2009.03.10
Noshing without the data could be making you fata
Ok, so maybe I’m not that smart. I should have occured to me that a sandwich with chicken and bacon and cheese wouldn’t be healthy. But it was from Panera Bread. That’s no fast food joint dishin’ out triple Whoppers and supersizin’ french fries and selling soda pop in cups the size of gallon paint cans.
It’s Panera, it’s hip, it’s clean, it’s modern. It bespeaks a lifestyle, doesn’t it? Somewhere in all that, doesn’t the Panera brand at least imply “healthy?”
But sometimes you have to see the cold hard facts. That chicken-bacon-dijon sandwich is packin’ 36 grams of fat, friends. And that puts it squarely in the same league as the super-fat sins on fast food menus. A Big Mac? Try 29 grams of fat. A Wendy’s double, 40 grams. Burger King’s Whopper, 40 grams. A large popcorn chicken from KFC, 40 grams.
The point here is not to whack Panera for selling me something I decided I wanted. That was clearly my choice. It just wasn’t an informed choice. Here I am making my living as a data guy and talking up how you need the data to make smart decision in your life, and I’m clogging my arteries because I didn’t have the data.
But the data is out there. All of these fat gram totals came from the websites of the restaurants that serve up these sandwiches.
Panera
McDonald’s
Wendy’s
Burger King
KFC
Before you order that Triple Whopper with cheese, you might want to know it has 66 grams of fat. You could save a few grams by swinging by Panera instead and ordering the Chipotle Chicken on French Bread with it’s slimming 56 grams of fat.
There are healthier choices on all these menus, but until you check out the data, you may not know which ones they are.
Interesting topic and I totally agree the facts matter. In full disclosure I head up food development and concept for Panera. The key point that I think most folks miss when they make the Panera vs. fast food comparison is how people use the menu. In most fast food the combo menu is where you are driven to as a customer. The problem with a fast food combo is that you might take a 400 calorie hamburger but then you add to it a 550 calorie (medium) french fry and a soda. Bottom line you are looking at 1200 calories at least and significant saturated fat levels.
At Panera our version of combo is “You Pick Two”. This is your choice of two of the following; half sandwich, half salad or soup. Using this format it’s very typical to have a complete meal between 400-700 calories. Soup is a secret weapon when it comes to eating healthy and it’s our number one choice in You Pick Two.
You pick two is also our most popular choice way for our customers to use our menu. You pick two is also the reason that some of our offerings have numbers that look bad in side by side comparisons. Because of the high level of “half” sandwiches and salads we must create them in a way that when you buy a half you don’t feel like your getting cheated. A more appropriate comparison is a half item to something like a quarter pounder with cheese.
I agree that information is power. In fact we are currently testing nutritional kiosks and putting calories on our menus everywhere. (not just where mandated by law) Portion sizing is also a key issue in our industry. We are currently looking for ways to resize our offerings to allow the most flexible and healthful eating experience.
Scott Davis- Chief Concept Officer
Comment by Scott Davis — March 11, 2009 @ 10:52 am