Studies: Putting calories on menus affects restaurants more than consumers

Most consumers don't seem to care much about calorie counts on menu boards. But the practice of posting those counts may lead restaurants to serve healthier options.

Those are the findings of two studies published Monday in the journal Health Affairs. Roughly a year before a nationally mandated rule goes into effect requiring food establishments with at least 20 locations to post calorie counts on menus, research shows that labeling calories may have a bigger impact on restaurants than on their intended target: customers.

Researchers at New York University School of Medicine found that just a small number of fast-food customers ordered lower-calorie options due to calorie counts on menu boards at four major chains in New York City. The city has required that restaurant chains with at least 15 locations post calorie information on menus since 2008.

The requirement has done little so far to change consumers' eating habits, though. Initially after New York City's rule went into effect, just 12% of consumers ordered items with fewer calories, and that dropped to 9% when the researchers surveyed customers again in 2013 and 2014. Meanwhile, only about half of consumers even noticed the calorie counts when they went up on menu boards in 2008. And as the calorie counts became fixtures in the city, that percentage dropped off to as low as 37%  in 2013 and 2014.

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One possible reason why customers aren't changing their orders could be because the average fast-food customer isn't eating fast food for health reasons, says Brian Elbel, one of the study authors and an associate professor of population health and health policy at NYU. The study included KFC, McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's.

While consumers may be hard-pressed to change their eating habits, national restaurant chains that voluntarily post calories serve food that is, on average, lower in calories compared with food at restaurants that don't post calories, according to a second study led by Johns Hopkins' public health school.

That study found that Chick-fil-A, Jamba Juice, McDonald's, Panera and Starbucks, all of which have voluntarily posted calorie counts for several years, serve items with fewer average calories than rivals that don't post calorie information.

However, even at chains that don't voluntarily post calorie counts, researchers found that over time, those restaurants reduced the average calories per item, perhaps in anticipation of a national calorie rule. The national rule is meant to help consumers make healthier choices, which it may inadvertently do by encouraging restaurants to change food options, the Johns Hopkins researchers say.

"The greatest impact of mandatory menu labeling on population health may come from restaurants' changing the calories of their menu items instead of consumers' changing their behavior," the report says.

And that trend would still lead to Americans consuming fewer calories. Restaurants with voluntary labeling had approximately 120 fewer calories for standard menu items compared with restaurants that didn't label calories.