NPD: patrons seeking healthful fare find more satisfaction

Nation's Restaurant News,  May 7, 2007  by Fern Glazer

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Forget flavorless foods that were once the typical healthful alternatives in restaurants. When it comes to such offerings, operators have stepped up their game, and consumers are eating it up.

While operators long have held that consumers fail to speak with their wallets where healthful meal options are concerned, new research from The NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y.-based global market research firm, shows that more consumers are looking for healthful choices when eating out, and they are more satisfied than ever with their options.

"Ten percent of everyone who's visiting a restaurant is seeking healthier choices," said NPD analyst Bonnie Riggs. "That's a big number in terms of traffic."

The data reveal that the satisfaction of consumers seeking healthful choices are higher than those of all other restaurant consumers. The survey says more consumers seeking healthful choices rated their experience "excellent" than did all restaurant consumers in 2006. The biggest gaps in satisfaction between those groups were in relation to taste and flavor, having food prepared the way they like it, and food quality. More than half of all customers seeking more healthful choices rated the first two categories as excellent, while just 38 percent of all consumers said the same. Also, 53 percent of patrons seeking healthful choices rated food quality as excellent, compared with 36 percent of all consumers.

Those who bought healthful fare also said they were satisfied with the value, variety and portion size of the food. Forty-five percent of those seeking healthful fare rated the value of offerings as excellent, compared with just 32 percent of all consumers. Also, 46 percent of people choosing healthful fare rated the variety of offerings as excellent, compared with just 32 percent of all consumers, while 47 percent of healthful eaters rated portion sizes as excellent, compared with 32 percent of all consumers.

Those seeking healthful options are also more pleased than all consumers with their overall experience at restaurants: 45 percent of this group rated their overall experience as excellent, compared with only 32 percent of all consumers.

Good and good for you

More Americans may be concerned about eating better, but they don't want to sacrifice taste to do it.

"Historically, when [restaurants] offered healthy alternatives, the food didn't taste good," Riggs said.

However, the taste, smell and look of food have grown more important. NPD says that in 2004 nearly 70 percent of consumers agreed that "the most important thing about food is that it looks good, smells good and tastes good." In 1985, only 58.6 percent of consumers agreed.

Nearly 30 percent of all consumers said they want to see more healthful items at restaurants, NPD says. The top flavors they said they wanted to see more of include healthful, garlic, low-fat, hot and spicy, Italian influences, and Mexican, Latin and Spanish.

"No matter what, if you're going to do it, it has to taste good," Riggs said. "Restaurant operators are figuring it out."

Some industry sectors succeed, respondents say. In 2005 and 2006, the No. 1 category was Asian casual-dining food, with 74 percent of health-conscious consumers rating taste and flavor as excellent. Others received high ratings, including quick-service bakery-sandwich, 59 percent; quick-service deli, 56 percent; and quick-service other sandwich, 51 percent. Other sectors receiving high ratings included grill-buffet, with 49 percent; soup and salad, with 43 percent; and cafeteria, with 40 percent.

Subway says it has promoted its food as a healthful alternative to traditional fast food since its inception in 1965. However, it really became identified as a possible healthful alternative in the mid-1990s with the promotion of its line of seven sandwiches with fewer than 6 grams of fat.

"It's always been part of something we did," said Subway spokesman Les Winograd. "We just gave people some ideas on how to make [our sandwiches] less fatty."

To offer more healthful yet flavorful choices, Subway has since added sandwiches like the popular Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki, and it increased the number of items for consumers to choose from when customizing sandwiches. In March, it rolled out its Fresh Fit Meals, in which consumers can choose more healthful beverages and sides like milk, diet soft drinks, baked chips, apple slices and raisins.

Subway grew rapidly once it began to heavily promote its more healthful menu choices. It had just 12,000 U.S. units in 2000. As of April there were nearly 21,000 U.S. units. While it doesn't track how people order their sandwiches, Winograd said he thinks the healthful options have played a significant role in the chain's success.

Going green

Many restaurants, mostly in the quick-service segment, seem to attract more healthful-oriented consumers than others.

Soup and salad joints topped the list of places getting the most traffic from those seeking healthful choices.