Posted on 04/24/2018 10:45:43 AM PDT by Red Badger
Unlike other food establishments that have static menu options, pizza is highly variable: Domino’s offers consumers 34 million different combinations of pizza. (iStock Photo)
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As the owner of 18 Domino’s stores in Texas, I do not cut corners, whether on pizzas or complying with the law. Unfortunately, on May 7 the law will become especially burdensome and unhelpful to my customers. That day, President Trump’s FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb will implement a nationwide, Obama-era menu-labeling rule requiring restaurants with 20 or more locations to post in-store menu boards listing the calories of every item sold.
I fully support efforts to ensure consumers have access to nutritional information, and my customers deserve accurate information delivered to them at the point of sale. I would not have lasted 36 years in this industry and succeeded as a Domino’s franchisee over the past 20 if I were working against the interests of my customers. At the same time, small business owners like me deserve a fair accounting of the rule’s costs. But the rule as codified by Gottlieb fails on both counts, and Trump must direct Gottlieb to fix the rule before it goes into effect.
First, the rule fails to account for how my customers actually order pizza in the real world out here in West Texas. Unlike other food establishments that have static menu options, pizza is highly variable: Domino’s offers consumers 34 million different combinations of pizza.
Can you imagine yourself in a small store in Midland or Odessa, Texas, plastered with menu boards, trying to calculate all of these possible combinations?
In addition, Domino’s customers do 90 percent of their ordering remotely — either online (Web and app) or by phone. I estimate that I will have to spend approximately $5,000 annually per store to put up compliant menu boards. I’m talking possibly $90,000 to invest in signage that less than 10 percent of my customers actually will see, and less than that actually will use.
Second, the costs of the rule to my employees and me could be excessive, with the greatest beneficiaries of these costs being trial lawyers. This is because Gottlieb’s rule exposes my employees and me to civil and criminal penalties of up to one year in prison and/or a $100,000 fine for inadvertent violations.
That means if one of us accidentally tops a pizza with too much pepperoni or cheese, or is a little heavy-handed with the tomato sauce on a given day, we could be headed to prison.
I know many supporters of the rule would argue that’s an outrageous claim, but FDA has offered no information or clarity except: “Trust us.”
So, what’s a sensible solution that works for both small businesses and consumers?
Domino’s came up with an initial answer more than a decade ago by providing an online tool, the Cal-O-Meter, that allows consumers to calculate the calories in a pizza, accounting for factors like the crust type, number of toppings, and sauce. While this useful application is provided to consumers at the point of purchase and fulfills the intent of the law, FDA for years has said that an online menu accessed by consumers on their smartphones, tablets, and computers won’t meet the Obama administration’s standard (which the agency apparently is keeping under Trump).
Last November, Gottlieb issued new guidance on the rule that he claimed would make things clear. Unfortunately, it only made things more convoluted.
Now my employees and I need Trump to weigh in. He needs to direct the FDA to give us the flexibility to use 21st century technology to provide our customers with accurate nutritional information, right at their fingertips. The Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act, which overwhelmingly passed the House twice, both last year and earlier this year, enjoys broad, bipartisan support and should be the basis for FDA action.
I was pleased when the Trump administration delayed implementation of this rule last May because it seemed to understand, and signaled it wanted to think through, the complexities this one-size-fits-all solution poses to businesses like mine.
Now, I am disappointed. In the name of expediency, Gottlieb is working at cross-purposes with Trump’s efforts to unshackle Main Street from the burdens of unnecessary, outmoded, and counterproductive regulations.
President Trump has the power to stop his FDA and Commissioner Gottlieb from going over the regulatory cliff. Millions of small businesses that drive our economy every day are watching and waiting.
Less government does not mean no government. You are assuming facts not in evidence...and you know what happens when you “assume,” right?
If you want more labels on your food, then only buy food with the labels you want on them. Let the food producers know. The marketplace will prevail.
Do not, though, mandate it, by law. That is tyranny. I would reckon you oppose tyranny, yes?
When it comes to government, less is better, on all levels.
The problem is we actually have regulations prohibiting the honest labeling of some foods. Such, I believe, as American-grown beef IIRC.
Pizza calorie labels are not tyranny. And they won’t make a significant difference in the cost of a pizza. But they might make a significant difference in the health of that fat client you were talking about.
