NYC Soda Ban Changes Seen At Restaurants, Coffee Shops As Restrictions Begin Tuesday



NEW YORK -- At barbecue joints, coffee counters and bottle-service nightclubs, a coming clampdown on big, sugary soft drinks is beginning to take shape on tables and menus in a city that thrives on eating and going out.

Some restaurants are ordering smaller glasses. Dunkin' Donuts shops are telling customers they'll have to sweeten and flavor their own coffee. Coca-Cola has printed posters explaining the new rules, and a bowling lounge is squeezing carrot and beet juice as a potential substitute for pitchers of soda at family parties – all in preparation for the nation's first limit on the size of sugar-laden beverages, set to take effect Tuesday.

Some businesses are holding off, hoping a court challenge nixes or at least delays the restriction. But many are getting ready for tasks including reprinting menus and changing movie theaters' supersized soda-and-popcorn deals.

At Brother Jimmy's BBQ, customers still will be able to order margaritas by the pitcher, cocktails in jumbo Mason jars and heaping plates of ribs. But they'll no longer get 24-ounce tumblers of soda, since the new rule bars selling non-diet cola in cups, bottles or pitchers bigger than 16 ounces.

"Everything we do is big, so serving it in a quaint little 16-ounce soda cups is going to look kind of odd," owner Josh Lebowitz said. Nonetheless, he's ordered 1,000 of them for the North Carolina-themed restaurant's five Manhattan locations, rather than take on a fight that carries the threat of $200 fines.

"As long as they keep allowing us to serve beer in glasses larger than 16 ounces, we'll be OK," Lebowitz reasoned.
City officials say it's a pioneering, practical step to staunch an obesity rate that has risen from 18 to 24 percent in a decade among adult New Yorkers. Health officials say sugar-filled drinks bear much of the blame because they carry hundreds of calories – a 32-ounce soda has more than a typical fast-food cheeseburger – without making people feel full.

The city "has the ability to do this and the obligation to try to help," the plan's chief cheerleader, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said last month.

Critics say the regulation won't make a meaningful difference in diets but will unfairly hurt some businesses while sparing others. A customer who can't get a 20-ounce Coke at a sandwich shop could still buy a Big Gulp at a 7-Eleven, for instance, since many convenience stores and supermarkets are beyond the city's regulatory reach.

New Yorkers are divided on the restriction. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found 51 percent opposed it, while 46 percent approved.

"I don't know if the state should be our surrogate parent," Peter Sarfaty, 71, said as he drank a diet cola with lunch in Manhattan this week. "You get the information out there, but to tell people what they can or can't do? As if it's going to stop them."

Business organization ranging from the massive American Beverage Association to a local Korean-American grocers' group have asked a judge to stop the size limit from taking effect until he decides on their bid to block it altogether. He hasn't ruled on either request.

Many businesses aren't taking chances in the meantime.

Dominic Fazio, the manager of a Penn Station pizzeria, has stopped ordering 32-ounce and 24-ounce cups, though he calls the regulation "ridiculous."

"But I guess the law is the law, right?" said Fazio, who put up an explanatory sign Coca-Cola Co. provided. The Atlanta-based soda giant said in a statement that helping small businesses prepare was "the responsible thing to do."

Managers at rapper Jay-Z's 40-40 Club were busy this week making sure they wouldn't get in hot water over carafes of soda and other sweet mixers that accompany bottle service, spokeswoman Lauren Menache said. The carafes are slightly bigger than 16 ounces; city lawyers have indicated such containers should pass muster.

Dunkin' Donuts shops, meanwhile, have set out colorful fliers explaining the complex rules surrounding coffee.
Even some businesses that specialize in big sodas aren't making moves – yet – in light of the lawsuit and the city's pledge not to impose fines until June. Until then, violations would just spur a notice.

At Dallas BBQ, "Texas-size" 20-ounce sodas are staying for now, said Eric Levine, one of the directors.

Switching to 16 ounces would mean ordering roughly 10,000 new glasses for the New York-based company's 10 locations, including a Times Square spot that seats 1,000 people. And customers wouldn't feel they were getting the same deal: double the soda for little more than the price of the 10-ounce size, Levine said.

The rule's effects may be particularly pronounced at movie theaters, where belly-buster sodas are as familiar as coming attractions. Big beverages also account for about 10 percent of profits, according to court papers.

