Editor’s note: The following column is from Healthy Dining, a company that has been at the forefront of restaurant nutrition since 1990. This series provides restaurant operators with information on industry-related nutrition topics. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Nation’s Restaurant News.

The attention given to regulation of sodium levels in restaurants’ menu items is escalating. This month, two major steps were undertaken by health professionals and health organizations to place emphasis back on sodium reduction in foods.

The largest organization of public health professionals, the American Public Health Association (APHA), released a sodium-related resolution on Nov. 1, urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove the GRAS (generally recommended as safe) status of sodium and to regulate the amount permitted in processed and restaurant foods as soon as possible.

On Nov. 10, a public forum was held in Washington, D.C., initiated by the FDA and several other influential health organizations, to discuss nationwide sodium reduction. The National Restaurant Association’s Joan McGlockton, Vice President of Public Policy, represented the restaurant industry at the forum.

She said, “Our industry has made significant strides in reducing sodium and will continue to do so while supporting consumer education, access to information, and other efforts vital to assisting consumers in lowering their sodium intake.

“An effective approach to reducing sodium must be voluntary, incremental, flexible, and take into account the eating preferences of consumers,” she added, “the formidable technological challenges, and the multiple uses of sodium in the food supply.”

Still, it’s top of mind for many regulators, even if specific steps aren’t yet outlined. Dr. Jessica Leighton, the FDA’s senior advisor on nutrition and food safety, remarked that the agency is reviewing information and has no immediate plans for sodium regulation. The FDA’s goals during the forum were to better understand the issues and build collaborative public and private partnerships to address sodium reduction.

What should your restaurant do?

Recognizing that sodium reduction is an important issue to address, especially to help position the industry as one that is taking a proactive stance and contributing to the health of America, here are five steps restaurant can take today:

1. Please your guests – Most likely, more than three out of five adult guests at your restaurant have elevated blood  pressure. Some don’t know, some don’t care, yet some do care and are actively trying to lower sodium intake. By offering several lower sodium options, you can build a loyal following of guests who appreciate those choices. More than 130 restaurant brands, representing almost 13,000 locations, offer ‘SODIUM SAVVY’ options featured on HealthyDiningFinder.com.

2. Educate your guests – The APHA report recommends that the restaurant industry, health organizations and food companies, “educate consumers to choose lower sodium foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables.”

3. Assess and cut – Be proactive. Start a process of identifying the sources of sodium in your menu offerings (added salt, soy sauce, canned ingredients, salad dressings, processed meats, etc.) and develop strategies to begin to decrease those ingredients where it is easiest. For example, if you add 1/2 cup of salt to a bulk recipe, experiment with reducing to 1/3 cup and test the results. Can your cook and wait staff detect the change? If not, test with your customers. You may find they don’t notice the reduced salt or they may like it better.

4. Be creative – Throw out the salt, cans and high sodium processed products and inspire your guests with fresh, natural flavors. For instance, add garlic, leeks, onions, tomatoes, and other flavorful vegetables and reduce added salt. Adding one tablespoon of chopped onions and decreasing salt by just a quarter of a teaspoon will reduce sodium content by 580 milligrams. Plus, the onion adds potent antioxidants that promote health and fight disease and aging. Another tip: braise, roast and steam to bring out the natural flavors in your ingredients so that you won’t need to add much, if any, salt. Use herbs and spices instead which also offer healthy antioxidants. Read more.

5. Know your blood pressure and educate your employees – High blood pressure is dubbed “the silent killer” because you won’t feel any symptoms – until it is too late. So have your blood pressure checked (many pharmacies and fitness centers offer this at no charge). Healthy blood pressure is less than 120/80 – that number is an important indicator of your overall health status. If your blood pressure is higher than that, it is important to see a physician. Also, encourage all those you care about, your employees, family and friends, to have their blood pressures checked, too. The American Heart Association’s website, Heart.org, offers a wealth of information on achieving optimal blood pressure levels.

