Article

Pizza buffet chains rise up to meet demand for healthful foods

While pizza is a favorite choice among diners eating out, a couple of buffet operators say some of their customers — especially parents — are asking for more healthful kids' options, and they're working to meet that demand.

January 8, 2016

By Elissa Elan, senior writer/editor, National Restaurant Association.

While pizza is a favorite choice among diners eating out, a couple of buffet operators say some of their customers — especially parents — are asking for more healthful kids' options, and they're working to meet that demand.

Two pizza chains, John's Incredible Pizza and America's Incredible Pizza Company, are working with the National Restaurant Association’s Kids LiveWell initiative. The program, created in collaboration with nutrition consultant Healthy Dining, has made it easier for restaurants to give children and their parents the information needed to help them make healthful choices.

Meals that meet the Kids LiveWell nutrition criteria focus on increasing kids' consumption of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains and low-fat dairy, while limiting unhealthy fats, sugars and sodium.

"It's clear that more restaurants are recognizing the need for healthful kids' options," said Sue Hensley, SVP of Public Affairs and Communications for the National Restaurant Association. "It's encouraging to see chefs and operators from various restaurant concepts and segments eager to create more healthful items for their youngest customers."

Since joining Kids LiveWell, both pizza chains have put healthful options on their menus that not only meet the program's criteria, but are also made from scratch with locally sourced ingredients. The intent is to offer more nutritious items that are lower in fat, sugar, sodium and calories, but still taste great.

Tim Hershberger, vice president of marketing for the St. Louis-based America's Incredible Pizza Company, said Corporate Chef James Clary worked for more than six months to create its line of healthy gourmet pizzas and 60+ item salad bar that features a large selection of superfoods, such as leafy greens and legumes. The pizzas, made with lavash crusts, contain half the carbohydrates, cheese and calories than its original pizza does.

"We've been offering healthful options for more than a year now and our chef is intent on finding foods we can incorporate that are healthy," Hershberger said. "It's simple: our customers are asking us for healthier options and to stay competitive, we have to cater to that demand or risk losing market share."

Hershberger said creating the healthful items required more than a little effort.

"Once we decided to do this, we committed ourselves to finding the right products," he said. "The fact is, we're still tweaking the menu, but we know healthy food is the wave of the future. Not only did we create an action plan to create our healthier gourmet pizzas, we put them through vigorous taste tests with a handful of customers until we came up with six solid options to offer. We launched them last July and the customer reaction has been great. We introduced more healthy items to our buffet line and also created gluten-free and vegan selections. Our customers wanted them and we felt we had to offer them."

The chain's two Kids LiveWell options — Margherita pizza with a side salad and whole wheat pasta with a side salad and grapes — are both selling well, Hershberger said.

"We've noticed the kids are ordering them, but it's really up to their parents," Hershberger continued. "Of course we have a variety of foods, but we're leaving the choice up to the parents and want them to know there is an option for healthier foods. We want to help introduce their children to some more nutritious items."

At John's Incredible Pizza, Marketing Director Laura Kroth said the Victorville, California-based buffet chain also noticed its customers wanted healthier items, especially more vegetables and foods containing less sugar. To meet that request, the company switched over to a made-from-scratch process and now just about everything, including the pizza dough and sauce, is made fresh on the premises.

"We monitor their requests through social media and surveys that ask specifically what they like, what they don’t and what they’d like to see," Kroth said. "Our operations and culinary teams work together to adapt the recipes. We're hearing they want less salt and sugar, so we’ve come up with recipes and we’re testing them. We put them on the buffet quarterly and also introduce them as limited time offers. You can really tell what moves quickly on a buffet. Of course some of our staples will be what kids love: pepperoni pizza, for example, but we're also starting to see them put a piece of pizza on the plate next to a side of steamed vegetables or a salad. The buffet is a fun way to introduce kids to healthful options."

The chain's Kids LiveWell items also consist of whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce and a side of fruit, and vegetarian pizza with a side of fruit or salad.

"The vegetarian pizza is extremely popular," Kroth said.

Kroth also said the partnership with Kids LiveWell is a successful one.

"It's a very important badge to have because it shows our commitment to providing healthful options," she said. "More people are aware of what they eat and we’re more flexible about what they expect of their food. We've come a long way to align ourselves and stay in tune with what our guests want."