A major restaurant chain successfully reduced customer orders for sugar-sweetened beverages by a tenth through introducing a 10p levy – and other measures, researchers report today.
Researchers say the project at Jamie Oliver’s chain of restaurants has been so successful it warrants a report in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.
The chain, led by a prominent advocate of healthy eating, introduced a range of “nudge” measures alongside the levy to discourage orders for sugary drinks.
This made it unclear how much direct effect the 10p levy would have had. Customers can pay £20 a head for meals in many of Mr Oliver’s restaurants.
The chain offered a new range of low-sugar drinks and reorganised its menu so that sugared beverages were offered in their own section.
The impact was analysed by Cambridge University, UK, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Researcher Professor Steven Cummins said: "Our study showed that a combination of the levy, menu changes and clearly explaining to customers why it was introduced and that the proceeds would go directly to a worthy cause, looks to have had a relatively large effect on consumer behaviour given the small size of the levy.”
Fellow researcher Dr Laura Cornelsen said: "This study raises interesting questions about how fiscal interventions may work beyond the effect of the price increase. For example, how big a role did the menu change or the text introducing the levy play?”
Change in non-alcoholic beverage sales following a 10-pence levy on sugar-sweetened beverages within a national chain of restaurants in the UK: interrupted time series analysis of a natural experiment. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 17 October 2017; doi: 10.1136/jech-2017-209947 [abstract]
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