The food standards agency recently encouraged catering companies in the UK to introduce calorie labelling on menus or at the point of purchase. The purpose of this paper is to report the feasibility of implementing such a scheme in a restaurant in the UK.
A practical case study approach was adopted whereby all foods on the menu of a London‐based five star hotel restaurant were analysed nutritionally. The menu presented the amount of calories, saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, fibre and sodium each dish contained. The issues surrounding the display of nutritional information on restaurant menus, perceived difficulties or barriers and resistance to the scheme by staff were documented qualitatively.
Time constraints, and the consequential financial costs, were identified as being barriers that need to be surmounted if the scheme is to operate successfully. The scheme was also viewed as being of low priority by the restaurant operational team.
The paper provides a greater understanding of the operational aspects of nutrition labelling in the catering industry.
This paper adds practical knowledge to the limited literature that exists in relation to nutrition labelling in restaurants in the UK and identifies barriers that need to be overcome for such schemes to be widely implemented and successful.
