It’s been a known secret for years: food companies make the portions smaller, but raise the price – and some chains even scold this practice.
America has long been known for its large portion sizes, but with inflation tight and the ongoing battle against obesity – with the US among the top 20 countries in the world – some restaurants are cutting back on meals.
Eateries like Chipotle have recently come under fire for skimping on portions, leading customers to resort to tactics like filming employees and using male names instead of female names in hopes of getting a larger meal.
And the frustration won’t stop anytime soon as some locations start to reframe their shrinking portions as “low-calorie, balanced meals,” or use smaller plates or portions to fool customers — like some Burger Kings’ 10-piece chicken nugget to an eight-parter.
“We’re getting ready to be ready,” Chip Wade, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, told me. The New York Times about the restaurant industry preparing to reevaluate portion sizes.
Surprisingly, most Americans actually want smaller meals, but they want the price to match the portions.
America has always been known for its large portion sizes, but with inflation tight and the ongoing battle against obesity – with the US in the top 20 countries in the world – some restaurants are cutting back on meals, such as Chipotle (pictured)
Joints like Chipotle have recently come under fire for skimping on portions, leading customers to film employees and use male names in hopes of getting a bigger meal.
Seventy-five percent of customers surveyed by the National Restaurant Association in 2024 they said they would prefer a smaller meal for a lower price.
Some restaurant chains’ biggest draws right now are deals like Panera’s You Pick 2, which gives customers a small discount on each item by bundling them together, and Subway’s $3 hot wraps, which tap into the younger crowd’s love for snacks instead of large meals. .
Georgetown University’s Portion Balance Coalition, which is part of the business school, this month began a year-long study to try to figure out how restaurants can offer smaller meals but without upsetting value-conscious customers.
The coalition hopes that at least ten major chains, such as Chick-fil-A and Panda Express, will join.
With inflation dramatically affecting the price of food, restaurants are feeling the financial pressure. Add to that the fact that about 40 percent of the food served is thrown away, according to one 2020 studyand it leaves restaurants trying to find a happy medium that doesn’t anger customers but lets them reduce waste.
According to the International Journal of Applied Management & Technology, food waste costs American restaurants billions each year.
California, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and Massachusetts have already tried to reduce food waste by limiting how much food ends up in landfills, but a Scientific research found them to be ineffective in actually controlling the problem.
As more Americans turn to medications like Ozempic to curb their appetite, even more food is going to waste as customers struggle to finish their meals.
And trends like Girl Dinner — a popular social media craze during the summer that saw young women bring out their mismatched plates filled with random foods to whip up a meal — show that some Americans just aren’t that interested in eating a full, balanced meal. .
“When it comes to quantity, it’s the right size for me or for my needs right now,” Shelley Balanko, senior vice president of Hartman Group, said of the snack trend.
The Hartman Group found that half of what an American eats in a day could be considered a snack.
The biggest attractions of some restaurant chains right now are deals like Panera’s You Pick 2, which gives customers a small discount on each item and offers smaller portions of items, as a large majority of Americans want smaller meals at lower prices.
With the growing need to reduce food waste and meet customers’ desires for smaller portions, some chains – such as Panera – are offering half portions.
ReFED President Dana Gunders — whose company is part of the Georgetown study — told The New York Times that customers can usually customize “everything about my order except the size.”
“People want this choice, but they don’t get it,” she said.
For years, people have ordered off the kids’ menu, split meals between several people, or even taken leftovers home for tomorrow because of the incredibly large portions.
Abby Fammartino, who works for the Culinary Institute of America and is also part of the Georgetown study, told The Times that when she goes out to eat with her husband and son, they only order two meals instead of three “because we know that the portion sizes are high.’
Some even order catering and divide the portions into multiple meals, as this is cheaper than buying multiple individual meals. Others simply feed more people using the catering size than the recommended number.
Three restaurants in Southern California, which were not named, conducted an experiment in 2023 offering balanced meals containing no more than 700 calories — half of what some meals are on the menu. Calorie counts in restaurants typically range from 900 to 1,500, according to The Times.
Kevin Hochman – CEO of Brinker International, owner of Chili’s Grill & Bar, among others – will not change the portion sizes of his chains anytime soon, because not all Americans want the same thing
Two kept the options after the experience, while another changed its marketing for larger portions to “dinner today, lunch tomorrow,” according to the outlet.
Despite the shift toward smaller portions, not every American is willing to give up their giant burgers and endless pasta orders.
Kevin Hochman – CEO of Brinker International, owner of Chili’s Grill & Bar, among others – will not change the portion sizes of his chains anytime soon.
“There is a truth about American consumers: People want what they want,” he told The Times. “Our job is to meet guests where they are, not where we think they should be.”
And for his customers, that means sticking to the concept of leaving uncomfortably full, just like you would at your grandma’s.
“Grandma always wanted you to go home too full and feel like you couldn’t eat anymore,” he told the outlet.
Ultimately, Deborah Cohen, who led the California Balanced Meal Study, said most Americans don’t know how to control how much they consume if they get too large a portion.
And while she realizes that changing the tide will take years, she believes that “we need to move in that direction to change the environment, not just let people do their own thing,” she told The Times.
“They are not likely to succeed if everything is stacked against them,” she said. “It’s like trying to swim in the tsunami.”
America currently ranks 19th in the world for obesity in adults and 22nd in children World obesity.
More than 40 percent of adults in the US are obese, while 20.5 percent of children are.
Other countries, such as Australia and the United Kingdom, rank 51st and 86th respectively out of 200 countries for children, and 58th and 77th for adults.