Weight Loss Drugs Give Restaurants a New Hurdle: Diners Who Eat Less

Six months ago, Deborah VanTrece, the chef and owner of Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours in Atlanta, noticed she was running out of containers for diners to take leftovers home.“It wasn’t a few bites left over.It was half a plate.” Ms.

VanTrece recalled.“I was like, ‘Did our portions change?’”No.

It was that more customers were on GLP-1 weight-loss medications.Restaurants, from cozy, upscale establishments to national fast-food chains, are figuring out how to adapt menus for the 11 percent of adults, or roughly 30 million Americans, using drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound.

People on these medications are eating out less and spending less when they do.“We always ask guests about meals that aren’t fully consumed, and they are very forthcoming in letting you know it’s ‘the shots,’” Ms.VanTrece said.The number of people taking these medications is expected to rise, and as consumers seek more protein to protect muscles (GLP-1s can reduce muscle mass), the response would seem fairly straightforward: Put more protein on the menu, and cut portion sizes.But adding protein to a plate can be expensive; beef prices, for one, remain at a record high.

Businesses have to determine whether consumers would be willing to pay $5 or $7 more for a few additional grams of chicken or beef in their meal.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....