Truck-Stop Menu Goes Lite
By Erin Thompson, USA TODAY • Published June, 15 2009
Employees at the Trails Family Restaurant used to spend day after day serving greasy cheeseburgers and salty fries to customers who passed through Albert Lea, Minn.
The burgers and fries and other traditional truck stop fare remain, but Cathy Purdie, the director of marketing and strategic development at Trail’s Travel Center, is cleaning up the business’ image, and with any luck, her customers’ arteries.
When AARP’s Vitality Project came to town about a month ago, the Trail’s Travel Center volunteered, along with several other Albert Lea restaurants, to give its customers healthier options. Some of the changes included switching to smaller plate sizes and prominently providing calorie information. They also made some changes to the menu, starting by developing a series of salads, the first being a vinaigrette salad that can be served with chicken or shrimp and a low-calorie house dressing.
“We’re getting rave reviews about it,’ says Purdie, who is co-chairing the restaurant initiative in Albert Lea.”We’re providing healthy options that people are going to want to come and buy.”
Trails Family Restaurant also is offering an option of smaller portions for selected entrees.”We’re a truck stop, so we realize that our clientele come and want big meals,” says Purdie, referring to her Paul Bunyan-sized meals that she claims could feed her entire family.
“We can still offer that, but we can also offer regular portions. We’re not going to meet everybody’s expectations, but people need to know that they have control over their own lives.” Purdie also is offering nutrition education activities. For example, she’s putting together a kids’ menu that will show the food pyramid in a coloring page format to inspire healthy-eating conversation. “I just really want to focus on developing new options for the food to make it fun,” she says.
Purdie, a mother of three, has applied these changes to her home life, as well, especially since her 59-year-old mother had a stroke last month.
“I need to do this because I need to be there for my husband and kids, and I think it will allow me to be a better parent,” she says.