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Restaurants Such As Uno Are Counting Fat and Calories

Posted on: Monday, 10 April 2006, 21:00 CDT

By Jenn Abelson, The Boston Globe

Apr. 9--NORWOOD -- Adam Sacks recently spent four months in an Uno Chicago Grill test kitchen here battling a nutritional nightmare: the 2,200-calorie deep-dish pizza.

Sacks, who was hired last year as the chain's first full-time nutritionist, was on a mission to make the restaurant's signature dish healthier, so that diners no longer consume an entire day's worth of calories in one sitting. (Yes, that's the number of calories in a typical individual-sized Uno deep dish, not to mention 115 grams of fat.)

He armed himself with sun-dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, salsa, and a conviction that a menu item famed for its calorific abundance could be slimmed down -- and remain a desirable dish.

"It was not easy," said Sacks, who calls himself the "food police.""Uno's Deep Dish is incredibly indulgent."

Uno's quest for a trimmed-down pizza reflects a changing attitude at the chain of 200-plus locations, which built its reputation on thick golden crust and hearty toppings. Over the past year, the company says, it has spent more than $1 million cultivating a healthier image by eliminating trans fats, listing ingredients and calories on touch-screen kiosks in its restaurants, hiring a nutritionist, and setting up a nutrition advisory board that includes a cardiologist from Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The health kick is a phenomenon seen at a growing number of fast-food chains and restaurants that are responding to customers who say they want lighter fare. These days, it's not enough to add salads to the menu. Diners are demanding whole grains, natural ingredients, and trans-fat-free foods. Baby boomers, the generation whose disposable income and notorious love of convenient fattening foods drove the growth of fast food, are now displaying more dietary discretion as they deal with aging bodies.

A recent study by caterer Aramark Corp. found that health consciousness is the fourth-most influential factor people consider when they dine out, up from fifth in 2004. About 44 percent of the more than 5,000 people surveyed in 2005 strongly agreed they would order healthy items away from home if more appealing choices were available, up from 41 percent the year before.

Eateries looking to flex their "good-for-you" muscles have created unlikely partnerships, including McDonald's promotion of health programs in schools. This year, Arby's, the roast beef giant, became the first fast-food chain to switch to Chicken Naturals, a "100 percent, all natural chicken breast that is not altered or injected with added water, salt, or phosphates."

Some analysts say the open calorie counting by restaurants is as much a ploy to lure customers as it is a way to address criticism blaming these eateries for the country's epidemic of obesity.

"Consumer requests are largely driving this phenomenon, but it's also an awareness by restaurants that offering a variety on the menu diffuses some of the negative publicity around the healthfulness of their prepared foods," said Dennis Lombardi, executive vice president of food service strategies for design-development firm WD Partners in Columbus, Ohio.

At Uno, flat sales helped spur a makeover to a restaurant with ample choices for consumers with an appetite for nutrition, according to Uno chief executive Frank Guidara, who took over the company last year. The shift required a new name so the Boston company switched to calling itself Uno Chicago Grill instead of Pizzeria Uno.

"A lot of people weren't coming to Uno's because they felt it didn't offer them an alternative," Guidara said.

Last fall, after intense rounds of taste tests several times a week -- Guidara attended dozens of them -- the company unveiled a menu featuring items backed by nutritionist Sacks, such as flatbread pizzas made with organic flour, multigrain pasta dishes, trans-fat-free salad dressings, and frozen drinks blended with low-fat yogurt.

Sales are up almost 2 percent, and the company is hoping for a bigger boost when it rolls out more healthy options next month. Sacks's "Veggie Delite" deep dish pizza -- in which he was able to chop about 1,000 calories -- is still a work in progress. Uno's consumer surveys in recent weeks showed little interest in the pizza, so the chefs are going back to the kitchen. "Sure, it bums me out that it's not on the menu, but I believe in the product," Sacks said. "Our customers requested a reduced-calorie, deep-dish pizza and we will keep working to get one."

Perhaps the greatest feat, however, is the introduction of trans-fat-free French fries -- a yearlong costly battle that required endless tweaking to get them tasting as close as possible to traditional fries.

Trans fats are considered one of the most dangerous forms of fat, significantly increasing the risk of heart disease.

"Not everyone likes to eat junk when they go out, and it's nice to have something to choose from besides salad," said Melissa Howard, a Bridgewater resident who eats out frequently. "I don't like feeling like I have a grease bomb in my stomach after I eat."

At a recent meeting of Uno's nutritional advisory board -- where committee members dined on a buffet including tomato soup, lettuce wraps, and fruit with pomegranate dressing -- the group gave high marks to the improvements, and the doctors, including cardiologist Leonard S. Lilly, urged that lower-fat and reduced-calorie items be more prominently featured on the menu.

But Sacks and others resisted, arguing that such labels can hurt sales.

They cited the lessons learned from Ruby Tuesday, which put calorie and fat information for every item on its menu in late 2004. Sales dropped, and the chain quickly eliminated the information from all but its healthiest offerings.

Last year, when Uno unveiled its nutritional kiosks, some employees began warning diners about the high-fat and calorie content in their orders and urged them to try something else.

Talking customers out of their deep dishes was not the point of the kiosks, Guidara acknowledged with a rueful smile.

"Your greatest and worst marketers are your staff," Guidara said. "We told the staff that advertising it to customers wasn't the intent. They can find out the information for themselves at the kiosks if they want to know."

And many did. The kiosks had more than 700,000 hits last month, up from 80,000 when they were introduced last fall. The "under 500 calories" meal options remains the top inquiry.

As for Lilly, the cardiologist, he wants the record to show he does not endorse Uno's new bacon cheeseburger deep dish pizza -- even if at 1,690 calories it is one of the least calorific pies on the menu. But Lilly says it is refreshing to watch the company try to shape up.

"Certainly Uno's has a lot of items on the menu I'd rather not see," Lilly said, "but they are a business."

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RMK, MCD, TRY,

Source: The Boston Globe

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