Chef LaLa - Go Lite With Chef LaLa

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JANUARY 23, 2007

Go Lite with LaLa

Growing up in the restaurant industry, I remember my parents always bemoaning the end of fall, which meant the beginning of winter and the beginning of slow sales. November through March have always been the toughest months of operation for restaurants. Perhaps this is due to exhausted budgets from holiday spending paired with people's New Year’s resolutions that involve eating less fat to improve their health. This can be especially detrimental to Latin restaurants because they have long had the bad reputation of being unhealthy and fattening.

Below are a few tips to help your customers remain healthy while still giving patronage to your business :

- Offer aguas frescas (fresh fruit drinks) with no sugar added. Provide sugar substitutes and sugar on the side to be added if desired. Locations like Jamba Juice are successfully cashing in on what has been popular in Latin countries for years – fresh fruit juices.

- When meats are grilled, boiled or baked and there has been no fat added – highlight it on the menu “no oil added”. It is important to keep in mind that many foods naturally have fat, even if present in small amounts. So it is best to select the wording “no additional oil added” instead of fat-free or low-fat.

- Read your purveyor’s labels. Some Mexican cheese is made from skim milk, which is lower in fat. If it is - highlight it on the menu!

- Offer low fat/fat free dressings or fresh salsa with your taco or tostada salads. Fruit salsas are fun for a Caribbean menu with flair.

- Offer frijoles de la olla (boiled with spices) during this time of year in addition to refried beans.

- Offer the option of cucumber with sal, chile y limón (salt , chili and lime) as an alternative to chips and salsa as the complimentary starter.

Fun Fact: 2 handmade flour tortillas = 16 corn tortillas in calories .

Chef Lala
Contributing Editor, Comida News