The Impact of Restaurant Menu Calorie Labels on Restaurant Revenue and Profit: Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial

IF 3.4 4区管理学 Q1 HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM

Cornell Hospitality Quarterly Pub Date : 2023-12-06 DOI:10.1177/19389655231214746

Alex M. Susskind, Barton Willage, John Cawley

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In 2018, the United States implemented a nationwide law requiring chain restaurants with more than 20 units to post calorie counts next to each of their menu items. Previously, individual cities, counties, and states had passed such laws, and certain chains had voluntarily posted calorie counts. Despite the widespread nature of this practice, the effect of calorie counts on restaurant outcomes is still not well understood. This paper estimates the impact of restaurant menu calorie labels on four important outcomes: 1) restaurant revenue; 2) restaurant profit; 3) the labor time of kitchen staff; and 4) patrons’ support for calorie labels. We estimate these impacts by conducting a randomized controlled experiment in two full-service restaurants. The results indicate that posting calorie counts on menus has no detectable negative impact on restaurants – the impacts on revenue, profit, and labor time are indistinguishable from zero. Moreover, exposure to the labels increases patrons’ support of restaurant menu calorie labels by 14.3% and reduces their opposition to them by 27.1%. Altogether, these results suggest that posting calorie counts does not harm restaurants, and are appealing to consumers.

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餐厅菜单卡路里标签对餐厅收入和利润的影响：来自随机对照试验的证据

2018年，美国实施了一项全国性法律，要求超过20家的连锁餐厅在每份菜单旁边标注卡路里含量。此前，个别城市、县和州已经通过了这样的法律，某些连锁店自愿公布卡路里含量。尽管这种做法很普遍，但卡路里计数对餐馆结果的影响仍未得到很好的理解。本文估计了餐馆菜单卡路里标签对四个重要结果的影响:1)餐馆收入;2)餐厅利润;3)厨房工作人员的劳动时间;顾客对卡路里标签的支持。我们通过在两家提供全方位服务的餐厅进行随机对照实验来估计这些影响。结果表明，在菜单上标注卡路里计数对餐馆没有明显的负面影响——对收入、利润和劳动时间的影响几乎为零。此外，看到标签后，顾客对餐馆菜单卡路里标签的支持度增加了14.3%，反对度减少了27.1%。总而言之，这些结果表明，标示卡路里计数对餐馆无害，而且对消费者很有吸引力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Cornell Hospitality Quarterly Multiple-

CiteScore

8.50

自引率

2.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (CQ) publishes research in all business disciplines that contribute to management practice in the hospitality and tourism industries. Like the hospitality industry itself, the editorial content of CQ is broad, including topics in strategic management, consumer behavior, marketing, financial management, real-estate, accounting, operations management, planning and design, human resources management, applied economics, information technology, international development, communications, travel and tourism, and more general management. The audience is academics, hospitality managers, developers, consultants, investors, and students.