Burgerville Pioneers Calorie Count Technology

I wanted to share a very cool article I read in Fast Company about Burgerville that has found a way to print nturition information on their receipts.  This is a very innovative technique and sure simplifies getting this information to customers who need to know the number of calories they are shoving into their pie hole given the fact that 40% of the American population has now been classified as obese.  Of course, it was great to hear today that food companies are now volunteering to do their part in the fight against obesity (yesterday's Wall Street) to cut calories from many of its product offerings.  Sadly, not a single foodservice company signed on to that agreement.

Here is the article that shows a picture of the receipt at:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1649254/burgerville-offers-personalized-calorie-counts-on-receipts-but-is-it-too-much


"It started first with guests interested in customizing our food. For those who have allergies or are health-conscious, how do they know if they're on track or not?" Burgerville CEO Jeff Harvey tells FastCompany.com. So Harvey did some research on Nutricate, a system from SmartReceipt that offers personalized nutritional information on receipts. The system is already used in many hospitals and employee cafeterias, but Burgerville is the first fast food chain to adopt it.


Burgerville's receipt system doesn't just shock customers into making different food choices--it also suggests what some of those choices might be. "One of our signatures is a real ice cream milkshake with seasonal fruit--it has the best quality ingredients, coming straight from the farms, but the calorie count could be as high as 800 calories. So guests will get a recommendation saying, for example, if you like the blueberry shake, you might consider getting a blueberry smoothie next time," Harvey says.


The program makes sense for customers on a diet, but we have to wonder if it feeds just a little bit too much into our ever-growing obsession with calories. Burgerville customers can at least rest easy knowing that their high-calorie food isn't coming from factory farms. But if it catches on, the program could set a questionable precedent. New York City already requires chains to provide calorie data on their menus, so it's not a stretch to think that a calorie-counting receipt system might be implemented at some point in the future.

I am totally impressed with such forward thinking on the part of Burgerville.  I am always in awe of those companies that choose not to moan about giving customers information on what they are eating and instead take the bull by the horns and take a leadership position.

Then again, what makes me sick to my stomach is why did it not come from one of us in the business of culinary arts and hospitality education?  When are we going to meet the challenge and get off the "business as usual" education model and one that prepares students to be leaders in our beloved industry?!  I am up for it and pushing the envelope every day.  Anyone else out there doing the same?