Restaurant Owners’ Perspectives on a Voluntary Program to Recognize Restaurants for Offering Reduced-Size Portions, Los Angeles County, 2012

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Gase, Lauren ; Dunning, Lauren ; Kuo, Tony ; Simon, Paul ; Fielding, Jonathan E.
• Description:
  Introduction ; Reducing the portion size of food and beverages served at restaurants has emerged as a strategy for addressing the obesity epidemic; however, barriers and facilitators to achieving this goal are not well characterized. ; Methods ; In fall 2012, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health conducted semi structured interviews with restaurant owners to better understand contextual factors that may impede or facilitate participation in a voluntary program to recognize restaurants for offering reduced-size portions. ; Results ; Interviews were completed with 18 restaurant owners (representing nearly 350 restaurants). Analyses of qualitative data revealed 6 themes related to portion size: 1) perceived customer demand is central to menu planning; 2) multiple portion sizes are already being offered for at least some food items; 3) numerous logistical barriers exist for offering reduced-size portions; 4) restaurant owners have concerns about potential revenue losses from offering reduced-size portions; 5) healthful eating is the responsibility of the customer; and 6) a few owners want to be socially responsible industry leaders. ; Conclusion ; A program to recognize restaurants for offering reduced-size portions may be a feasible approach in Los Angeles County. These findings may have applications for jurisdictions interested in engaging restaurants as partners in reducing the obesity epidemic.
• Subjects:
  • Commerce
  • Consumer Behavior
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Food
  • Humans
  • Menu Planning
  • Obesity/prevention & control
  • Restaurants
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 11.
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California
• Volume:
  11
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/22193/cdc_22193_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 373.80 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:db1f323718fb99b212d700fdd339cbb6f1a08a2fea1feccfc1ef4eebd332948eaf3eae07a7d6496ec217120704048b634e86ca34d17de2d6f8d0a717c93cd083