The nature of health is shifting away from counting calories and moving towards a focus on holistic “wellness.” New restaurants are entering the market with an emphasis on natural, nutritious, and quick meals designed to attract diners stressed for time but wanting healthful meals. Restaurants must understand what motivates diners to eat healthfully and what healthy descriptors are most appealing to consumers in order to lure in those wanting to improve their overall health.

This Report examines consumer attitudes, behaviors, and trends towards eating healthy at restaurants. It will explain how restaurants are menuing healthy items using Mintel’s Menu Insights (MMI) database. It will also examine how restaurants provide healthful foods to consumers, how consumers feel about eating healthfully, and profile establishments that focus entirely on nutritious meals. It will also define how the very perception of health is changing in the country. While health trends in retail food (ie grocery store food) will be touched upon, retail food is not the focus of this report. To learn more about overarching trends in health and fitness please look to the Mintel’s Health and Wellbeing Reports. This Report builds off of Healthy Dining Trends – US, July 2015 including previous iterations going back to 2009.