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The truth hurts...but at Crushed Red it doesn't hurt as much.
Co-owner and founder Chris LaRocca designed the super-fresh, super-fast, super-slick, quick-serve concept to also be super-healthy. The logical next step was to demonstrate how healthy. So a month ago, he installed an iPad kiosk at the Clayton flagship--near the condiment counter and under the literal banner of "Read 'em and Eat," where customers could dial up any of Crushed Red's thirty-ish menu items (below left) and get Nutrition Facts for every one of them, no matter the size. Useful information. But it gets more useful.
Add a pizza topping here (below right) or subtract a salad ingredient there, and the calorie, fat, and carbohydrate totals change accordingly. According to LaRocca, "there's no more wondering, no more guessing, no more lying to yourself."
There is a "build your own meal" option, as most of Crushed's customers opt for some combination of soup, salad, and pizza, and the numbers, as LaRocca suspected, are encouraging. "And by adding or subtracting ingredients, the system allows you to hit a specific fat, calorie, or carb number exactly," he said. "It makes what can be a very complicated numbers game very simple."
The nutritional information is also available on the website here or on mobile devices, taking the caloric guesswork out of ordering in advance or while on the go, too. It's a good idea and a slick system. Look for it to be incorporated into the design of the next two Crushed Red units: in Kirkwood, opening in May, and in the CWE, slated to open later this summer.
