Starbucks now counting calories in your coffee
Chain will start posting nutritional information on menu boards across Canada
Starbucks customers will soon have another consideration besides price when deciding between that grande and venti — calories.
The coffee behemoth says it’s going to start posting calorie counts on all its menu boards across Canada starting Sept. 29, with pastry-case labelling to follow on Nov. 2.
“We will be the largest national retailer to fully provide caloric information on menu boards in store,” said Starbucks Canada president Rossann Williams, who will make the announcement Wednesday.
The java chain is getting the jump on a new Ontario menu law that takes effect in January. By 2017, all restaurants, fast-food locations, movie theatres, supermarkets and convenience stores that serve hot food with 20 or more locations in the province must post calorie counts for each item on their menus, menu boards, on tags in display cases and at drive-thrus.
Seattle-based Starbucks already made the move in 2013 in the U.S., where law- makers have had trouble imposing menu overhauls amid strong industry backlash.
“Menu labelling is yet another step to extend our long-standing commitment to ensuring our customers across Canada have the information they need to make informed decisions,” Williams said.
So before ordering, customers will be able to see, for instance, that the “tall” (small in Starbucks-speak) pumpkin spice latte has 370 calories, the sausage, egg and cheddar classic breakfast sandwich has 500 calories and a slice of lemon loaf has 430 calories.
The chain has 1,378 locations in Canada.
The Ontario Health Ministry says the Healthy Menu Choices Act, passed in 2015, is aimed at helping families make more informed choices about what they’re putting in their mouths. Skyrocketing obesity rates cost Ontario’s health-care system an estimated $4.5 billion annually.
Another chain that started early in Ontario is the Firkin Group of Pubs, which released a new menu in May that includes calorie counts for each dish at its chain of 27 restaurants — though the lettering is rather tiny. The act says calorie counts must be displayed “in at least the same size, font, format and prominence as the name/ price of the standard food item.”
Major chains including McDonald’s Canada, Cineplex and Cara Foods — which owns Swiss Chalet, Harvey’s, Montana’s, Milestones, Casey’s, Biermarkt, Kelsey’s, New York Fries, Prime Pubs and East Side Mario’s — have confirmed that they are working on it and will be compliant by January.
Studies show that consumers poor- ly estimate the nutritional content of food and that their choices are influenced by seeing the information while ordering. On average, Canadians eat 30 per cent of meals outside the home.
Starbucks says the proactive move is in keeping with other health-related moves the company has taken over the last 20 years, from the introduction of sugar-free syrup with zero calories and zero grams of fat in 1997 to the launch in 2015 of a line of salad bowls under 450 calories.
In addition, Starbucks has pledged to eliminate artificial flavours in all of its beverages by the end of 2017 and reduce average added sugar in sweet beverages by 25 per cent by the end of 2020.
“I think this could help Canadians to eat better,” said Jeffrey Pilcher, professor of food history at the University of Toronto.0
“Calories are a simplistic measure and other kinds of labelling might be even better. But this is a step in the right direction.”