Having words with Tom Foulkes vice president, Stale Relations & Grassroots National Restaurant Association

Nation's Restaurant News, March 12, 2007 by Paul Frumkin

A week before New York City Councilman Joel Rivera introduced his bill to provide the city s restaurateurs with some workable alternatives to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's recent ordinance mandating menu labeling, Tom Foulkes was in town to discuss the issue with him. Foulkes, the National Restaurant Association's vice president of state relations and grassroots, was there to voice support for Rivera's initiative, which seeks to mitigate the health department's rules. The department says restaurateurs who already provide nutritional information must post calorie counts on menu boards or menus. Rivera 's bill would require that operators make the information available in some form at the unit, which could include brochures and posters.

What have you been doing in New York?

We've been having conversations with Councilman Joel Rivera. He's going to introduce a bill that would simply require those restaurants that provide nutritional information to make that information available on the premises. We think it will give chains the flexibility they need.

What kind of flexibility?

They could hand out brochures with the information on them. They could have posters. The information just needs to be on the premises. While a number of companies provide the information, it is not always readily available in every location. Also, it would encourage the board of health to create a mechanism by which smaller restaurants could [develop their own nutritional information] through a website or some other type of program.

If the council were to pass the Rivera plan, would that supersede the health department's plan?

I don't know that it would automatically supersede it, but it's the only option out there.

We're just hopeful that common sense will prevail, because they're presenting a system the industry has been telling them is unworkable and not effective in the end goal.

Have you been communicating with the city?

Yeah. We've met with the board of health several times. It was incredible just the lack of thought process they had on this. They'd say, "You have the [calorie] numbers. Just put them up there on the menu board." We would tell them that there's a lot more to it than that. You can't just slap the number up there. The board has to be changed. You have to make sure it's accurate. If it shows a picture of a combo meal, that meal can be small, medium or large. It could include Coke to Diet Coke, so that could change the calorie content.

what convinced Rivera to craft this measure?

I think he realized the existing rule was going after one segment on this particular issue, and it won't accomplish the goals the board said it would. Also, a lot of city councilmen don't believe the board of health has the authority to create laws, so they want to stop that precedent. They also think it's a true burden on business owners.

Many people wonder why there wasn't a legal challenge to the board of health. Is that something we might still see?

I think we'll definitely keep our legal options open. But there have been conversations, and I know the board of health feels strongly that they do have the ability to regulate.

But I think there is some question within the city's charter about what the mayor can do through his agencies. So there's some interest in looking at that further.

* FAST FACTS

JOB: vice president, state relations and grassroots, National Restaurant Association

EDUCATION: bachelor's degree in political science from Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y.

AGE: 32

BIRTHPLACE: Plainview, N.Y.

PERSONAL: married with one daughter