It's been about 9 months since I published my correspondence with Portillo's, a Chicago chain of hot dog restaurants. I was concerned about trans fats and a little disturbed that they didn't make their nutritional information available on their website. Well, they admitted that they do indeed use the unhealthy fake fats and claimed they're too small a chain to afford to calculate their nutrition information.Scared by what I don't know, I haven't been there since. But I've been tempted--there's always a long line at the Forest Park drive-through and their food, while probably about as bad for you as it gets, sure tastes good!
Anyway, it seems someone in the Portillo's marketing department needs to take note of this little thing called blogging. You see, I check StatCounter periodically to see what kind of search terms bring readers here, and I've discovered that at least one visitor every day arrives at my old Portillo's post by Googling "Portillo's nutrition info," "Portillo's transfats," or something similar. Which makes me a leading consumer voice for Portillo's. And I think it's plain to see I'm probably not putting out the kind of word of mouth they're looking for.
So I'm giving Portillo's a second chance. I emailed them again asking for comment and reminding them that I'm out here and my post is getting a lot of hits. I want to know if they'll reconsider their nutrition information policy and reconsider keeping trans fats on the menu. I'll be sure to share whatever I hear back here and on the Chicago Mom's Blog.
3/3/08: According to my site meter, this post gets between 10 and 50 hits a day-- proving that consumers want to know what's in their Portillo's meal. If you have a moment, please show you were here by leaving a comment.
3/11/09: Another year and even more daily hits (50-100) from folks looking for Portillo's nutrition information.
