Calories on menus – the simple way to make the change

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With new nutritional legislation planned for April 2022, businesses fear that they are emerging from the devastation of Covid only to go headlong into a battle with allergens and nutritional information. A recent article from the BBC suggests that new nutritional rules will have a devastating effect on F+B businesses, but that doesn’t have to be the case. We’re looking at how all businesses, large and small can make the necessary changes to meet legislation and to keep their customers happy with minimal impact on resources.

CALORIES ON MENUS – CHANGING LEGISLATION

From April 2022 any hospitality businesses employing more than 250 people will be required to display the calorie content of food on their menus. The change is part of the government’s drive to tackle obesity. The aim is to make it simple for consumers to make healthier food choices and to better understand the nutritional value of the food they’re eating.

The new legislation makes assumptions that companies with 250+ employees will have the manpower and funds to support the changes. However, many large companies have had to cut back on resources during lockdown and are struggling to recruit new staff. More than a year of restricted trading has taken its toll and they are not resource-rich. It’s important to find a simple, cost-effective way to provide accurate data to customers available in a few clicks.

LESS THAN 250 EMPLOYEES? YOU COULD STILL BE AFFECTED

Even for businesses that don’t meet the 250+ employee criteria, it’s worth considering that customers are making dining-out choices on several key factors. One of those is being able to eat healthy and nutritious, calorie-controlled dishes. To make choices, they need information. If that information is available elsewhere, then that’s where they’re likely to go.

Regardless of business size, the implementation of a system that will allow staff and customers access to nutritional information and calorific values as well as allergens will elevate your business to a whole new client base.

After a torrid 18 months for hospitality, this may seem like difficult timing but it also provides an opportunity to review your internal processes, refresh your offering and re-connect with your guests.

THE SIMPLE WAY TO PROVIDE NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

With Kitchen CUT’s F+B Engine, your recipe management can all be managed in one place. You can publish up-to-date allergen and nutritional information in real time using our online menu module.

Our analysis tools utilise the USDA & FSA CoFIDS Food Labelling databases. Once a recipe has been created, by simply matching the recipe ingredients to the databases, the nutritional information will automatically be calculated and will provide nutrition per serving, per 100g. The solution also breaks it down into the colour-coded traffic light system based on RDA’s; a powerful visual tool that your guests will be used to seeing day to day in supermarkets.

Recipes can be duplicated and tweaked to healthier versions. Our menu engineering facility enables you to review detailed data so you can quickly identify problem dishes or ingredients.

Once published, your teams can view and understand each recipe quickly and easily through the dish specifications. Our online menu functionality also enables you to push the recipes and menus to websites and other customer-facing devices. Any changes to allergens, nutrition or even pricing are updated in real-time. This allows your guests to make decisions using the most up-to-date information.

By using F+B Engine you can easily review your recipes and menus to provide an offering that will appeal to customers whilst increasing your bottom line.

The legislation is coming, but by using a system that automates much of the administrative process, you can eliminate errors, reduce the potential workload and provide your team and guests with all the relevant information they need.