"People just like that comfort, while they're sitting there – to make sure they have enough to drink for the whole movie," Russell Levinson, the general manager of Movieworld, mused this week.

The family-owned theater sells soda in 20-ounce bottles and 44-, 32-, 22-, and 12-ounce cups. The theater is looking at getting 16-ounce cups, considering two-drink and refill specials and retooling all its drink-and-popcorn combination offers, Levinson said.

Some businesses, though, are adapting to the new rule with gusto.

At Frames Bowling Lounge, a Manhattan spot that mixes bowling with an upscale bar, the families who pack the lanes on weekend days will no longer be offered pitchers of soda as part of a party package, executive general manager Ayman Kamel said.

Instead, they can get individual, eight-ounce cups of soda – or pitchers of the low-sugar, house-made juices that he and staffers spent an afternoon tasting this week. They experimented with such options as carrot, beet and mint-and-citrus.

yeah, people can still go buy plenty of soda at the store and drink it at home,, I think we will get through it,,,lol

What next? They will come to your home and ban things? (shhh, I have several large pitchers).

RIDDICKLOUS

Lmao what is going to keep them from buying two instead?.... Ohh maybe that is what they are trying to do so the places will make more money...

Shshshs sorry but from one that use to wake up and go to bed with a soda this will not keep those from drinking soda... It will just cost them more money to do so or just buy their own and get a big cup....causing business to loose money...

Next step. Pass a law that no one under 21 can buy or legally consume sody-pop.

I could see the health benefits in not allowing sodas, along with many other (Junk Food Items) be purchased with food stamps.

Intelligence is not exactly a Virtue with Politicians!
It's not really about the Welfare of the People,but more like to keep the Citizen in a constant situation of Imbalance so the Body Politic is able to get along with other more nefarious things,while the Citizen is kept busy with those inane stupid Statutes!

Actually a lot of the schools pulled their soda machines which now I'm not totally against... Kids do need to drink more water...

As far as the Junk food Items being purchased with food stamps that is a whole new thread for sure....Even I don't think that should be allowed..

should have stocked those Machines with Water!

It is. Chips, soft drinks, sweets, no problem.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2013/03/11/bloomberg-this-isnt-about-a-ban-its-about-control-n1530783

Over the weekend on Face the Nation, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg finally admitted his big gulp ban isn't really a ban, but about portion "control."

His statement comes just days after Bloomberg dove into a campaign to stop loud music coming from headphones in New York City not because it's annoying, but because it's bad for your ears.

Hizzoner’s health officials are planning a social-media campaign to warn young people about the risk of losing their hearing from listening to music at high volume on personal MP3 players, The Post has learned.

“With public and private support, a public-education campaign is being developed to raise awareness about safe use of personal music players . . . and risks of loud and long listening,” said Nancy Clark, the city Health Department’s assistant commissioner of environmental-disease prevention.

The campaign, which will cost $250,000, is being financed through a grant received from the Fund for Public Health, the Health Department’s fund-raising arm.

The Hearing Loss Prevention Media Campaign will target teens and young adults, conducting focus-group interviews and using social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter.



Has that RETARD really nothing better to do?

Stocked the machines with water? In bottles? What the hell ever happened to getting a drink out of a water fountain?

That's the way we did it and we survived.

Starbucks Refuses To Follow NYC Sugary Drink Ban — Mayor Bloomberg Dismisses This As 'Ridiculous'

But Bloomberg is facing some intense opposition from corporate giant Starbucks. The coffee chain said it would make no immediate changes to its business based on the ban.

Bloomberg told television show Face The Nation that Starbucks' plan was "ridiculous."

“Starbucks knows how to market things, knows how to package things,” Bloomberg said. “They can change instantly when it’s in their interest to do so.”

The new mandate limits sugary drinks sold at restaurants, movie theaters, street carts, and more to 16 ounces.

It will be enforced by city health inspectors during inspections, when restaurants violating the ban will lose points on their sanitation score. It's not clear, however, how significant the penalities will be or whether the city would take stronger action to target as big an offender as Starbucks.

Starbucks spokeswoman Linda Mills told us that it would not make immediate changes to its menu because of the ban.

" Our understanding is that any beverage with 50 percent or more milk is exempt from the ruling," Mills said. "Because many of our beverages are made from milk or are customized by the customer, many of our beverages fall outside the ban."

But Starbucks will still continue to offer beverages like its green iced-tea lemonade in larger sizes too. That drink doesn't contain milk but is high in sugar.

