Legal Sea Foods: Projecting a Consistent Image
Legal Sea Foods, the 30-unit East Coast restaurant/retailer, views itself as a purveyor and proponent of one of the most healthful categories of food: seafood. So how come the chain was cooking its french fries in trans fats?
The challenge: CEO Roger Berkowitz was bothered by this inconsistency in message. "Once I had the information that trans fats were bad," says Berkowitz, "did we not have an obligation to eliminate them from the menu?"
But when the company launched a search for an alternative fryer fat, it hit a wall. Although its existing supplier could provide a trans fat-free oil for the fryer, the potato supplier parboiled the french fries in trans fats.
And did anybody mention the oyster crackers? They contained trans fats, too.
The solution: Legal Sea Foods enlisted the help of Cargill, its oil supplier. With that weight behind them, Berkowitz's company was able to persuade its potato supplier to make a custom french fry blanched without trans fats. And to everyone's relief, the new fries surpassed the old ones in taste tests. The cost of the new fryer fat is higher, says Berkowitz, but foods cooked in it absorb less fat. And he anticipates that the price will drop as manufacturers rev up to supply this growing niche.
The oyster crackers were more problematic. The chain's supplier reformulated the cracker, eliminating most, but not all, of the trans fats. Berkowitz wanted a zero-trans-fat product. In the end, he had to take his business to another supplier who was willing to make the cracker to specifications.
The CEO continues to instigate changes that reinforce the chain's healthful image. He has enlisted consulting baker Mark Furstenberg to create a whole-grain bread for the chain's bread basket. And the company has added brown rice to the menu as a side dish or white-rice replacement. Demand is exceeding expectations, says Berkowitz. Legal Sea Foods may be out in front now, says the executive, but he is convinced that competitors will follow, especially on the trans fats issue. "No one wants to be the last one standing with unhealthy products," he says.