Stealth health: 'Lower-calorie freight train' changes show up on menus

New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is on a mission to improve America's health. For its latest outing, the foundation found a hired gun with the faith of a convert.

Hank Cardello used to do marketing for Coca-Cola, General Mills and other big companies. Then, in the late 1990s, Cardello found himself at an Atlanta cancer clinic facing a health scare.

"So I made the proverbial promise that if I came out of this thing, I would help people live longer, healthier lives through foods. Fortunately, it was a false alarm and now I've got to deliver the goods," Cardello said.

Today, Cardello works on policy change at the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

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Nearly 50 percent of U.S. food dollars are spent in restaurants, so Cardello says the U.S. needs to enlist the food industry to solve its obesity problem. The new report urges food executives to put more marketing muscle behind their low-calorie menu items in order to boost profits.

"Businesspeople have a different set of measurements, they look at things like sales or profits or market share, retaining customers," Cardello said. So, the study reviews sales, too -- for 21 large fast-food and sit-down restaurant chains. Before they were given access to the data, the researchers had to make a promise.

"We won't specifically talk about a McDonald's or an Olive Garden or a KFC — period," Cardello said.

Sales up at restaurants offering more healthier options

The industry snapshot shows increased sales for the restaurants that expanded their healthier offerings; sales declined among the other chains.

"There's a new, better-for-you, lower-calorie freight train coming down the tracks," Cardello said. "We don't make a judgment whether a burger is good or bad, all we're saying is that when it's 2,000 calories, you might be bucking the trends."

Cheesecake Factory has its SkinnyLicious menu. At Taco Bell you can order a Fresco burrito.

Cardello prefers the "stealth health" approach: Squeeze the calories out, make it a little better and -- above all -- don't make a big deal about it.

"People get nervous about the word health. They think it means it doesn't taste as good," he said.

Traditional health policy researchers have documented the proliferation of healthier restaurant options but Cardello says to really convince food executives, policy people have to prove that customers are actually ordering the new menu options.

In addition to solid performance for salads and grilled chicken, the study found french fries sales have slowed.

"If you open up a menu, oftentimes you see something boxed in the middle of that page. That's because they want you to look there," Cardello said. "So, there's no reason they can't be boxing better-for-you, lower-calorie items that still are highly profitable for them."

For now, Cardello may be preaching the choir.

At the news conference for the report, no one from the restaurant industry sat on the dais. Cardello says executives from the National Restaurant Association have seen the new research. When asked for comment, however, the association did not make anyone available for an interview.

This story was first published by NewsWorks on February 14, 2012

Photo Credit: Cardello used to do marketing for Coca-Cola, General Mills and other big companies (Taunya English/WHYY)

Image of Taco Bell Fresco by Steven Depolo via Flickr