The Real Greek restaurant group includes calorie count on every menu item

19th July 2010, 10:32am

The Real Greek has become the first restaurant group in the UK to include a calorie count on every single item of their menus from sides to desserts, as well as on the drinks list.

The company has been working closely with the FSA (Food Standards Agency) and is the only restaurant company currently offering real transparency in their nutritional information based on current FSA guidelines.

Where dishes were on the high fat side, for example deep fried whitebait, these have been replaced by The Real Greek with healthy menu additions for those who want a less calorific meal.  These include grilled asparagus at 140 calories a portion and Lahanosalata at 134 calories.

Liz Williams, managing director of The Real Greek, said: "People want the choice these days - if you want to take a more balanced approach when you eat out, your choice is going to be better informed when the calories are clearly listed.

"Perhaps you'll go for a lighter dessert, for example, like our Sweet and Salty Watermelon which you can enjoy without blowing your calories for the day, and it goes towards one of your 'five a day'."

A spokesperson for the FSA explained: "There is no compelling reason why we shouldn't see nutritional information when we eat out, as we are used to seeing it in supermarkets.  It is important to have clear information in order to make decisions about the food we, our children and anyone else eat, when we go out. Providing calorie information is supported by our consumer research and intuitively feels right too."

Related Articles:

• 07 Mar 2011 - Harvester becomes the first pub brand to display calorie counts
• 21 Feb 2011 - Restaurants to put calories on menus by September 2011
• 11 Feb 2009 - The Real Greek supports Action Against Hunger charity

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The Pure Package

31 August 2010 at 11:30am

We don’t think it is a good idea for restaurants to add calories to their menus. People should not obsess about calorie counting as this causes people to eat unhealthily. For example, a person who has 1000 kcals eating out might then starve themselves for the rest of the day/next day which is extremely unhealthy and a bad thing to do, especially if you are dieting. Incidentally, we've just written a piece about our own five favourite healthy restaurants in London here: http://blog.purepackage.com/2010/08/our-five-favourite-healthy-restaurants.html It would be great if anyone had any feedback or comments to make

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