Healthy Menu Intervention in Restaurants in Low-Income Neighbourhoods: A Field Experience

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of an intervention aimed at offering healthy menu options in a fast-food restaurant and a family-style restaurant, both located in a low-income, inner-city neighbourhood. Data on frequency of ordering healthy menu options, as well as customer reaction to the intervention, were collected in self-administered questionnaires in on-site surveys of restaurant clientele (n = 940).The results suggest that there is a demand for healthy menu options in such restaurants. Males in the family-style restaurant and regular customers (at least one visit per week) in the fast-food restaurant were more likely than others to order these options, which suggests that environmental interventions of this kind might be an effective way to reach subgroups that are difficult to reach with more traditional educational strategies.