Can chain restaurant food be healthy?
Food News Media, the publisher of QSR and FSR magazines, award-winning business publications for the restaurant industry, has launched the HALO Awards, which seek to recognize and honor chain restaurants that are making meaningful contributions to a healthy, active lifestyle for consumers.
Both QSR and FSR have regularly covered the healthy, active lifestyle and how restaurant chains are addressing it. Notable recent examples include Boston-based burger restaurant b. good’s move to source hyper-local food by growing its own produce; system-wide sodium reductions by Subway and Chick-fil-A; and lower-calorie menu bundles from El Pollo Loco and McAlister’s Deli.
“Frankly, chain restaurants take a lot of flak when it comes to nutrition,” says Greg Sanders, group publisher of Food News Media. “But many chains have in fact done great things to impact health positively. We want to make sure these chains get the recognition they deserve, while also encouraging more progress throughout the industry.”
The HALO Awards welcome both nominations of chains and entries directly from the chains themselves. Entries are accepted in two broad categories:
- Menu Development—Addressing health with food choices
- Lifestyle—Addressing health and activity with messaging
Within each category, Food News Media will recognize small/local, medium/regional, and large/national chains. Winners will be featured in the pages of QSR and FSR magazines and honored at an awards ceremony on October 12, 2014, in Atlanta. The ceremony will take place in conjunction with the Atlanta Foodservice Expo.
Restaurant chains are not the only ones making positive strides in the industry. Food suppliers are an equally important part of the equation, and Tyson Food Service is one that has shown its support by becoming the sponsoring partner of the HALO Awards.
"We were thrilled about this opportunity since it gives credit to restaurants that traditionally aren't talked about for their healthy or nutritious options," says Tiffany Jetter, communications senior brand manager at Tyson Food Service. "We are looking forward to seeing all the great entries come in and hope they will become an inspiration to other operators."
Entries for the awards program are due by July 31, 2014. For more information and to enter, visit www.foodnewsmedia.com/halo.
