FDA ruling allows operators to 'sweeten' desserts

Nation's Restaurant News, May 16, 1994

An FDA ruling allowing aspartame sweetener to be used in commercial baking applications could spark changes on industry dessert menus.

Desserts -- often stumbling blocks for even the most devoted waist-watchers -- are most likely to be impacted by the FDA approval, with more operators creating low fat desserts made with this sugar substitute.

According to NPD CREST, there is a 30-point gap between people who say they would like to order lighter desserts and people who actually do, often because of availability.

The FDA ruling "comes at a time when the food service operator is looking for news in his dessert business," said Steve DeGrave, sales/marketing director for Equal Food Service, which recently introduced a Bulk Pack alternative to individual Equal packets.

Some operators have jumped at the chance to give customers lighter dessert options. Nashville, Tenn.-based Shoney's Inc. has even replaced many standard pies with low fat varieties.

"We started testing a NutraSweet cherry pie two years ago," said Patrick Smith, Shoney's research and development project coordinator. "Consumer reaction was outstanding."

Shoney's--which operates a total of 1,800 units, including Shoney's, Captain Di's, Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken, Fifth Quarter Restaurants, Pargo's and Barb Wire's Steakhouse & Saloon--has since replaced the regular cherry and blueberry pies served in Shoney's restaurants with NutraSweet variations. While Captain D's is considering testing an artifically sweetened apple pie, Shoney's is currently the only concept to feature these pies in-store.

"These pies are real winners with our guests," he added. "A lot of older folk and diabetics love these products."

The customer reaction has prompted Shoney's to test a peach and an apple pie made with sugar substitutes.

"One of our major concerns is whether or not to drop our regular apple pie, which has been successful for many years," Smith said.

As part of Shoney's tests, units in southern Georgia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee have dropped the regular apple pie in favor of the low-fat variety. "If we get any complaints, we won't make the switch," Smith said, adding that eight months into the test there have been no complaints.

Smith said fruit pies are an excellent carrier of sugar substitutes since the natural sugar in the fruit offsets a bitter flavor produced by many artificial sweeteners when cooked at high temperatures.

In fact, products such as NutraSweet are not appropriate for all baking applications since they lack the volume, browning or structure of sugar.

He noted that Shoney's test with chocolate cakes have been less successful than the fruit pies.

"We've tested a chocolate cake," Smith said. "But we've gotten mixed reviews. This area of the baking industry must develop a bit more before we get favorable results with this type of product. As the technology improves, we will see more products like this in the industry."

Smith urges operators to identify products made with sugar substitutes for marketing and health concerns.

"You must make customers aware that a product is made with an artificial sweetener in case they are allergic," he said, adding that table tents or menu cards provide a great marketing vehicle as well.

Shoney's uses the NutraSweet brand insignia to identify low-fat desserts. While the menu cards don't claim fat or sugar reductions, they explain that these products contain no additional sweeteners.