“When it comes to government, less is better, on all levels.” = No government = Somali.
Crusher’s Garlic French Bread Pizza
One loaf of French Bread
1 1/2 Cup of your favorite Italian tomato sauce (we’re cheap, we use Hunts)
2 to 3 tablespoons of crushed fresh garlic or granulated garlic if you must
1 to 2 tablespoons of oregano
2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
2 sticks of butter
A copious amount of shredded mozzarella cheese
Cut the loaf of French bread lengthwise
Melt the butter
Add garlic, oregano, and Parmesan cheese to melted butter and wisk
Brush mixture onto the bread (not the crust)
Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes
Remove from oven
Coat bread with tomato sauce
Pile on shredded mozzarella
Bake for another 8 to 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it so that the cheese doesn’t get too brown.
Cut into 3” servings.
Obviously this base can be enhanced with pepperoni, sausage, onion, mushrooms, etc.
thanks!...............must try this!.........
A strawman that only a liberal could make.
“Dominoes could do this easily for him. All the entries are put in via computer now anyway, writing the software to compute it while they give the order and have it at their fingertips when the order is placed.”
The point is the calorie NAZI’s want the customers to be able to calculate the calories BEFORE ordering. That way the customers can make an “Informed Choice” about their caloric intake.
Even if there was a display showing the calorie total as the pizza was ordered can you imagine the havoc one or two overzealous calorie counters would create at the POS?
Hard enough to get 6 people to agree on toppings. Throw calories into the mix and mayhem might well ensue.
Have you got a better example of a country operating without a government than Somalia?
Why did our Founding Fathers institute government? They instituted local governments, state governments and a federal government. And they wrote rules! and rules about writing rules! Or do you think they were a bunch of liberals?
I’m for a lean efficient government. But there are some things that only government can do effectively. Rules about the marketplace, international trade, immigration, etc. Some need to be done at the federal level, some need to be done at the state level.
You have a very short grasp of reason, and of American history. None of my posts have advocated for no government. Only you have brought that up. All of my posts have advocated the general position of our founders: less government is inherent for individual liberty. It is none of your business to control what others eat or consume. It is none of your business to require what others need (that’s “need” from your perspective) to know about what they eat or consume. Americans do fine when allowed the freedom of choice, which includes the freedom of what to learn about their choices.
Tyranny is usually served up in small bites. A little here, a little there, and the next thing you know, your freedom has been reduced. It is difficult to regain any portion of freedom lost
The pizza label, by itself is not tyranny. Requiring the pizza label is tyranny. If you want to buy only pizza with labels, that is your free choice. It becomes tyranny when you require all pizzas to have the labels. That removes choice.
That doesn’t remove choice, that makes for informed choice.
Besides, frozen pizzas already have to have labels. This just levels the playing field.
You said “When it comes to government, less is better, on all levels.”
So if a government had 10 regulations, 1 is less and must be better. And if a government has `1 regulation, 0 is less and must be better.
You’ve called for no government at all.
And once you agree with me that some government is necessary and good, then we’re just arguing about where to draw the line.
Seems like they could post the caloric value of individual ingredients for each size pizza and save a lot of effort...or even a calculator where folks could “build your own” and let the calculator add up the value of the ingredients in case they are “New Math” victims....
It is difficult to converse with fools, who often like to carry their points to the absurd. As Job said in the Book of Job in the Bible, Chapter 12, Verse 2, “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.”
I specifically said government is necessary. But an overreaching government is not. Tyranny is not. Too many regulations are not. Let freedom and the marketplace prevail.
If you can’t figure this out, then my participation in our conversation has come to an end. Enjoy your life. God bless you and your family.
Have you got a better example of a country operating without a government than Somalia?
You're the one making the comparison. There is a huge difference between anarchy and government regulated pizza.
If you lean to the pizza regulation side, you are a liberal.
Own it.
Of all the issues you could use as a litmus test on whether a person is a conservative or a liberal, your choice of food labels is bizarre.
Of all the issues you could use as a litmus test on whether a person is a conservative or a liberal, your choice of food labels is bizarre.
The issue is government regulation.
Your habit of redefining the issue to suit you is...very liberal.
You’re the one redefining the issue. This thread is about food labels. You have no clue where I stand on other regulations.
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