Starbucks also "recognizes pending litigation" about the ban and "doesn't want to make any knee-jerk reactions," Mills said.

The American Beverage Association filed to stop the ban until a judge decides on whether to stop it altogether.

Starbucks competitor Dunkin' Donuts is taking the mandate seriously.
At Dunkin', customers will have to add your own sugar to large and extra-large hot beverage and medium and large iced beverages. Same for flavors (like mocha or vanilla syrup).

The company also announced that sweet beverages like hot chocolate will only be available in small and medium sizes.

Bloomberg's ban, which only affects restaurants and places that sell prepared foods, is meant to combat obesity.

But critics of the ban say it will be difficult to enforce and will make business less efficient.

For example, instead of a Dunkin' Donuts employee adding sugar to a drink and handing it off, customers will have to line up to add their own sugar.

People will just get refills. Another out-of-control controlling politician at work.

http://mises.org/daily/5692/The-Freedom-to-Buy-and-Sell-Raw-Milk

http://mises.org/daily/5763/First-Cigarettes-Now-Bacon-and-Eggs


Now it's Sodas and other sugary Drinks!
What will the Dumbasses come up with next?


When buying and selling are controlled by legislation,
the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.
— P.J. O'Rourke

What is so sad is all the money they are using for these things could be used towards much needed flu shots instead for the public or other health issues...

Or feed the homeless what a waste of tax dollars for what? To tell people something they already know but choose to ignore it?

http://godfatherpolitics.com/9630/let-them-eat-cake-government-destroys-1600-pounds-of-deer-meat-for-homeless-just-because/



Let Them Eat Cake? Government Destroys 1,600 Pounds of Deer Meat for Homeless Just Because


Hunters and homeless people in Louisiana are righteously outraged after state health officials forced a homeless shelter to throw out nearly a ton of perfectly good venison.

The meat that had been donated to the Shreveport-Bossier Rescue Mission could have fed more than 3,000 people. Instead, it was tossed in trash bins by officials from the Department of Health and Hospitals who say that state law prohibits the serving of venison in homeless shelters.

Not only did the officials toss the meat, they doused it with Clorox to make sure it couldn’t be eaten by animals or, presumably, people.

“Deer meat is not permitted to be served in a shelter, restaurant or any other public eating establishment in Louisiana,” an official told Fox News in an email. “While we applaud the good intentions of the hunters who donated this meat, we must protect the people who eat at the Rescue Mission, and we cannot allow a potentially serious health threat to endanger the public.”

Richard Campbell, co-founder of Hunters for the Hungry, a charitable group that donates wild game to shelters, said hunters across the state and in Mississippi are outraged about the statement and the waste.

The state’s health Gestapo got involved after someone at the shelter complained about being fed deer meat, a staple in many countries across the globe and considered by most people to be a treat or a delicacy.

I don’t know what’s wrong with Louisiana, but in California, turning down venison would be like turning down a lobster tail with drawn butter — it’s something that sane people who aren’t vegetarians just wouldn’t do.

The director of the mission said they’ve been serving venison for years. The shelter, by the way, doesn’t take any government money. It’s completely self-sufficient thanks to its donors.

“This was really good meat,” said the Rev. Henry Martin. “It’s high in protein and low in cholesterol. It’s very healthy. … You would think we would have due process. But they meant to destroy the meat – that’s for sure.”

Louisiana hunters participating in the state’s deer management programs are allowed to keep as much meat as they can handle. Martin’s mission asks hunters to donate the rest. The donated meat is processed at a local meat plant.

State Rep. Jeff Thompson called the destruction of the meat “insulting,” and he’s right.

Only a truly callous bureaucracy could dare pretend to care about the homeless then turn around and destroy food intended for the needy, for no real reason other than “because” that’s what the rules say.

I’m sure you recognize the excuse — used to justify evil deeds, from the treatment of slaves to the rounding up of Native Americans to the Holocaust. You hear it from bureaucrats at all levels, from bus drivers to presidents. It’s an expression of contempt for the rights and needs of the common man.

In the case of the meat destruction, it’s also an illegal taking of property for which the mission needs to be compensated.

An apology is the least that the state should be doling out for this Kafkaesque assault on the homeless and on common sense.

Well a judge declared the soda ban unlawfull.

Wonder if Doomberg will comply with the order of the Judge,or will still setting his Goons at the Citizens!