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.
We should probably be thankful that the Dems were booted out of office before this went from mandatory calory counts to mandatory calorie limits, or taxes (for our own good) on any orders exceeding certain calorie limits.
Chain franchises who make and sell pizza really suck. Particularly Dominoes, Papa John's, Little Caesar's, and Cisi's.
He doesn’t list 34 million different pizza combinations on his menu, so he doesn’t have to provide nutritional information for them. He lists crusts, toppings and probably a handful of pre-configured pizzas such as supreme, meat-lover, veggie, etc.
I don’t think it’s all that burdensome.
Pizza contributes to Climate Change.
To be environmentally responsible eat nuts and beans, and a few insects and plant roots(especially weeds) wouldnt hurt.
CiCi’s is crap on a crust!
Personally, I prefer local Mom & Pop owned pizza parlors...................
All we are saying, is give pizza a chance.
Pizza contributes to Climate Change.....................To be environmentally responsible eat a Liberal. The other white meat...................problem solved.................
LOL so true. If it rolls through an oven on a conveyor belt then it’s not a a real pizza.
If you order chain pizza with “very light sauce” you’ll be amazed at how much better it tastes. They use terrible sauce. The rest isn’t bad, especially for the price (2 pizzas for $12 or whatever).
“I don’t think it’s all that burdensome.”
I agree the author ventured into the absurd to make his point.
He’s probably really concerned about customers discovering that a fully loaded pizza has nearly a pound of fat, enough salt for two weeks and 6,000 calories.
But, hey, if he wants to fluff it up a bit, it’s a free country.
“I don’t think it’s all that burdensome.”
That’s mighty white of you, Danny.
Now, can you point to the Article and Section of the US Constitution that gives the Feds the specific enumerated power to enforce this idiot rule?
Thanks in advance.
L
His other concern is his customers discovering that “Make with Real Cheese” is not the same as “100% real cheese”.
"Corporate, quick, I need a calorie count on a large cheese filled crust with pepperoni, ham, triple bacon, ground beef, sausage, double cheese, green peppers, banana peppers, onion, mushroom, spinach, feta, pineapple, tomato, olive, anchovy, and garlic".
You somehow forgot Pizza Hut.
I think Federalist No 936 deals with the great pizza debate.
The same place they get the power to regulate drugs, alcohol, tobacco, insecticides/chemicals etc.
I can point to laws passed by Congress. If you think it's unconstitutional file a lawsuit to make them stop it.
If you win, I'll vote for the constitutional amendment to allow them to do that because I like food labels. I think Congress was traitorous when they removed the country of origin labels.
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