National Restaurant Association President and CEO Dawn Sweeney shares details on the association’s Food & Healthy Living initiative in the inaugural edition of an online resource for restaurant operators that launched this week.
"Restaurant Nutrition: News & Insights for the Foodservice Industry" is a new feature by NRA’s partner Healthy Dining at www.RestaurantNutrition.com.
The site will feature weekly interviews with industry executives and marketing and culinary leaders. As the head of the industry’s leading trade association, Sweeney is first out the gate, telling Healthy Dining’s Anita Jones-Mueller about her perspectives on menu labeling and increasing produce use. She also discusses a realistic and practical role for the industry in contributing to public health.
“Serving as many people as the industry does – 130 million meals a day – we realize the important role food plays in a healthy lifestyle,” Sweeney says in the interview. “To continue to meet industry's changing needs, as well as address public health concerns, the National Restaurant Association has created a healthy living platform that will provide a strong foundation that not only helps contribute to a healthier America but helps foster a healthy and thriving restaurant industry.
“Our vision is to create an environment that encourages voluntary, flexible options for restaurateurs to address today's healthy living challenges — and to create a holistic approach that encompasses a multitude of solutions."
Restaurant Nutrition: News & Insights features information on the most pressing nutrition issues affecting the industry today. Topics include menu-labeling compliance, sodium reduction, healthful kids’ meals, gluten-free menus and growing wellness trends. In addition to the new site, the resource can be found in the Operators’ section of HealthyDiningFinder.com.
“This new resource was developed in response to the industry’s interest in meeting the nutrition needs of their customers. It offers a wealth of content to help restaurants succeed in this nutrition-focused era,” Jones-Mueller says.
American Express is the founding sponsor of the site.
