Compass Group USA announced last month it would incorporate the four key principles of The Culinary Institute of America and the Harvard School of Public Health’s Menus of Change initiative into its menu development. This will drive virtually all of the company’s future menu decisions, says Deanne Brandstetter, R.D., the company’s vice president of nutrition and wellness.
And it couldn’t have been timed better. February’s announcement comes while the latest update to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is being put into final form.
“We have made this commitment just as the [Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee] is preparing to release its report,” she says. “From what I’ve seen, and what we [dietitians] think their recommendations are going to be, the Menus of Change initiative really mirrors where the dietary guidelines are going.”
The Menus of Change project, launched in 2012, brought together representatives from all areas of foodservice, from operators and chefs to scientists and policy makers—including Compass—to push for healthier, more sustainable menus throughout the industry.
Keys to the project
Compass decided to adopt four key principles from that project to drive all of its menu decisions moving forward. The four principles are:
- Increasing customers’ access to vegetables and fruits by focusing on globally inspired, largely plant-based cooking.
- Including recipes and concepts where meat plays more of a supporting role, reducing red meat portion sizes and offerings, and leveraging strategies from seasonal and local flavors, vegetable proteins and global cuisines.
- Increasing the number of offerings of grain options that are more than 50 percent whole grain.
- Employing conscious menuing and messaging that promotes health and sustainability through menus, customer interaction at the chef’s table and telling the story about great food.
The new dietary guidelines are expected to promote an increase in plant-based proteins and a reduction in the consumption of animal proteins, particularly red meat, Brandstetter says. “Along with that shift,” she says, “I think there will be a shift to talking more about fat quality and about being more liberal in the use of health-promoting fats.”
Another important element of the four principles is the emphasis on local and sustainable. “We have been moving in two silos towards this for many years,” she says. “We’ve had people who are interested in health and wellness, and we’ve had the people who are interested in environmental sustainability. What we’re seeing now is a convergence of the two. Customers are saying ‘What’s good for me is good for the planet [and vice versa].’ Nutrition and sustainability are becoming part of the same health-promoting package.”
Getting buy-in and a scorecard
Brandstetter says the key to making the four guiding principals a success will be buy-in from the chefs.
“The principle that ties the other three together is the menu piece,” she says. “That’s the chef piece, and that has to be in place for the others to be successful. I think it’s important that the emphasis be on flavor and that we really have the engagement of all the Compass chefs.”
To help track its progress, Compass has developed a Menus of Change scorecard to measure and benchmark the purchasing volume of produce and red meat, as well as the spend on whole grains. This will continue for several years, Brandstetter says, “and then we’ll be looking for more opportunities to move the needle.”