My earliest memory of anything being “super-sized” was the Big Gulp from 7-11. As a teen, I thought paying a couple of pennies more for a fantastically sized Diet Coke was the best treat in the entire world. Much to my childish delight, in a very short time everywhere I looked; food and drink items were super-sized. There is no doubt that American’s love getting more bang for our buck, especially where food is considered.
In 2004, a national restaurant chain wanted to be recognized as a “healthy chain restaurant” by cutting back on serving sizes on some of their dishes. They even went so far as to print the nutritional information of their food on their menus, which was completely taboo for the time. The end result was that customers hated the new campaign. Within a matter of months, the menus returned to their previous state and those small portion sizes where thrown out the window.
In today’s world, some food portion sizes have been transitioning back towards what we should really be consuming. There are several theories as to the current shift in the tide in the food industry. Some believe that our ever expanding waistline has caused restaurants to want to help return our bodies back to normal sizes. Others believe that the shift is because of the state that our economy is currently in. It would stand to reason that restaurants would also want to cut back and trim the fat whenever possible. Let’s face it; we all need to save a buck wherever
we can these days.
Regardless of the spin you might want to accept, the end results are good for consumers. Many restaurants are now offering smaller portion sizes on their menus. The great news is that this new food trend will do more than help the belly bulge. Along with the smaller sizes have come reduced costs for consumers. Of course food business consultants are hoping that restaurants are on winning side of this new trend. They are hopeful that consumers will be hungry and thirsty enough at the end of their perfectly portioned meals to want to order dessert and cocktails; which holds a great profit margin for businesses.
You would be hard pressed to find a restaurant that did not offer nutritional information about the products that they sell in today’s market.
In 2004, a national restaurant chain wanted to be recognized as a “healthy chain restaurant” by cutting back on serving sizes on some of their dishes. They even went so far as to print the nutritional information of their food on their menus, which was completely taboo for the time. The end result was that customers hated the new campaign. Within a matter of months, the menus returned to their previous state and those small portion sizes where thrown out the window.
In today’s world, some food portion sizes have been transitioning back towards what we should really be consuming. There are several theories as to the current shift in the tide in the food industry. Some believe that our ever expanding waistline has caused restaurants to want to help return our bodies back to normal sizes. Others believe that the shift is because of the state that our economy is currently in. It would stand to reason that restaurants would also want to cut back and trim the fat whenever possible. Let’s face it; we all need to save a buck wherever
we can these days.
Regardless of the spin you might want to accept, the end results are good for consumers. Many restaurants are now offering smaller portion sizes on their menus. The great news is that this new food trend will do more than help the belly bulge. Along with the smaller sizes have come reduced costs for consumers. Of course food business consultants are hoping that restaurants are on winning side of this new trend. They are hopeful that consumers will be hungry and thirsty enough at the end of their perfectly portioned meals to want to order dessert and cocktails; which holds a great profit margin for businesses.
You would be hard pressed to find a restaurant that did not offer nutritional information about the products that they sell in today’s market.
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