Nine restaurant brands, all making exceptional strides in health and nutrition, were recently honored at the inaugural HALO (Healthy Active Lifestyle) Awards ceremony, held in Atlanta on October 14, 2014, including participating Healthy Dining restaurant Boston Market.
It’s no secret that Boston Market serves classic home-style foods that make the taste of the holidays easy to enjoy all year long. What you may not know is that Boston Market is making great strides in bringing the flavors and foods you love to the table in a healthier way.
Boston Market has made significant reductions in sodium in its bestselling menu items, including the rotisserie chicken, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and cornbread. Beyond this, Boston Market offers 100 meals under 550 calories, most featuring lean protein with fresh steamed vegetables, green beans, steamed corn, Caesar salad and cinnamon apples. A multigrain roll is available for sandwiches, and a nutrition calculator helps guests to calculate the nutrition profile of the customized meals. Boston Market participates in the Healthy Dining and Kids LiveWell Programs.
George Michel, Boston Market’s chief executive officer, accepted the HALO Award, stating: “Freshly prepared, high-quality ingredients that are healthier are driving decisions when it comes to choosing where to eat outside of the home. After a discussion about nutrition with Dr. Jim Hill from the University of Colorado and the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center, we recognized that we had a big opportunity to improve our menu by taking a look at reducing sodium without sacrificing taste, not only for our guests but also for our 11,000+ team members who eat our food every day. We recognized the importance of offering consumers healthier options and decided to act. We have been working to lower sodium since 2010, when we began testing reduced sodium options at select locations. Customers did not seem to notice the decrease in sodium. And when we removed the salt shakers from our tables in 2012, the response was overwhelmingly positive. We have since rolled out sodium reduction changes in all 458 restaurants and are on track to reduce total sodium across our menu by an average of 15 percent by the end of the year.”
Congratulations to Boston Market on receiving the well-deserved HALO Award!