The practice of adding better-for-you items into less nutritionally sound dishes is a practice employed by 46% of operators, according to The Big Picture. This “stealth health” approach—a term only 47% of operators say they are familiar with—is reflected in a host of interesting menu additions, such as incorporating oatmeal or mushrooms, instead of breadcrumbs, into meatballs and meatloaf.
Other operations are making menus healthier by featuring lesser known, but more nutritious, items such as quinoa, farro and other ancient grains to salad bars or as the base for featured dishes.
“We’ve been offering composed salads made out of quinoa,” says Felix Gostel, general manager for Sodexo at Capital One in Glenn Allen, Va. “We always have a whole grain available as a topping, whether it’s barley, farro or wheat berries. With those especially—ingredients that people aren’t really familiar with—it give us the opportunity to provide some education. A lot of people are not really familiar with quinoa, so I find myself giving them a lesson about [its] history.”
Another healthy step operators are taking is doing more cooking from scratch and using more fresh ingredients in the process. Some have even taken the major step of removing fryers from their kitchens. “OUr fryer was taken away [two years ago], so we don’t fry anything anymore,” says Rick Persson, director of food and nutrition services at Alpena Regional Medical Center in Michigan. “We found bakeable french fries that appeal to people. Various other things they were used to eating fried, now they eat as baked or sautéed. We try to do a lot of fresh things—we have produce delivered every day—and so we’re trying to incorporate those more.”
At Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., “We’re doing a number of things to make menu choices more nutritious ‘unconsciously’,” says Crista Martin, director for marketing and communications for Harvard University Dining Services. The department’s measures include blending mushrooms into 10 popular recipes, such as beef chili, shepherd’s pie and American chop suey; swapping out traditional veggie burgers for locally prepared and clean ingredient-labeled Southwest Black Bean Burgers and Ruby Beet and Kale Burgers, and creating vegetable recipes with enhanced seasonings and preparation techniques to elevate appeal, such as Dijon and Herb Carrots or Roasted Squash with Sage.