Domino's CEO: Why Put Calories On The Menu If 90% Of Our Customers Never Enter The Store?

Domino's CEO: Why Put Calories On The Menu If 90% Of Our Customers Never Enter The Store?: "

As regulations requiring all restaurants with 20 or more outlets to label their in-restaurant menus with calorie info go nationwide, the CEO of Domino's Pizza says the idea -- as constructed by the federal government -- just doesn't fit a business like his, given the variable nature of pizza and its many toppings and the fact that store owners are paying for sign updates that most customers will never see.

J. Patrick Doyle, the pizza chain's president and CEO, lays out his objections to the law in an op/ed piece for TheHill.com, but here are the highlights of his argument:

* 90% of Domino's orders are placed online or by phone, meaning that adding those calorie counts to the menu is virtually pointless.

* Doyle claims the FDA regulation doesn't account for foods like pizza that have a vast range of calorie possibilities, depending on what the customer orders and how many people share the pizza. He says the law requires Domino's to give calories for a whole pizza, while customers would rather it be done by the slice.

* In places like New York, where calorie counts have been on the menu for quite some time, Doyle says the company has seen no change in ordering habits.

* While there are many, many Domino's around the country, Doyle says that the average franchise owner has four stores and half of the franchisees only own one. But because they fall under the Domino's umbrella, they are each required to have the calorie counts.

Concludes Doyle:

It is absurd to impose rules that will increase costs to business in a manner that will never be seen by 90 percent of our customers, and will be so confusing as to be ignored by the very few who ever see it.. We strongly support the spirit of what the FDA is trying to provide to consumers. The FDA should let us continue to give customers relevant nutritional information where they actually order, in an efficient and fair way, so we can get back to growing our businesses.

On menu regulations, government must do better [TheHill.com]

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Ball Park & Oscar Mayer Square Off In Court Over Who Has The Best Wiener

Ball Park & Oscar Mayer Square Off In Court Over Who Has The Best Wiener: "

'Let the wiener wars begin.' That's what a judge in a legal battle between the nation's two biggest hot dog brands declared earlier today, as the makers of Oscar Mayer and Ball Park franks each accused the other of misleading and deceptive advertising practices.

Lawyers for Ball Park's parent company Sara Lee, and Kraft Foods, the folks behind Oscar Mayer hot dogs, have been suing and countersuing each other for two years, each alleging that the other is lying to consumers about the qualities of their product while unfairly disparaging their competitors.

It all began in 2009 when Sara Lee sued over Oscar Mayer ads claiming that its dogs had bested Ball Park in a national taste test. Sara Lee lawyers say the test in question was less than scientific. 'They were served boiled hot dogs on a white paper plate,' adding that Ball Park dogs are intended to be eaten on a bun and might taste overly salty otherwise.

That same year, Kraft sued over Ball Park ads that called the hot dogs 'America's Best Franks' and claimed that other hot dogs 'aren't even in the same league.'

In addition to these allegations, the court will hear Sara Lee's arguments that Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks are not '100 percent pure beef' as advertised.

From the AP:

Kraft defends the '100 percent pure beef' tag, saying its intent was to state that the only meat used is beef. Some industry hot dogs include a mix of turkey, pork, chicken or other meats. Kraft further argues that the 'pure beef' label is justified because surveys show a perception among some consumers that hot dogs contain 'mystery meats.'

The judge tried to interject some common sense into the trial.

'Don't we have here a couple of big hot dog companies just saying they are the best?' he asked. 'Is there something more unusual going on here than what goes on every day?'

The judge pointed out the pot-kettle nature of the lawsuits when the Ball Park lawyer brought up the aforementioned issue of the allegedly tainted taste test around which Oscar Mayer based its ad campaign. He noted that Ball Park had done something similar by running ads citing an award given to the hot dog by a group of 10 top San Francisco chefs.

'And how would ten chefs in San Francisco know what the best hot dog is when they have never been to Chicago or tasted a Chicago hot dog?' asked the judge.

