• Reuters, Friday, November 19, 2010 10:54 AM

Lisa Baertlein reports that U.S. restaurant chains are adding healthier offerings to their menus before regulations force them to disclose calorie counts that may shock their customers. But that doesn't necessarily mean that those customers will choose the better-for-you options, even if they're happy they're there.

Darden Restaurant's seven-year-old Seasons 52 chain offers "ample but not huge" entrees "loaded with vegetables and subtly seasoned -- a departure from the U.S. restaurant industry's dependence on the unhealthy but tasty trifecta of sugar, salt and fat," Baertlein writes. But even Darden CEO Clarence Otis doesn't believe that healthier fare is mass-market opportunity.

"It's a bigger niche with the new generation, but it's still going to be a niche," Otis says. "My personal view is that it's less about content and more about amount," he continues. The company is unlikely to reduce portion sizes at other properties such as Red Lobster and Capital Grille, Baertlein suggests.

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