Fresh Approach: Fast Food, Fast Casual and Pizza Chains Clean Up Ingredients

Posted January 13, 2016 by Sheila Shayon

Chipotle-gate has led many fast food chains to check their menus for ingredients and their stores for cleanliness—as consumer attention to both increases and media attention to wrongdoers rises.

Papa John’s is the first US pizza chain to announce it is eliminating artificial flavors and synthetic ingredients from its menu in its brand commitment to “Better Ingredients.” The change applies to all items including pizza, toppings, desserts and sauces—and the brand promises an investment of more than $100 million annually to achieve it.

“We closed out 2015 announcing our commitment to serve chicken raised without antibiotics and are ringing in the New Year artificial-flavor and synthetic-color free,” said Sean Muldoon, Papa John’s SVP Research and Development, in a press release.

Many fast food chains have moved to cut antibiotics, additives, and artificial flavors.

Panera Bread’s “No No List” is extensive. The company sells an estimated 200 million servings of soup each year, and its entire US soup menu no longer contains artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives. Common ingredients like hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, maltodextrin and sodium phosphate will no longer be included in Panera’s products, and bleached flour is being replaced with unbleached wheat flour.

Subway’s latest ads tout the chain’s 50-year history in pioneering freshness. “We stopped talking about it,” said Chris Carroll, Subway Chief Advertising Officer, in Nation’s Restaurant News.  “Panera and Chipotle talked about it and got all the credit. It annoyed us. We wanted to go back and stake the claim of freshness. That’s exactly what this ad is intended to do.”

It’s a departure from the brand’s recent value position, said Carroll. “Long term, we came to the realization that was not sustainable. As we went through the brand revitalization process, we identified that our brand was based on fresh, but we lost that position.” Subway is also making its ingredients “cleaner” such as the eliminating antibiotics and trans fat in its products.

Noodles & Company has also removed artificial ingredients from its core menu and introduced a new brand platform focused on “real food.” Artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and sweeteners are no longer in its noodles, sauces, soups, condiments, breads or dressings. And a new marketing campaign based on “Made. Different—Real Food, Real Cooking, Real Flavors” underscores the brand’s commitment.

And by 2017, all meat and poultry will come from animals that have never been given antibiotics or hormones, already the case with the company’s pork. Noodles & Company already uses cage-free eggs and the menu includes organic tofu, milk and tea.

Chick-fil-A is dropping coleslaw from its menu and adding kale and broccolini salad. “The Superfood Side is not something you would expect to see at a fast-food restaurant, and we’re thrilled to kick off 2016 with something that can help people stick to their New Year’s resolutions to eat healthfully,” said David Farmer, Chick-fil-A’s VP, Menu Strategy and Development, in a press release.

Taco Bell’s nacho cheese is no longer colored with yellow No. 6 as the chain plans to get rid of artificial flavors and colors. Healthier ingredientswill be used in 95 percent of its menu, excluding drinks and co-branded products such as those made with Doritos. Taco Bell’s avocado ranch dressing and red tortilla chips will also eliminate dyes, beef products will get a sprinkle of real black pepper instead of “black pepper flavor” and high-fructose corn syrup and unsustainable palm oil will also be nixed.

Meanwhile, Pizza Hut, the world’s largest pizza chain, is eliminatingfake coloring and flavors from almost all of its pizzas.