Calculating Calories for a Restaurant Menu
More and more restaurant operators are counting calories – not in the food they consume, but in the food they sell.
Several local and federal regulations now require restaurant owners to publicly post the nutritional data of the food they serve. The most significant of these regulations were established by the Affordable Care Act in 2010, are enforceable by the FDA, and require chains with 20 or more locations to post their calorie counts on printed menus and menu boards.
Although the legislation was passed in 2010, ongoing refinement and regulatory burden assessment led to the repeated extension of the compliance date. After years of research and preparation, menu labeling requirements finally came into full force on May 7th, 2018.1
Now, more potential changes are on the table.
Table of Contents
On August 3, 2021, Congress introduced the Food Labeling and Modernization Act. If passed, the bill would lead to some interesting label changes, such as establishing unified symbols for nutrition information and warnings on package labels, launching a signaling system to rank foods according to their health value, and creating and enforcing definitions for key terms such as "natural," "healthy," "artificial," and "synthetic."2
Food and menu labeling requirements are likely to keep evolving. It's a good idea to stay up to date on federal and local regulations to ensure your establishment remains compliant.
Why is it important to display nutritional information?
Many restaurateurs choose to display calorie counts and/or other nutrition information for menu items even when not required to do so by law. The FDA even allows individual operators to willingly enroll in the menu labeling system. Once they do, they are held to the same standards and face the same consequences as any other restaurant bound by the federal regulations.3
Despite initial reservations that the new nutrition labeling requirements might negatively impact foodservice operators' bottom line, research reveals that's probably not true. A study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity determined adding calorie information to menus had an insignificant effect on overall restaurant sales as well as individual menu choices.4 Furthermore, existing data suggests adding calorie and nutrition information to menus can lead customers to view the restaurant more favorably, and even eat there more often.5
Marketing and foodservice experts Kira Karapetian and Keith Knopf shared their insights on nutrition label data trends with Forbes. Their conclusions? More consumers are conducting in-depth research on the products they buy and the companies they support than ever before. Brand transparency, from nutrition information to un-retouched photos, packs a punch with tech-savvy millennial consumers.
Roughly three quarters of this group will take the extra step to go online and track down their own answers if product labels are lacking. A hefty 94 percent indicated they feel more loyalty to brands adopting an authentic marketing strategy that includes complete transparency about what's in their products.6
When it comes to building trust and brand loyalty, successful eateries willingly pursue transparency initiatives, such as providing nutritional information for their menu items.
Are Restaurants Required to Provide Nutrition Info?
Federal regulations compel many eateries to display nutrition information on their menus or make it readily available for anyone who asks. Still, there are several exceptions to the rules, and small foodservice operators typically aren't bound by these requirements. Adding another layer of confusion are unique regulations at the state, county, or district level that may or may not be superseded by federal requirements.
Not sure if your establishment must provide nutrition information? This list of menu labeling guidelines may help.
FDA Requirements for Restaurant Food3
- Any restaurant with 20 or more locations serving a similar menu under the same name must provide nutrition facts. This includes franchise chains with 20 or more locations, even if the franchisee only personally owns one location.
- Any venue with 20 or more locations that serves prepared food, such as packaged sandwiches or baked goods, must label these items with nutrition facts.
- Businesses must also keep the same name and recipe for the item across every location.
- Temporary items, daily specials, and custom orders may be exempt from some or all of these regulations.
- Venues that meet these Federal guidelines are governed at the Federal level; local regulations don't apply.
- Any restaurant with 19 or fewer locations located in a city, state, or district with specific nutrition information regulations must follow all local menu information regulations.
- Typically, foodservice locations falling into any of the above categories also must display a statement about daily calorie intake and mention that nutrition facts are based on a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet.
Even if your eatery isn't required to display calorie information by the FDA, always check local regulations that could apply.
Hot Cuisine
Menu labeling requirements leave many of us wondering: How do you figure out the calorie count of restaurant food, anyway?
Before we can discuss how calories are measured, we need to understand that a calorie is simply a unit of energy. Specifically, it's the amount of heat required to raise a kilogram of water one degree Celsius. Food is literally the fuel that powers our bodies, and calories are how we measure the amount of energy stored in that fuel.
