You’re used to seeing nutritional information listed on product packaging at the grocery store, but not on the menu at your favorite restaurant. Well, that’s exactly what KnowFat Lifestyle Grille in Oakdale does. It lists the fat, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fiber found in its meals. It also operates a nutrition center, similar to a GNC store, where customers can buy vitamins and supplements after their meals.
Local franchisee Curt Berchtold, a former Northwest Airlines Corp. executive, said the dual business model provided a unique opportunity to market the concept to an increasingly health-conscious society. ‘When you put the 2 businesses together, there’s a little bit of magic there in that the 2 of them combined do better than either would do stand-alone,’ he said.
KnowFat features healthy twists on traditional menu staples. The bacon cheeseburger is made with lean ground beef, turkey bacon, no-fat cheese and a whole wheat bun. The French fries aren’t fried at all, but rather baked. The restaurant also has a variety of wraps and salads, and sides like steamed broccoli and mashed sweet potatoes.
KnowFat founder and co-CEO George Naddaff, who previously started the Boston Market chain, said consumers want to eat healthy but have a hard time finding healthy choices that taste good. ‘Tofu and salads: How many days can you have that before you jump out a window?’ Naddaff said. ‘Healthy food usually tastes like cardboard. This food tastes great.’
And the restaurant makes it easy for customers who are counting their calories or cutting carbs: Its receipts also contain nutritional information for customers’ meals. The restaurant typically accounts for 65 to 70% of the revenue at KnowFat stores, while the nutrition center provides the rest. The restaurant does more volume, while vitamins and supplements provide better margins. Berchtold said he expects $1 million in annual sales for the Oakdale franchise, KnowFat’s 1st outside the Boston area. Continue reading…
5thd.com » Blog Archive » The incredible, indelible blog on August 23rd, 2006 at 12:42 pm
[…] Where were you last week when KnowFat lifestyle grille opened? Did you know that the blog Becks and Posh came up with a new restaurant review system? The urban travel blog Gridskipper seems to have added cayenne to jalapeno when it comes to the debate about the city with the best restaurants: San Francisco vs. New York City? Was it news to you that Paul Newman and Michel Nischan planned to open an organic restaurant called the Dressing Room, a locally-grown organic restaurant next door to the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut? Finally, are you in the know about Axl Rose and his new sweetheart being spotted at a London restaurant? These updates and many more would have been in your face if you watched the Blogosphere. If a regular diet of reading, watching and listening to blogs were part of your daily information consumption, then by all means you might know more than I do.So what is a blog, and, more importantly what is the Blogosphere? […]