Battling the bulge: menu board calorie legislation and its potential impact on meal repurchase intentions

Abstract

PurposeThere are initiatives proposed in a number of states that would mandate calorie information disclosures from restaurant chains on their menus and menu boards. Such labeling laws have already been passed in New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, and the states of Massachusetts and California. This paper aims to analyze whether nutrition disclosures are necessary for the average consumer to identify meal calorific content, to address consumer motivation to attend to nutrition labels, and to assess whether such labeling efforts may influence consumers' subsequent behaviors.Design/methodology/approachTo address issues related to nutrition labeling of chain restaurants, a food court field study and a longitudinal quasi‐experiment were conducted.FindingsThe results indicate that as meal calorie, fat, and sodium levels increase, the level of consumers' underestimation of calories and nutrients increases. Consumers generally need the help of nutrition labeling to identify the content of menu items. Furthermore, there is an effect of perceived item healthfulness on repurchase intentions, and this effect is strengthened by disclosure of nutrition information. However, even after nutrition disclosure, the strength of the effect of taste perceptions on repurchase intentions dominates the effect of meal healthfulness.Originality/valueThis paper identifies that consumers do not have adequate nutrition knowledge when it comes to foods consumed outside the home. Relative comparisons among alternatives may be made, but consumers do not understand the absolute nutritional value of foods consumed. The authors identify that nutritional labeling does influence healthier consumer decisions. However, the key variable is consumer motivation. Only for the most nutritionally motivated consumers will this influence of healthfulness withstand the influence of taste.

The Influence of Calorie Labeling on Food Orders and Consumption: A Review of the Literature

“…Of those who are aware, a very small percentage actively seeks out this information [13]. Consumers often underestimate calories in their foods, especially calories in items purchased from fast food restaurants [14–18]. As the total number of calories in a meal increases, so too does the consumer's underestimation of the total calories in the meal [14].…”

“…Consumers often underestimate calories in their foods, especially calories in items purchased from fast food restaurants [14–18]. As the total number of calories in a meal increases, so too does the consumer's underestimation of the total calories in the meal [14]. Furthermore, consumers want access to nutrition information [19–21], and report that they would to use it to inform healthier food choices [19, 22].…”

Workplace foodservice; perception of quality and trust

“…This positive relationship between the rise in consumption of food prepared outside the home and the increasing prevalence of obesity is a major global health and wellbeing societal challenge. Additionally, most consumers seem to underestimate the nutrient content of their dish selection (Bates et al 2011). Given the possible mismatch between the perceived and actual nutritional value, the inclusion of information from a menu will benefit consumers by effectively transforming the nutrient content, a typical credence attribute, into a search attribute (Karstens and Belz 2006).…”

Mind-reading versus neuromarketing: how does a product make an impact on the consumer?

“…The likelihood of major interactions between nutrient labels and sensory preferences has long been emphasised (recently in this journal by Bates et al, 2011). Experimental interest in sensoryconceptual interactions has widened recently but the evidence remains non-specific cognitively.…”