Viewpoint
More online
www.thecaterer.com
It’s more than just a numbers game when it comes to counting calories
The calorie legislation forced our hand when writing menus, but that has resulted in better nutrition and chef innovation, says Peter Kent
I
t’s been one year since the calorie legisla- tion was introduced and we’ve been con- sidering how the change has impacted consumers and businesses like ours that have adapted their operations to meet the requirements. The introduction of displaying calorie information on menus has provided sev- eral challenges for the hospitality industry and has not necessarily encouraged people to make healthier food choices in the long term. Within our business, we’ve not seen a significant change in consumer purchas- ing, but instead, the legislation has sparked a wider discussion around health and nutrition and has encouraged our chefs to be more mindful of the ingredients they use and the portion sizes they offer. Chefs now have the added dynamic of
calorie information to consider when pre- paring dishes and so have a better under- standing of the food they’re producing. We are always conscious to put nutrition at the heart of everything we do, and the legisla- tion has prompted teams to find ways to adjust recipes accordingly to make them more nutritious and less calorific. How- ever, the calorie legislation has significantly burdened many small, local suppliers, who didn’t have the nutritional information avail- able to meet the requirements. We’ve been developing new offerings to
ensure customers don’t need to compromise on flavour when making healthier choices. We have been adapting our menus to cater to different calorie and dietary requirements and provide customers with more options to make informed choices about their food. This is not only to align with the legislation, but also in response to a growing generation of customers that are interested in mind- ful, low-carbon, and zero-waste menus, who want transparency on the health and sus- tainability benefits of their food. Our food strategy hinges on supporting
our communities and we maintain close relationships with our suppliers to under- stand the full farm to fork journey. We didn’t want to compromise our strong decentral- ised supply chain and, when the new legisla- tion challenged this, we made it our mission to support all our suppliers through the nec- essary changes and help them navigate the new requirements. We offer plant-forward menus, which are increasingly popular, but blindly adding
14 | The Caterer | 28 April 2023
“It was quite a shock for our teams and customers when they realised how calorific their favourite dishes can be”
vegan and vegetarian options is not on our agenda. We run educational workshops on the role of nutrition in wellbeing and invite our chef partners to client locations to host masterclasses. It was quite a shock for our teams and customers when they realised how calorific their favourite dishes can be, and we recognised that we have a respon-
sibility to educate that not all calories are equal and it’s about putting nutrition first. We feel it is crucial that the government conducts regular follow-ups to evaluate the effectiveness of the legislation and explore new ways to support the public in making informed and healthy food choices. There has been a notable silence around the ben- efits of introducing calories on menus, and while it has raised awareness around calorie content in food, it is important to continue exploring new avenues to sup- port consumers in making healthy choices and for continued collaboration between businesses, suppliers and the government to promote healthy eating and sustainable food practices.
Peter Kent is the regional managing director at BaxterStorey
www.thecaterer.com
PHOTO: PIRANHA PHOTOGRAPHY LTD
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
