{"id":13512,"date":"2024-09-24T09:04:43","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T09:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=13512"},"modified":"2024-09-24T09:24:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T09:24:39","slug":"restaurant-portions-are-about-to-get-smaller-are-americans-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=13512","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Portions Are About to Get Smaller. Are Americans Ready?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The towering burger and ballooning bagel have withstood public health campaigns, but a new movement to shrink servings is finally gaining traction.<\/p>\n

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Smaller portions may be coming to a restaurant near you.<\/span>By Eva Cremers<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Portion sizes in American restaurants shot up in the 1980s and never came down. The average serving of spaghetti and meatballs doubled. Bagels ballooned into six-inch-wide monstrosities. Burritos started to weigh more than a Harry Potter hardcover.<\/p>\n

Nutritionists and policymakers haven\u2019t had much success fighting portion creep, which has been linked to health problems associated with obesity. Attempts to legislate soda sizes were shot down<\/a>. Calorie counts<\/a> on menus have largely gone ignored and might even be harmful.<\/a> Even celebrity-dusted public health campaigns<\/a> from the White House didn\u2019t move the needle much.<\/p>\n

But today, a combo plate of economics, demographics and climate science may accomplish what years of official hand-wringing could not: loosening the grip that super-size restaurant portions<\/a> have on the national diet.<\/p>\n

Americans are not likely to break up with endless pasta bowls and half-pound burgers overnight. But the relationship has shifted significantly. More than 75 percent of customers say they want smaller portions for less money, according to the 2024 National Restaurant Association report on the industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Restaurants sinking under rising food costs are trying to figure out how to sell smaller servings without upsetting value-minded customers. This month, the Portion Balance Coalition<\/a>, based at Georgetown University\u2019s McDonough School of Business, began a yearlong study to puzzle out the problem. They hope to sign on at least 10 high-volume chains like Panda Express and Chick-fil-A.<\/p>\n

Some restaurants have already taken action. In January, Subway introduced a<\/a> snack-focused menu<\/a> that includes smaller bites like $3 hot wraps. Burger King\u2019s largest franchisee shrank its 10-piece chicken nugget order<\/a> to eight. Panera Bread\u2019s You Pick Two \u2014 a cup of soup with half a sandwich or half a salad \u2014 is among its most popular menu items.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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@fortune<\/a> Chipotle CEO: Our portion sizes aren\u2019t getting smaller\u2014but you can get more rice or pico by giving a look. #chipotle<\/a> #chipotleportions<\/a> #chipotleorder<\/a> #ceo<\/a> #portionsizes<\/a> #business<\/a> #businesstiktok<\/a> #businesstok<\/a> #food<\/a> #foodie<\/a> #foodtok<\/a> #restaurant<\/a> #fastfood<\/a> #mexicanfood<\/a> #burrito<\/a> #dinner<\/a> #eat<\/a> #news<\/a> #chipotlehacks<\/a> \u266c original sound – Fortune Magazine<\/a> <\/section>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n
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The towering burger and ballooning bagel have withstood public health campaigns, but a new movement to shrink servings is finally gaining traction.Smaller portions may be coming to a restaurant near you.By Eva CremersPortion sizes in American restaurants shot up in the 1980s and never came down. The average serving of spaghetti and meatballs doubled. Bagels ballooned into six-inch-wide monstrosities. Burritos started to weigh more than a Harry Potter hardcover.Nutritionists and policymakers haven\u2019t had much success fighting portion creep, which has been linked to health problems associated with obesity. Attempts to legislate soda sizes were shot down. Calorie counts on menus have largely gone ignored and might even be harmful. Even celebrity-dusted public health campaigns from the White House didn\u2019t move the needle much.But today, a combo plate of economics, demographics and climate science may accomplish what years of official hand-wringing could not: loosening the grip that super-size restaurant portions have on the national diet.Americans are not likely to break up with endless pasta bowls and half-pound burgers overnight. But the relationship has shifted significantly. More than 75 percent of customers say they want smaller portions for less money, according to the 2024 National Restaurant Association report on the industry.Restaurants sinking under rising food costs are trying to figure out how to sell smaller servings without upsetting value-minded customers. This month, the Portion Balance Coalition, based at Georgetown University\u2019s McDonough School of Business, began a yearlong study to puzzle out the problem. They hope to sign on at least 10 high-volume chains like Panda Express and Chick-fil-A.Some restaurants have already taken action. In January, Subway introduced a snack-focused menu that includes smaller bites like $3 hot wraps. Burger King\u2019s largest franchisee shrank its 10-piece chicken nugget order to eight. Panera Bread\u2019s You Pick Two \u2014 a cup of soup with half a sandwich or half a salad \u2014 is among its most popular menu items.<\/p>\n

@fortune Chipotle CEO: Our portion sizes aren\u2019t getting smaller\u2014but you can get more rice or pico by giving a look. #chipotle #chipotleportions #chipotleorder #ceo #portionsizes #business #businesstiktok #businesstok #food #foodie #foodtok #restaurant #fastfood #mexicanfood #burrito #dinner #eat #news #chipotlehacks \u266c original sound – Fortune Magazine We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13514,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13512"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13515,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13512\/revisions\/13515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}