Weight Loss Restaurant Burton, Scot,

Weight Loss Restaurant

Burton, Scot, and Elizabeth H. Creyer. "What Consumers Don't Know Can Hurt Them: Consumer Evaluations and Disease Risk Perceptions of Restaurant Menu Items." Journal of Consumer Affairs 38, no. 1 (2004): 121.

Burton and Creyer point out that the growing obesity epidemic in the U.S. may soon surpass the more traditional of the leading causes of death in the U.S. In fact they point out the surgeon generals warning that the complications of obesity may reverse all the health related strides that have been made in other areas. The cost of the rising epidemic is also substantial, with an estimated $117 billion annual price tag. "...the obesity epidemic spreading throughout the nation could soon overtake tobacco as the leading cause of preventable deaths. More specifically, the rising death toll resulting from illnesses and diseases directly related to being overweight, and those worsened by obesity, threaten to wipe out medical advances made in the treatment of the two major causes of death in the United States, heart disease and cancer (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2001)." Burton and Creyer point out that, "the primary cause of the obesity epidemic is not difficult -- Americans are simply consuming too many calories given their level of physical activity." This is clearly in part due to the over consumption of restaurant fare, that considers, cost and flavor over health. The most recent movement has been to attempt to formulate consumer reporting that includes traditional health information about offerings on restaurant menus. The research demonstrates a disconnect between consumers perception of the healthful content of menu items as compared to their real health value as restaurants are not required to place such information on actual menus and can market foods as healthful even if they are not. The implications of this study are that consumers need information that correlates to purchases and given this restaurants may be more inclined to consider the way the health information of menu items can influence consumers and in turn alter the healthfulness of offerings.

Dining out with a Healthy Appetite." FDA Consumer, March 1987, 18.

FDA Consumer points out that the trend to alter restaurant offerings to meet the demands of a more health conscious consumer is entrenched, though only few have gone as far as offering patrons health information on menus a step that must be taken for consumers to be most aware of the content of the food they choose and its impact on health and well-being. The article points out that health cannot simply be a marketing tool, it must be something the consumer is ensured that the restaurant is thinking about when they create and prepare foods for consumers. Initially this must be provided by proof in menu health information.

Farquhar, John W. The American Way of Life Need Not Be Hazardous to Your Health. Revised ed. Reading, MA: Perseus Publishing, 1987.

Farquhar stresses in his full length book the nature of American consumption offerings and how the burden of responsible consumption is on the consumer, with the inclusion of the fact that restaurants and other manufacturers need to offer easily accessible information about health as is applies to the product in question. The work would be a great read for someone seeking to develop a healthy restaurant.

Gilliam, Stacy. "Build Your Own Franchise: Nemos Seafood Partners Are Growing a Chain of Healthy Take-Out Restaurants." Black Enterprise, January 2007, 44.

Fast food restaurants have long been the focus of health conscious researchers and consumers. They are thought of as the source of many of the ills of the U.S. population. This article demonstrates that opening a fast food restaurant that has health, not just convenience in mind is a great current market idea. The message is that consumers are seeking to change the manner in which fast food serves them as the convenience is necessary in the fast paced lives we lead but the health must also play a part in offerings. Nemos Seafood is one of the first and the article points out that even before the first consumer stepped foot in the doors of the first restaurant the owners had sold 7 franchises and by 2007, three years after the idea became reality there are over 70 of the restaurants in operation, all of which are expected to have an annual average income of $600,000. Fast food or not opening a restaurant focusing on healthier options is a stellar modern business idea.

Gutman, Benjamin N. "Ethical Eating: Applying the Kosher Food Regulatory Regime to Organic Food." Yale Law Journal 108, no. 8 (1999): 2351-2384.

According to Gutman, "Green products are red hot.(2) This is the age of environmental consciousness,(3) and consumers are using their purchasing power to support ecologically superior products and services,(4) Information about the environmental impact of these products is essential to these choices; hence the rapid rise of ecolabeling (5) as a form of green marketing.(6) Whatever form they take, ecolabeling programs share the goal of providing consumers with the information they need to make their purchases in accordance with their personal ethical views.(7) Consumers need assurance that these labels truly identify the products that they wish to buy." The stress is therefore on consumer confidence, as new eating options press to make sure that labels and menus reflect the reality of what is in their products. This is so essential in the day of consumer awareness, as consumers will seek their own information and refuse to consume products if they are proven to have false claims about health and nutrition.

Hill, James O., Holly R. Wyatt, and John C. Peters. "Modifying the Environment to Reverse Obesity." Environmental Health Perspectives 113, no. 8-1 (2005): 108.

Hill, Wyatt and Peters stress the importance of reevaluating the built environment to reduce the incidence of obesity and lack of overall health. The article points out that convenience and a desire for a better standard of living has been driving the assimilation of easy consumables that threaten the health of people. The article goes on to describe ways, including the development of sustainable and green restaurants as well as more natural environments to help facilitate more physical activity and a better health environments.

