The Food & Drink Innovation Network

October 23rd, 2009

Japanese sushi chain Itsu has revamped its IT support as it gears up to  provide more information to diners about the nutritional content of the dishes being served, as well as flagging up potential food allergens.

The sushi chain, which has 22 locations across London and the South East,  has signed a deal with IT catering specialist, Fretwell-Downing Hospitality for its Saffron Nutrition nutritional analysis software.

The software will support Itsu’s drive to make nutritional data such as salt content, and the presence of allergy-inducing foods including nuts and MSG more visible to diners through the website and menu boards in the stores.

The online tool will be used by the central menu development team to produce summary traffic light reports denoting whether a particular component such as salt, is present in high, medium or low levels. As many as 14 potential food allergens can also be identified.

The chain’s menu labelling move comes at a time when there is greater scrutiny on the impact that eating out of the home is having on the nation’s health, and follows hot on the heels of Itsu’s introduction of a lower sodium soy sauce containing around 45% less salt.

Nigel Adams, FDH’s sales executive adds: “We’re delighted to be working with ITSU as a chain that is at the forefront of healthier fast food eating and is very aware of the need to make more nutritional information available to diners. As such there is a strong synergy with Saffron’s capabilities on both the menu planning and labelling front.”

Fretwell-Downing Hospitality specialises in the provision of management information and nutritional analysis software sold under the Saffron brand.  The company has more than 25 years’ experience within the catering sector.

Related posts:

1. TOSHIBA NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS TESTED IN ESSEX SCHOOLS
2. NEW JAPANESE STUDY REVEALS VINEGAR MAY CUT NEED FOR SALT
3. ALDO ZILLI LAUNCHES PAY WHAT YOU LIKE MENU TO HELP ABRUZZO EARTHQUAKE
4. BSI TO WORK WITH COCA COLA ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY SOFTWARE
5. New burger-to-share product introduced by Burger King
6. Coeliac menu introduced by JD Wetherspoon
7. Customers get slice of the action
8. UNIQUE MENUS AND LOCAL ATMOSPHERE LURE PATRONS AWAY FROM U.S. RESTAURANT CHAINS

One Response to “ITSU JAPANESE RESTAURANT PROVIDES NUTRIENT CONTENT”

1. Esther Brienza Says:
   October 25th, 2009 at 11:41 am

   This is excellent news. ITSU are a good example to others. Meals eaten out regularly contain twice as many calories as the ‘same’ meal cooked at home and not enough people know that.We look forward to more restaurants following suit.