More menus offering healthful alternatives

MORE MENUS OFFERING HEALTHFUL ALTERNATIVES

From fast-food outlets to elegant fine-dining establishments, lighter, more nutritious menu alternatives have graduated from fad to standard fare, as operators across the food-service spectrum react to the nation's growing awareness that proper nutrition and good health are irrefutably linked.

While so-called health food has lost its luster, more healthful choices in the form of salads, whole-grain breads, nonfried fish and chicken, fresh fruits and vegetables and other low-fat, low-cholesterol alternatives have drifted into the food-service mainstream and are apparently here to stay.

"I don't think you can cook today like you did in the 1960's,' noted Culinary Institute of America president Ferdinand Metz, a staunch advocate of more healthful food preparations. "Restaurant operators must address the subject of proper nutrition now. At least some of that responsibility lies with the industry.'

Whether or not restaurant operators hold any moral obligation, however, most have discovered that offering at least some "lighter' foods makes good economic sense. With red meat consumption clearly trending downward and the general population aging, such items as salads, chicken and fish bring in customers that might otherwise stay away.

"It's trend that major food-service chains must react to in order to broaden their appeal,' explained Charles Glovsky, an analyst with Alex. Brown & Sons. "But I don't think it's a mainstream change in eating habits, just a marginal shift.'

Other observers, such as Carl DiBiase of Restaurant Trends, remain a bit more skeptical that any significant portion of the population has altered its eating habits for reasons of health. "First and foremost, people go after taste,' he said. "Chains have had to diversify their menus to remain competitive, and many have done so by adding products that have the appearance of being more healthful. Where it's been worth something is with the female trade.'

Among the national restaurant chains, perhaps no company has marketed "lighter' foods more successfully than Wendy's, which now offers a broad range of "healthier' alternatives as part of its "Light Side' menu program.

As the first major fast feeder to add salad bars in 1979, Wendy has established a niche that includes more adults and women than that of its chief competitors. In recent years the chain has expanded its salad bars while adding such menu items as a chicken sandwich, a taco salad, baked potatoes and multigrain sandwich buns.

"We believe that the growing concern over health and nutrition is not a fad, but a trend that will continue to gain momentum,' said Wendy's vice president of communications Denny Lynch. "And we have always been able to run our salad bars profitably. But our staple is still the hamburger.'

Lynch added that while Wendy's intends to continue promoting the "Light Side' menu, perhaps adding more nonred meat products down the road, it does not want to be known as a "healthy' food chain.

"The niche isn't strong enough,' he said. "We are in the business of selling foods that our customers want. And the hamburger is still the majority food of the masses.'

Other restaurant chains, intent on broadening their range of potential customers, have stepped up introductions of "lighter' food items with varying degrees of success. Salads, in a variety of forms, have cropped up nearly everywhere, and the marketplace is rife with new chicken and fish products.

"For the most part, salad bars are no big deal any more,' Charles Glovsky said. "But chains have to have salad bars these days because they might lose customers if they don't.'

McDonald's, one of the few chains without a national salad product, will likely jump on the bandwagon this year, analysts predict, by introducing systemwide four individually packaged salads that have reportedly scored well in test markets. Hardee's, too, may go with prepackaged salads chainwide.

Ryan's Family Steak Houses, meanwhile, has boosted same-store sales figures more than 35%, according to company president Mark McCall, since introducing an expanded "mega-salad bar.' The chain has also added a broiled chicken entree, which is selling well, and two fish entrees, which are not.

Casual-theme operations, such as Bennigan's and Friday's, have stacked their menus with a variety of fresh seafood items, at least partially to offset sagging liquor sales, according to analysts.

And seafood specialists like Long John Silver's, Captain D's and Red Lobster are discovering a broad market for fish preparations that are grilled, sauteed and baked, rather than fried.

Accompanying that wave of product introductions, chains are playing to the health-conscious market in other ways. Advertisements that feature nutritional breakdowns and menu endorsements from such organizations as the National Heart Association have added credibility to the notion that more healthful choices are everywhere.

