There are 34 million ways to order a Domino’s Pizza, so, thanks to President Obama’s national health care law, the chain’s franchisees may have to spend more than $5 million attempting to squeeze calorie data next to every one of their menu items. Not that the company is trying to hide anything. The Domino’s website already provides nutritional information to the 90 percent of customers who order online or by phone.
The chain also has the information in pamphlet form for the few customers who actually visit one of its 4,909 physical stores. But that’s not good enough to comply with new federal rules expected to be finalized by year’s end.
Section 4205 of the national health care law, “Nutritional Labeling of Standard Menu Items at Chain Restaurants,” caused little stir when Obamacare passed last year.
But the new rules are now causing a major headache for businesses, serving as yet another example of how the Obama administration is enacting sweeping changes without consideration of their real-world effects.
The law specifies that the number of calories in a food product must be printed directly next to the item on the menu, which is particularly difficult for fast-food restaurants that post their products on large, already crowded signs rather than standard paper menus.
Andrew Puzder, chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants, which owns Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., recently testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the changes would cost his company’s stores $1.5 million — the cost of building one and a half new restaurants.
“It’s another one of these nanny state regulations that’s designed to solve a problem that isn’t really a problem at all,” he told The Washington Examiner.
Even after complying with all the new rules, the customer will actually have less useful information than existed before the law. Currently, every Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. location has posters on the wall that not only include calorie information, but levels of fat, sodium, cholesterol and a litany of extra nutritional details.
In Domino’s case, the only way it can fit calorie information on its menu signs is to provide broad ranges. For instance, a large “Feast” pizza could range from 1,840 to 3,740 calories, because there are four different crust types and six different varieties.
But on the current website, a customer could get much more specific. As in — a slice of a large deep dish “ExtravaganZZa Feast” pizza contains 420 calories (and there are eight slices in a large pie).
While it’s easy to assume that a large corporation can afford to make such changes, most of the burden for complying with the new rules falls on franchisees, who are essentially small-business owners.
Domino’s individual stores average $40,000 in profits each year and the new rules could cost up to $4,700 at a given location, the company says.
Charlie Malament started working at Domino’s as a delivery driver in the 1980s while a senior in college. He moved up the ladder and now owns four Domino’s outlets in Maryland.
Under the new rules, if Malament wanted to introduce a new item, such as a crab cake pizza, he’d have to replace the signs in all of his stores, sucking time and money that could otherwise be used to build his business.
“There are so many different things that I have to do right now that are just completely unnecessary that take away from our profits,” he said. “When does it end? When does this stuff end? Just give a small business guy a break and let me take care of my customers and take care of my people.”
Philip Klein is senior editorial writer for The Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected].