A Burning Desire
The first scientist to try to accurately measure the energy in food was Wilbur Atwater, a professor at Connecticut's Wesleyan University.7 In the late 19th century, Wilbur pioneered the use of a so-called calorimeter – a device that measures the amount of energy stored in a quantity of food by burning the food, transmitting the heat produced to a volume of water, then measuring the total rise in water temperature. Refined versions of the calorimeter are still used in food laboratories today.
Atwater's research resulted in the "Atwater System" of estimating the available calories in a quantity of food based on the weight of three macronutrients present.8 This system assigns an average value of 4 calories per gram to both proteins and carbohydrates and 9 calories per gram to fats. This system is still widely used by food manufacturers to determine what to print on their products' nutrition labels.
Modern Day Measuring
Counting calories at home is fairly straightforward, but the food served in restaurants doesn't always come in such a conveniently labeled package. The Nutritional Labeling and Education Act of 1990 established the familiar black-and-white label found on packaged goods but exempted most "foods served or sold in restaurants" from having to carry that label.9 For restaurateurs wanting to provide nutrition facts, this creates a bit of a problem. Many ingredients used in commercial kitchens don't come with pre-calculated calorie counts and nutrition facts for an individual portion, meaning it takes quite a bit of adding and subtracting to figure out the final result of the various ingredients used in the dish.
Fortunately, there are a couple of options for operators who need to calculate the calories in their offerings without nutritional labels.
The Atwater system estimates food calories based on three macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
Menu Math
Small chains covered under the ACA restaurant menu labeling mandate and single-location operators wanting to provide calorie counts to their customers are likely to rely on the "database method" of tallying the calories in their menu items. This process involves determining the nutritional value of an item by adding up the calories in each of its constituent ingredients based on numbers pulled from a database. This method is time consuming but likely to be the most economical option for an operator without thousands of dollars to invest in the process.
For those who want to go it alone, the USDA database is a good place to start.10 It currently includes more than 184,000 food items ranging from generic ingredients like raw ground beef to brand-name prepared items. With enough patience, a dedicated individual should be able to determine the nutritional information of a restaurant menu item using data from this collection. There are also private companies that maintain their own databases and offer services to make the task of counting calories a little easier.
Big chains with the money to spend and operators who need a high degree of accuracy in their restaurant menu calories may opt to get science involved. Several laboratories across the United States offer testing services that can determine the nutritional content of food samples you send them, resulting in accurate nutritional information with minimal operator effort. At more than $500 a sample, this method is often cost prohibitive for smaller operators running just a handful of locations.
Want to display calorie counts but don't have lab testing money in the budget? Use trustworthy databases, such as the USDA FoodData tool, to calculate nutritional information for your dishes.
General vs Nutritional Labels
Depending on the product, one or two mandatory labels may be required. The first of these is known as a general label, while the second is known as a nutritional label. Depending on the size and shape of product packaging, this information may be included on one label on the product's front, back, or side, or it may be found on dual labels containing principal and informational product data.11
Eateries required to make nutritional information available must include the same information and conform to the same standards as a printed label, even if the information is posted to a website or app instead of being printed on the product itself. Below, we'll cover some requirements for general and informational food facts.
General Food Label
- Product name in English
- Net content/weight in US customary measurement units
- Manufacturer/distributor name and address
- Country of origin
- Ingredients in descending order of predominance
- All possible allergens that may be found in the product
Nutritional Label
- Must be titled "Nutrition Facts"
- Nutrients and their amounts must be listed alongside the Daily Reference Value
- Carbohydrates, protein, cholesterol, and trans fatty acids must be specially noted
- Calorie content must be listed in bold type and is typically required to be 16-point font or larger
- If the food contains an excessive level of cholesterol and/or sodium, a warning must be included on the label
- "Percent Daily Value" footnote must be included at the bottom of the label
- Other nutrients, such as Vitamin D, potassium, calcium, iron, and added sugars also must be represented
How to Make Your Own Nutrition Labels
All these rules and requirements can be confusing, and mom-and-pop eateries might feel stymied on where to start. Luckily, a few online services and software options are available to assist operators with making labels, without the hefty price tag associated with nutrient analysis at a lab.
