T.G.I. Friday’s used to be a casual dining chain known for its big burgers, mixed drinks and suspender-wearing waiters sporting buttons that promised sweet desserts. But if you’ve dined there lately, you may have noticed the variety of entrŽes and appetizers on the menu that are labeled “Atkins approved.” The logo indicates that if you’re following the popular and controversial low-carbohydrate, high-protein Atkins diet, you can safely scarf T.G.I. Friday’s Tuscan spinach dip, buffalo wings, sizzling New York strip steak with blue cheese and six other main courses without guilt, knowing they’ve been jointly designed by T.G.I. Friday’s and Atkins Nutritionals’ chefs with a view to reducing carbs.What’s interesting about this carb-reducing campaign is that it’s more than an effort to latch onto a hot diet trend. T.G.I. Friday’s was able to uncover the low-carb demand among its patrons’ special-order requests last summer. Negotiations with Atkins were done by November, and the new entrŽes appeared in December 2003. Deborah Lipscomb, CIO of Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, T.G.I. Friday’s parent company, says that business analysts studied the special instructions that patrons had given waiters. They noticed that a lot of guests were asking servers to hold the fries or to replace mashed and baked potatoes with salads and vegetables. “The data told us that people were trying to eat low-carb,” says Lipscomb. “When we noticed the trend, we thought it would be a good idea to explore putting low-carb items on our menu.” Using a business intelligence tool from Cognos, the IT staff at Carlson Restaurants captured data on patrons’ orders that waiters and waitresses had entered into the restaurants’ point-of-sale systems and put it into data sets that business analysts could dissect quickly and easily. Since Hollywood hunks such as Brad Pitt and screen sirens Sarah Jessica Parker and Renee Zellweger attributed their sculpted abs and pared-down proportions to high-protein regimes, millions of Americans began pooh-poohing pasta, potatoes and pain. Even the executive team at T.G.I. Friday’s is meticulously monitoring its carbohydrate intake, Lipscomb says. “Low-carb just happens to be a trend at T.G.I. Friday’s,” she says. “Because we live it, we saw the relationship between how we’re eating and what our customers want in the [point-of-sale] data.” The business analysts who made the discovery took their findings to the executive team, whose members knew competitors were offering low-carb meals. Competitor Ruby Tuesday rolled out its selection of 30 low-carb menu options on Nov. 11, 2003, 28 days before T.G.I. Friday’s followed suit. Others following the trend include P.F. Chang’s China Bistro. Wanting to one-up the competition, Carlson Restaurants approached Atkins Nutritionals, the company founded by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins to provide food products and nutritional supplements in support of the eponymous diet, about jointly developing low-carb lunches and dinners, and licensing the Atkins brand. “We felt the best way to communicate to our guests that we are here to help them in their lifestyle choices was to have a brand-name partnership,” says Lipscomb. While Lipscomb admits to being a little lax in her personal devotion to the diet, she proudly notes that by last February, her executive team has collectively lost almost 90 pounds. Related content BrandPost The future of trust—no more playing catch up Broadcom: 2023 Tech Trends That Transform IT By Eric Chien, Director of Security Response, Symantec Enterprise Division, Broadcom Mar 31, 2023 5 mins Security BrandPost TCS gives Blackhawk Network an edge with Microsoft Cloud In this case study, Blackhawk Network’s Cara Renfroe joins Tata Consultancy Services’ Rakesh Kumar and Microsoft’s Nilendu Pattanaik to explain how TCS transformed the gift card company’s customer engagement and global operati By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Cloud Computing IT Leadership BrandPost How TCS pioneered the ‘borderless workspace’ with Microsoft 365 Microsoft’s modern workplace solution proved a perfect fit for improving productivity and collaboration, while maintaining security of systems and data. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Microsoft Cloud Computing BrandPost Supply chain decarbonization: The missing link to net zero By improving the quality of global supply chain data, enterprises can better measure their true carbon footprint and make progress toward a net-zero business ecosystem. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 31, 2023 2 mins Retail Industry Supply Chain Green IT Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe