New Los Angeles restaurant restrictions proposed
Community Health Councils Inc. in Los Angeles released a report Wednesday outlining policy recommendations for promoting healthy dining in South Los Angeles to curb obesity. The “Fast Food Restaurant Report” focuses on the “overconcentration” of quickservice restaurants in South L.A. and names fast food as the cause of obesity to justify the creation of new zoning and menu restrictions for LA restaurants.
The report highlights the city’s 2008 interim control ordinance, which placed a moratorium on permits for new standalone QSRs in South L.A., which was replaced by an amendment to the General Plan in 2010 requiring new restaurants to locate at least a half mile from existing ones. The new report attempts to build on those initial restrictions with expanded recommendations, such as:
- Extending permitting restrictions to all fast food restaurants, not just standalone restaurants, and adds new criteria for location compared to other community facilities. This creates new restrictions on retail facilities and centers that include targeted restaurants.
- Creating a new definition of “healthy” restaurant that may be difficult for restaurants of all types to meet, including table service, mobile food and QSRs. The definition looks at the available types of meals, main dishes, side dishes, desserts, salad dressings and the availability of free water.
- The definition creates a detailed formula that looks at limiting nutrients such as fat, sodium and sugar, and meeting minimum requirements for the five food groups.
- The definition creates new restrictions on signage, displays, promotions and pricing and portion size.
- Creating incentives and exemptions for restaurants that meet the “healthy” restaurant definition.
- Creating new monitoring programs to ensure compliance and establishes penalties for non-compliance with “healthy” restaurant criteria.
- Creating new requirements for nutritional menu analysis and standardized recipes.
The restrictions remove consumer choice, create a new network of healthy dining regulations and ignore the negative ramification this would have on business investment. Research shows that the 2008 ordinance banning new fast food restaurants in South L.A. was ineffective and indicates these restrictions would not help counter the obesity epidemic. Obesity is based on many causes and requires comprehensive solutions to promote consumer education about balanced diets and active lifestyles. Removing restaurant dining options unfairly targets one industry sector and cannot replace responsible consumer choice.
The California Restaurant Association is reaching out to community organizations and the media as well as policymakers to demonstrate the faults with these policy recommendations. Additionally, we are highlighting the positive effect of restaurants in communities – through employment opportunities particularly for teen and minority workers, through strong charitable partnerships and through a variety of changes in recent years to adjust menus, provide nutrition information and promote healthier options. We encourage your involvement in this program in order to counter these harmful policy proposals and protect the restaurant industry.
For more information, contact Daniel Conway at dconway@calrest.org.