Changing Portion Size Descriptions in a Cafeteria

University of Pennsylvania

Status: Completed

Conditions: Food Selection; Weight Gain; Obesity; Food Preferences

Treatments: Behavioral: Intervention "Standard"

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06263621

855090

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this this intervention is to test the degree to which a portion size labeling intervention influences consumer selection of smaller portions at two large cafés. The main question it aims to answer is: Do consumers order fewer calories when the portion size label for the smaller entree is called "standard" instead of "small"?

Participants will order lunch as usual in the two cafes (one intervention, one control) for 5.5 months, and all order items will be recorded in the check-out system. One cafe will receive the labeling intervention, while the other will not. Researchers will compare the average calories per order between the two cafes to see if there are differences.

Full description

The investigators will work with two cafés that will start offering two size options for their entrées. The cafés will go through three phases: a baseline phase where there are two portion sizes and no intervention (6 weeks), an intervention phase where the portion size labeling strategy will be implemented (7 weeks), and then a final phase where the portion size intervention is removed (7 weeks). During the baseline period, the smaller-sized entrée will not receive a label, and the larger-sized entrée will be called "Large." During the intervention period for the control café, labeling will stay the same, but in the intervention café, the smaller size will be labeled "Standard" and the larger size will be called "Large." In the post-intervention period, the smaller-sized entrée in the intervention café will have no label so that it resembles the control café.

Enrollment: 101,481 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All customers who make a lunch purchase at the cafes

Exclusion criteria

• Purchases made outside of lunch service.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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101,481 participants in 2 patient groups

Intervention "Standard"

Experimental group

Description:

The smaller entree is labeled "Standard" and the larger entree is labeled "Large."

Treatment:

Behavioral: Intervention "Standard"

Control "Small"

No Intervention group

Description:

The smaller entree is labeled "Small" and the larger entree is labeled "Large."