The APHA report

The APHA’s report, ‘Implementing Effective Strategies to Reduce Sodium in the Food Supply,’ outlines the scientific evidence leading to their recommendations for a population-wide intervention to decrease the high levels of sodium in the food supply, including:

• 31% of all deaths in the U.S. are attributed to cardiovascular diseases (primarily heart disease and stroke) – most of these are preventable
• 60% of adults in the U.S. have blood pressure levels which are higher than normal (120/80), putting them at significantly higher risk of cardiovascular diseases
• An estimated 70 million Americans have prehypertension which means they have a 1.5 to 2.5 times greater risk of having a heart attack, stroke or heart failure in the next 10 years compared with those with optimal blood pressure
• The evidence linking excess sodium consumption to hypertension is “conclusive” and “overwhelming”

About the author: Anita Jones-Mueller, MPH, is president and founder of Healthy Dining. She is a nationally recognized authority who brings to market innovative nutrition-related strategies to help restaurants prosper while educating and empowering Americans to enjoy healthier cuisine. Contact her at anita@healthydiningfinder.com.
 

The summer tourism season is beginning, and restaurant operators and analysts see smoother sailing this year than in the last several vacation seasons.

Increased summer restaurant employment projections and improved confidence indexes signal a positive outlook for travel and tourism, which National Restaurant Association research shows produces about 40 percent of restaurant sales.

“We are feeling quite positive on tourism this season,” said Larry Majewski, who with wife, Rebecca Majewski, owns the two-year-old Parador restaurant in Egg Harbor, Wis., in the center of the popular Upper Midwest vacation peninsula known as Door County. “Our bellwether is what the innkeepers report, and their bookings are up this year over last. That’s our No. 1 indicator of how things are looking rosy.”
Door County draws the majority of its visitors from cities within a few hundred miles, including Chicago and Minneapolis, Minn., as well as Milwaukee and Madison, Wis. Their plans are affected by gas prices, which have fallen into the mid-$3-a-gallon range from around $4 a gallon earlier this year.

Easing prices at the gas pump have helped boost consumer confidence. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment on Friday climbed to 79.3 in May from 76.4 in April. The May figure is the highest since October 2007, before the recession began tightening its grip on travel wallets.

A survey in April by the U.S. Travel Association and MMGY Global found the percentage of U.S. adults expecting to take at least one leisure trip between May and October climbed to 65 percent — up three percentage points from April 2011 and eight percentage points from April 2010, when only 58 percent of U.S. adults said they planned to take a leisure trip in the next six months.

The AAA auto club’s survey of Memorial Day travel plans, which proves to be an indicator of overall summer travel, found 34.8 million Americans planned to take trips of at least 50 miles on the weekend. That was about 500,000 more than planned to travel for Memorial Day 2011 but about equal to the holiday two years ago, the auto club said. About 30.7 million — or 88 percent — of the travelers this year plan to drive, the AAA said.

That figure provides good news for operators like Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc., which has many of its 615 units on major arterials. The Lebanon, Tenn.-based company said earlier this week that customer traffic was up in the third-quarter, as it was in the second.

Multibrand casual-dining operator O’Charley’s Inc. said Wednesday it has shuttered 14 underperforming locations of its namesake chain in various markets.

The TimesDaily.com quoted the restaurant chain’s president, Marc Buehler, as saying the O’Charley’s branch in Florence, Ala., was closed “as part of a plan to further strengthen our company and enable us to build our brand.”

Other O’Charley’s units were closed in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Indiana, according to published reports.

O’Charley’s, which also includes the Ninety Nine and Stoney River Legendary Steak brands, was acquired earlier this year by Fidelity National Financial Inc., a title and mortgage services provider, for about $221 million.

Prior to that, Nashville, Tenn.-based O’Charley’s had been traded publicly on the Nasdaq exchange.

FNF also holds investments in American Blue Ribbon Holdings, which operates the Village Inn, Bakers Square, Max & Erma’s and Legendary Baking Brands. Prior to the acquisition, American Blue Ribbons had more than 220 company and 63 franchised restaurants, generating about $460 million in sales annually.

After the closures, O’Charley’s Inc. had 213 O’Charley’s branches, 105 Ninety Nine restaurants and 10 Stoney River outlets.

For the fiscal year ended Dec. 25, 2011, O’Charley’s posted a $12.1-million loss, compared with a $34.9-million loss in 2010. Revenue fell to $827.1 from a year-ago total of $830.1 million. Blended same-store sales rose 1.7 percent.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story has been updated to correctly note that O’Charley’s closed a location in Florence, Ala., not Florence, Tenn.