The Healthful Equation

One of the most challenging aspects of designing menus is the balance between healthy options and those less than healthy options. Customers want choice and, for many, ordering that cheeseburger and fries is an option they don't want to give up completely. FSD talked with five operators to see how they are integrating healthy without alienating their clientele.

There are many ways to make foodservice menus more healthful, but as any operator knows, the menu-customer health relationship is a two-way street.

Sure, you could eliminate fried foods, pizza, sub sandwiches and many desserts, but you’d eliminate some other things in the process—little things like customers, sales, revenues, etc.

Some operators feel it best, then, to strive for balance in improving the health and nutritional profile of their menu whether it be full service, a la carte or grab and go.

On the operations side, techniques include baking instead of frying, maintaining portion control, incorporating soy into beef products like burgers, switching to low-fat versions of frequently used dairy products, and others.

For this month’s Soap Box, we asked readers:

Following are their responses.

Jack Shaw
Dining Services Director
Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, WV

"We’re cooking with healthier oils and using grilled chicken or vegetables as a substitute for, or in addition to, fried (items), such as our Buffalo chicken wrap, at made-to-order platforms."

"We contract to have a dietitian on staff every Wednesday who helps develop menu cycles and recipes. She is available to meet with students on a one-on-one basis."

"We offer special menu items for special needs such as (brand-name vegetarian) burgers and spelt bread for those with wheat allergies. Allergies, such as wheat and glucose intolerance, are becoming a bigger issue, and we have met with probably at least six to eight students individually this semester regarding this issue."

"We are in the process of getting nutritional information for all of our dining hall entrees on our Web site. With today’s students perception is so important. The ability to access information is important."

Daniel Stratta 
Director of Dining Services
Westminster Village, Scottsdale, AZ

"Being with Morrison, I have all the resources and tools I need including signature soups, desserts and breads that are a lot healthier, plus we have Balanced Choices, a wellness program to educate residents on healthy living. You can put heart healthy items on the menu and mark them (as such), hold classes on issues such as obesity, and send informational fliers."

"All of our salads are done with extra virgin olive oil and we try to incorporate that into our cooking instead of butter or margarine. We’ve also incorporated low-sodium bases in our homemade soups and we’re menuing more salads than meat and potatoes."

"There are also a lot of chutneys and fruit salsas. We indicate ‘heart healthy’ on the menu with a logo, in menu descriptions, and in signage. We also have a resident food committee and comment cards—we aim to please one resident at a time."

Brenda Hawkins
Nutrition Services Supervisor
Jackson County (TN) School District

"The most effective tool we implement to improve our menus is training. Employees need to know how to prepare foods in a way that preserves nutrients and does not add unnecessary sugar, salt and fat back to the wholesome food that nature has provided. We spend a lot of time developing recipes and teaching proper food preparation techniques."

"In my system, school nutrition employees make the difference. They care about the students and are willing to do what ever it takes to help them."

"We increased purchases of whole-grain products and fresh vegetables and fruit by 50% over the last four years.  We also increased purchases of reduced fat entrees, decreased sugary desserts and reduced fat in most recipes. There are no deep-fat fryers in our elementary schools and at the other levels we are mixing baked french fries with deep fried ones in an attempt to move entirely to baked items."

Randy Sparrow
Director of Nutrition and Foodservices
Bloomington Hospital, Bloomington, IN

"We get a lot of suggestions for healthy foods from employees and visitors and we encourage them to bring in recipes for us. The hospital is very involved in Weight Watchers so we offer at least one of their menu item ideas daily. We don’t buy any convenience foods but we take the recipes from any of the several Weight Watchers cookbooks and we also post the nutritional information."

"We’re always looking at different products for those people who still want full-fatted foods all the way down to very low-fat items. We’ve added a vegan diet to the patient menu and try to offer one vegan meal in the cafeteria each day. We try to prepare this dish with fat-reduced products and healthier oils but we still want a similar outcome product so that it will pass our taste test. We also steam all our vegetables now and don’t add butter or margarine.”

Julie Bradley
Assistant Vice President, General Services
U.S. Trust Company of New York

"In the executive or guest dining room we offer broiled, grilled or baked items with very light sauces, if any, but nothing you could consider ‘nouvelle.’ Once in a while we’ll menu fried foods and desserts represent the range from traditional—that is, high in fat and high in calories—to more healthy. In the employee dining room, they recently got on a healthier kick. People still want burgers and fried foods but we expanded our salad bar and the make-your-own salad concept as well as adding some healthier desserts."

"We have a French chef in our guest dining operation, so unless the sauce really needs butter, she uses extra virgin olive oil. Actually, almost all our sautéed items are done in olive oil. We do buy a limited amount of artisan breads—some olive bread, whole wheat, sourdough, etc.—and of course hot grain cereals when the weather gets colder."