There is an article in the Boston Globe today about how Au Bon Pain is launching a "Portions" line of smaller dishes. Each one will have fewer than 200 calories, but will cost between $3 and $3.50. I'm hoping our blog readers will respond to this. What do you think the aim of this new project is? Is it just a straight-up money-making scheme, or do you think ABP is really trying to go French and offer smaller portion sizes?
It's an interesting way to go about business. Do you think the new line will be successful or popular at Penn? Maybe I'm reading too far into this, but the idea intrigued me.
ABP is about as far from French as you can get. It's no surprise that they are doing a "portions" project - this is becoming more and popular with chain restaurants who are taking the heat for serving meals with huge amounts of calories, saturated fats, and sodium. The real impetus behind this move, though, may just be the profit margin - 200 calories? That's equivalent to about 1 slice of bread, an ounce of cheese, and maybe a slice of tomato. Even at $3.50 they're cashing in.
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