "convenience, price and to get a particular item. And so if that's the reason they went in there, [calorie counts] are not going to make a difference," Riggs said.
Oleg Urminsky, who studies consumer decision-making, said he supports calorie disclosures, but said some consumers ignore them. "It can be very difficult to pass up the immediate benefit for the long-term reward, which is often well into the future and not felt as urgently," Urminsky, an associate marketing professor at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, told the paper. "This is one part of what makes these health issues so difficult. People think, 'Right now I can have something really delicious and enjoyable and if I forgo it, over the next 20 years I might have slightly better health, so I'll have it just this once'."
Urminsky said the calorie listings may have the most impact on those who may need them least: "Those are people who are already fairly health conscious and understand how many calories a healthy lunch should have. But I am not sure how many of them eat at McDonald's in the first place."
Still, some consumer studies on the subject are more hopeful than others, said the Tribune. The NPD test with two menus (one with calories and one without) indicated that people might modify their orders to the tune of 100 calories in response to the calorie listings.
But when New York University researchers tallied receipts from actual restaurant purchases the calorie difference evaporated, said the report. Another NYU study that focused on teens and parents buying for children showed that only 9% of teens said the data would influence their choices, while 28% of adults said it would. Neither group, however, made significant changes, the report said.
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