Do I need calories on my restaurant's menu?

The Food and Drug Administration has shown all signs of implementing a mandatory policy in May 2018 requiring restaurant groups with 20 or more locations operating under the same name to display calorie counts on their menu. 

You may have already seen calories popping up on menus across the country. This signals that restaurant brands are accepting the push to be more transparent in their food labeling. The original deadline for the requirement was in May 2017, however, after last minute pushback by large brands in mostly the pizza and grocery sector citing the cost of implementation and maintenance of nutrition data, the FDA decided to allow another year before implementation.  

The new law will require the calorie declarations to be shown on printed and digital menu displays, and must be the same size as the name or the price of the menu item it refers to, whichever is smaller. Additionally, the calorie counts must be a similar color so as not to deceive the customer.  If a customer requests additional nutritional information, the restaurant must be able to provide the following: total calories, calories from fat, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, fiber, sugars, and protein.  

Alcoholic beverages are considered a menu item, therefore the calories must be listed for these items on a menu. 

For more information regarding the guidelines, please view here:  
​https://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/ucm248731.htm