Kiger, Jack E., and Anna M. Rose. "Internal Control Evaluation of a Restaurant: A Teaching Case." Issues in Accounting Education 19, no. 2 (2004): 229.

Kiger & Rose demonstrate a learning case that evaluates restaurant management seeking to identify weaknesses and resolve them through student participation in internal evaluations. This would be a great read for anyone seeking to develop and/or evaluate an existing restaurant on sustainability, in a business and ecological view.

Kimbe-Ellis, Sonya. "A Lighter Side to Soul Food: Healthy Concepts Inc. Finds Success in Development of Ethnic Cuisine." Black Enterprise, February 1998, 46.

Kimbe-Ellis give an example of how existing, unhealthily labeled foodstuffs, like soul food, which has been consistently identified as fatty and unhealthy comfort food is developing changes through offering the same tastes with lighter health consequences. The trend has been embraced by many as a positive one, that will likely help those who seek these types of fares, by making them aware of the options for creating such food in a healthier way. The success of the few restaurants who are practicing these changes has increased the opportunity of other entrepreneurs in seeking to assist their communities in healthy changes.

Kinnon, Joy Bennett. "Taking it Off: 50 Pounds or More Lighter, Obesity Victims Reveal Their Secrets." Ebony, July 2004, 90.

Kinnon points out the obesity epidemic and then discusses ways that the overall community can combat the problem. "How do we combat it? "We have eaten ourselves into this problem and we have to eat ourselves out of it," Dr. Mason says. Eating the right kinds of foods, portion control and a balanced program of exercise is the key to weight loss, he and other medical experts say." The work stresses individual success stories as well as individual constraints that demand attention. The work stresses that the importance of opproriate offerings as well as information for consumers would likely create a better built environment for those who wish to change their current health situation.

Lebow, Michael D. Overweight Teenagers: Don't Bear the Burden Alone. New York: Insight Books, 1995.

Lebow's full length book demonstrates the marketing that has driven the childhood obesity epidemic, as well as the need to offer fares that are better suited to healthy choices. Teenagers according to Lebrow do not think about health in the same way that those of us who are older and feeling the evidence of the history of poor eating and sedentary lifestyles, and therefore the offerings and marketing toward teens must begin to replace that which has traditionally been driven by marketing success and profit rather than long-term good health habits.

Livesey, Sharon M. "McDonald's and the Environmental Defense Fund: A Case Study of a Green Alliance." The Journal of Business Communication 36, no. 1 (1999): 5.

Livesey'an article demonstrates a sustainable partnership between McDonald's restaurants and the Environmental Defense Fund, which resulted in the development of a sustainable packaging plan for the fast food chain. Though the issue does not specifically address food sustainability, i.e. better healthy options in the industry it does demonstrate a change that was significant in the industry and made McDonalds and other convenience restaurants more aware of the lack of sustainability in their practices, an excellent step in creating a more sustainable built environment.

Marvin, Simon, and Will Medd. "Fat City." World Watch, September-October 2005, 10.

A fascinating study done by a men's fitness magazine is detailed in this work, demonstrating the previously assumed connection between the built environment and the level of obesity that is present in any given community. The health magazine Men's Fitness set out to measure, city by city, "the relative environmental factors that either support an active, fit lifestyle, or nudge people towards a pudgier sedentary existence." Using existing surveys and data, the magazine's analysis ranked the 50 largest U.S. cities according to per-capita numbers or rates of several factors, including gyms and sporting-goods stores, health club memberships, exercise, fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol consumption, smoking, television watching, junk food outlets, and recreation facilities. Obesity levels were scored by drawing on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. One result is that, ever since the survey was launched, U.S. cities have been jostling to escape top honors as fattest city." (10) the article clearly demonstrates that institutions and locals, as well as individuals need some impetus, even if it is in the form of shaming, that gives them the desire to change the environment and include healthier lifestyle choices, such as healthy restaurants.

Obesity and the Built Environment." Environmental Health Perspectives 112, no. 15 (2004): 900.

This is a foundational work that attempts to connect the built environment of communities to health. The responsibility of healthier living falling upon the whole of the community, instead of simply the glutinous individual is an important aspect of change in a society that wishes to press for better health. "The built environment encompasses all buildings, spaces, and products that are created or modified by people. It includes homes, schools, workplaces, parks/recreation areas, greenways, business areas, and transportation systems. It extends overhead in the form of electric transmission lines, underground in the form of waste disposal sites and subway trains, and across the country in the form of highways. It includes land-use planning and policies that impact our communities in urban, rural, and suburban areas. Currently, there is insufficient research that delineates the influence of the built environment on nutritional factors and physical activity. One intended outcome of this program is the development of models of health-promoting communities that provide access to a wide variety of healthful foods and physical activity patterns, and how this impacts overweight and obesity. These community-based environmental interventions would serve as models for management and prevention of overweight, obesity, and comorbidities across other communities in need of change."