At presstime, 16 companies--including airlines and multiunit food service and hotel chains--had earned the right to carry the National Heart Association logo for specific menu items. According to a spokesman for the association, other companies are now clamoring for a similar endorsement.

The current list includes such restaurant chains as Arby's, Denny's Sizzler, D'Lites of America, Rax Restaurants, Houlihan's and Seafood Broiler and hotel chains like Fairmont, Sheraton and Marriott.

Hotel chains, in fact, have been at the cutting edge of the trend toward "lighter' menu alternatives for the past few years. Marriott's "Good for You' menu, Sheraton's "Eat, Drink and Be Healthy,' Hilton's "Fitness First,' Intercontinental's "Winning Edge' and Hyatt's "Perfect Balance' are among a host of "spa cuisine' menu programs that have been heavily promoted.

"To be competitive, you must address the issue of health and nutrition,' said Bob Neiderhauser, Sheraton's assistant director of food and beverage for North America. "We continue to offer the "Eat, Drink and Be Healthy' alternative in areas where it has been successful. When I review menus, I make sure that there are at least some low-calorie, low-sodium, low-cholesterol alternatives at all Sheraton locations.

"But people are still eating a lot of prime rib. While eating habits have changed--people are just not eating four-and five-course meals anymore-- most people are still good to themselves when they're traveling.'

Westin Hotels' vice president of food and beverage, Hud Hinton, sees "lighter' foods as a necessary alternative in today's marketplace. "It's something that guests have come to expect in an upscale hotel,' he said. "We may soon get to the point where we don't need special menus, where these items will just become part of the mainstream.'

Already, more healthful foods are getting far more attention in the finedining sector, where Ferdinand Metz of the Culinary Institute of America is helping to set the tone. The institute's newly launched St. Andrews Cafe has been dedicated to the proposition that good food can also be nutribious.

"It's time to get rid of the association that food that's good for you is not good food,' explained Metz. "At the St. Andrews Cafe, we're preparing food that is creative, attractive and good tasting. Can you produce good food with only a 30% fat content? The answer is yes, we're doing it.'

But while the health and nutrition issue has touched virtually every sector of the food-service industry, the economic implications remain unclear. While salad bars have become almost a necessity, for example, they remain largely unprofitable. "Spa cuisine' menus--at such hotels and restaurants as New York's Four Seasons, Le Delice in Whippany, N.J., and others--are mostly a public service. And the hamburger remains the No. 1 choice of most consumers.

Worse yet, the new wave of health- and nutrition-oriented fast-food chains--for example, D'Lites of America and Fresher Cooker--have failed to establish a solid niche in the marketplace. Fresher Cooker is currently reorganizing under Chapter 11 protection, while D'Lites is battling to recover from a $3.4 million loss in its October quarter.

"What people are really after is not more healthful foods, but more variety,' noted Ryan's Mark McCall. "There's been a lot of talk about healthful foods, but basically, after all is said and done, people will eat what they enjoy.'

"I've been contending all along that the trend is somewhat overblown,' Charles Glovsky noted. "Chains like D'Lites and Fresher Cooker have shown that it's very difficult to grow a new chain from scratch these days.

"But they've also proven that the healthy, diet-conscious trend has not spawned a market large enough to carry a major chain. People tend to jump on emerging trends before they're proven viable--just like the pizza and video concepts.'

Photo: The St. Andrews Cafe, top, is only one member of the fine-dining sector that is giving attention to more healthful foods. The cafe is part of the Culinary Institute of America, bottom right. The institute and its president, Ferdinand Metz, bottom left, are attempting to fight the association that food that is good for you is not good food.

Photo: Some nutrition-oriented chains such as Fresher Cooker, above, and D'Lites of America, below, have run into financial difficulties. Fresher Cooker is currently reorganizing under Chapter 11 protection, while D'Lites is battling to recover from a $3.4 million loss in its October quarter.

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