LabelCalc's Nutrition Facts Label Maker software relies on stored information from lab-analyzed ingredients to create accurate nutrition facts based on the types and amounts of each ingredient in a dish. Operators just need to enter ingredients and choose a serving size. LabelCalc's software automatically flags all known allergens and creates FDA-compliant nutrition facts available for instant download.12
Genesis R&D Food Formulation & Labeling software provides a simple interface where operators can enter ingredient types and amounts for each dish. Using the company's extensive food and ingredient database as a reference, the software creates an FDA-compliant nutrition facts label for your dish. Users can save, reuse, and modify labels once they're created.13
ReciPal uses a similar software and database to make labels. Operators can choose from existing ingredients or add their own entries based off known nutrition facts for a specific ingredient. Labels can be created and modified quickly for large or small food batches, while various FDA-compliant label formats are available to choose from. This software also provides recipe costing calculations based on ingredient and packaging costs.14
Online Labels' free nutrition label generator helps operators with a slim budget ensure the information they're providing meets FDA requirements. To use this tool, you'll have to do the math yourself, using existing ingredient labels and information gleaned from a food database such as the USDA's FoodData Central.10 Once you've calculated your dish's basic nutrition facts, you can enter the information in the label generator, select the preferred layout, and have professional looking (and FDA compliant) nutrition facts for any menu item.15
Depending on your budget and timeline, you can pay a premium to have food analyzed at a lab, sign up for a label creation software service, or add up the nutrition facts yourself and format them with a free online label tool.
Who Enforces Nutrition Labelling Regulations?
Businesses that fail to comply with applicable nutrition label regulations will have to answer to the FDA. Violators can expect to receive a written warning letter, which may be followed with more serious consequences such as product seizure, a court ordered injunction, criminal prosecution, hefty criminal fines, and even jail time.16 The following corrective actions may be applied for each offense:
Menu Labeling Enforcement Actions
- Misdemeanor violation by an individual that does not result in death: Up to $100,000 fine and/or 1 year in prison
- Misdemeanor by a corporation that does not result in death: Up to $200,000 fine and/or 1 year in prison
- Misdemeanor by an individual that results in death: Up to $250,000 fine and/or 1 year in prison
- Misdemeanor by a corporation that results in death: Up to $500,000 fine and/or 1 year in prison
- Felony by an individual: Up to $250,000 fine and/or 3 years in prison
- Felony by a corporation: Up to $500,000 fine and/or 3 years in prison
References
- FDA Extends Menu Labeling Compliance Date to 2018. U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Accessed June 2022.
- Food Labeling Modernization Act Reintroduced in Congress. JD Supra. Accessed June 2022.
- A Labeling Guide for Restaurants and Retail Establishments Selling AwayFrom-Home Foods – Part II (Menu Labeling Requirements in Accordance with 21 CFR 101.11): Guidance for Industry. U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Accessed June 2022.
- Consumer Purchasing Patterns in Response to Calorie Labeling Legislation in New York City. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. Accessed June 2022.
- Who's Counting Calories? What the Law about Calories on Menus Means for Your Restaurant. Lavu. Accessed June 2022.
- Why Label Transparency Matters When It Comes To Millennial Brand Loyalty. Forbes. Accessed June 2022.
- ARS Timeline. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Accessed May 2022.
- How Do Food Manufacturers Calculate the Calorie Count of Packaged Foods?. Scientific American. Accessed May 2022.
- H.R.3562 - Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990. Congress. Accessed June 2022.
- FoodData Central Food Search. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Accessed May 2022.
- Food Labeling in the United states.AGQ Labs. Accessed June 2022.
- Nutrition Label vs Supplement Label. Labelcalc. Accessed June 2022.
- Genesis R&D Food Formulation & Labeling Software. ESHA Research. Accessed June 2022.
- Nutrition Analysis and Nutrition Fact Labels Made Easy. ReciPal. Accessed June 2022.
- Free Nutrition Label Generator. Online Labels. Accessed June 2022.
- Compliance & Enforcement. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed August 2023.