Dogs day in court: 'Let the wiener wars begin' [Chicago Tribune]

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Government Wants Organic Small-Batch Ice Cream Maker To Stop Making Organic Small-Batch Ice Cream

Government Wants Organic Small-Batch Ice Cream Maker To Stop Making Organic Small-Batch Ice Cream: "

Nice Cream is a small ice cream company in Chicago that does something strange and daring in the modern food landscape: they make and sell ice cream using only ingredients with names that ordinary people can pronounce. Ingredients such as 'cream,' 'eggs,' and 'pie.' The tiny company was a classic recession success story: a laid-off teacher experiments at home with her Cuisinart ice cream maker, and with hard work and creativity creates a delicious product that's eventually sold at Whole Foods. But the state of Illinois doesn't really see it that way, and Nice Cream will have to shut down or make drastic changes to its products and process in order to stay legal. They're first, and other small-batch ice cream makers could be next.

The problem is that regulations are designed for industrial food production, not tiny companies making gourmet products. Illinois requires pasteurization and regular bacteria tests for perishable prepared food like ice cream, and the company rents kitchen space and doesn't have the required pasteurization equipment. Acquiring that equipment would cost an estimated $40,000. There is a way around it: use pre-made ice cream mix and fruit syrups instead of the current pronounceable ingredients and fresh fruit. That's not a product that fans are going to pay $8.99 a pint for.

Local ice cream makers face shutdown by state [Chicago Tribune]

Nice Cream [Official Site]

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Atlanta Teacher Exposes Teacher-Aided Cheating On Standardized Tests

Atlanta Teacher Exposes Teacher-Aided Cheating On Standardized Tests: "

Incentivized standardized tests are designed hold teachers and schools accountable for student performance, but they also provide plenty of motivation to artificially inflate test scores. A teacher in Atlanta helped expose her colleagues of doing just that.

CNN reports her suspicion helped lead to the revelation that 178 teachers and administrators at 44 Atlanta schools were somehow involved in score inflation.

The teacher, who was a witness in a state investigation, said she suspected chicanery when other teachers' students started making her kids -- and in turn, her -- look bad:

'I started believing that I wasn't a good teacher. Other teachers were coming in with these perfect scores and mine are not so perfect. I mean they weren't bad, they were just normal.'

When the teacher initially brought her concerns to her principal about how kids who couldn't read or count did so well on the tests, he dismissed her insinuation, calling the kids 'good guessers.' Now some teachers and administrators are facing criminal charges, having guessed incorrectly that they wouldn't be caught.

Cheating report confirms teacher's suspicions
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Department Of Justice, Four States File Fraud Suit Against For-Profit College Company

Department Of Justice, Four States File Fraud Suit Against For-Profit College Company: "

The for-profit college industry has earned a reputation for shady methods of operation, such as peddling flimsy academic credentials for high prices and minimal effort in the classroom, and now the government is taking one of the largest corporations in the industry to court.

The New York Times reports the U.S. Department of Justice and four states are suing the Education Management Corporation (EDMC), which operates the Art Institutes, Brown Mackie College and several other institutions, seeking $11 billion. The plaintiffs, which include California, Illinois, Indiana and Florida, contend that EDMC received $11 billion financial aid from 2003 to 2011.

The suit accuses EDMC of violating a federal law against paying recruiters based on the number of students they manage to enroll. Each year, EDMC certified that it was in compliance with the law.

A lawyer who's filing the suit says EDMC is representative of system-wide exploitation:

'The depth and breadth of the fraud laid out in the complaint are astonishing. It spans the entire company -- from the ground level in over 100 separate institutions up to the most senior management -- and accounts for nearly all the revenues the company has realized since 2003.'

EDMC countered in a statement:

'The pursuit of this legal action by the federal government and a handful of states is flat-out wrong. EDMC's 2003 compensation plan followed the law in both its design and implementation, as EDMC's response to the governments' complaint will show.

'Federal regulations issued in 2002 permitted companies to consider enrollments in admission officer compensation, so long as enrollments were not the sole factor considered. To ensure compliance with this regulation, EDMC worked closely with outside experts in both human resources and education law to develop a plan that required consideration of five quality factors along with enrollment numbers to determine salaries.'

If you've studied at a for-profit college, was your education worthwhile?

For-Profit College Group Sued as U.S. Lays Out Wide Fraud [The New York Times]

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