HOLD THE BUN, please

The low-carb diet craze means fast-food restaurants are starting to wrap burgers in lettuce instead of buns

By Anne Riley-Katz, The Californian

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ONE DOUBLE-BACON CHEESEBURGER, hold the bun.

As the low-carbohydrate diet craze burgeons, that's an order becoming familiar to fast-food restaurants, and it has happy implications for Salinas Valley lettuce-growers: Without a bun, what do you wrap a burger in?

Atkins and other low-carb diet adherents wanting to dine on the go can now forgo the traditional carbohydrate-rich bun for leaves of lettuce wrapped around a meat patty.

Lettuce growers and dieters alike are more than satisfied.

Fast-food chain Hardee's, sister chain to Carl's Jr., is test-marketing a low carbohydrate, lettuce-wrapped burger called "The Low Carb Thickburger" in the Midwest, and In-N-Out Burger has been serving burgers "protein style" for more than eight years.

Salinas Valley lettuce growers say the trend has clear benefits for their business.

"Obviously, it's going to mean greater usage of lettuce by the consumer, in a different form," said Mike Kenter, vice president of marketing for Salinas-based Tanimura & Antle. "If there's more ways to utilize products we grow, we're very pleased."

Kenter said he tried a lettuce-wrapped burger at In-N-Out earlier this year, and described it as "very good."

'Positive trend'

Jesse Gomez, sales director for Salinas-based NewStar Fresh Foods, said that growers have seen an increase in lettuce sales recently, something he attributes in part to an attempt by fast food chains to provide healthier alternatives for customers.

"We've seen lettuce pick up in demand over the past year, and we've noticed that the fast-food industry has sales from their new salads," Gomez said. "It's one of the factors in increased consumption and sales, and it's a very positive trend for us."

Hardee's has 2,154 restaurants in 32 states, and is owned by Santa Barbara-based CKE Restaurants Inc. A similar burger may be tested at Carl's Jr. in the future.

"All we can tell you is that with the Atkins craze, it's definitely intriguing enough for us to test it," said Caroline Leakan, vice president of corporate communications for CKE. "Based on the results of the tests, we will determine menu placement."

May be a trend

The Low Carb Thickburger has about 10 grams of carbohydrates, and is composed of a beef patty, American cheese, tomatoes, red onions and pickles surrounded by leaves of iceberg lettuce.

Christie Cooney, CKE's manager of corporate communications, said the burger's test-marketing was driven by consumer demand.

"This is nothing new; our customers have been asking for (lettuce-wrapped burgers) for a long time," she said. "There's a reason that we're testing them."

Cooney and Leakan declined to say when test-marketing would be complete.

Gomez said that official menu placement for a lettuce-wrapped burger would help lettuce growers.

"If one restaurant puts it on the menu, it may be picked up by other fast-food restaurants," he said.

At In-N-Out Burger, a similar burger, referred to as "protein style," is an off-the-menu favorite that has seen a jump in popularity in the past several years, according to Bre Vasquez, a manager at the chain's Salinas restaurant.

"Protein style has been here for years. I started working for the company eight years ago, and it was here then," she said. "But there's been a definite increase within the last two years, by about 80 percent."

Vasquez said the In-N-Out has revised yearly sales goals for french fries, which are not Atkins-approved, based on the popularity of protein-style burgers.

In-N-Out customer Bill Krone was ordering a protein-style burger last Wednesday for his girlfriend, Julie Sundgren, who, Krone said, has lost about 25 pounds on the Atkins diet so far.

"She'd rather have the bun, but she can't," he said. "She loves the fries, but she can't order those either."

Kara Haney, a registered dental assistant, said that she's the only person in her office who is not on the Atkins diet, but that she always orders her burgers protein-style because she likes them better that way.

"It takes talent to eat it," she said, folding the lettuce leaves around her burger.

Originally published Monday, November 10, 2003

Where the heck do they come up with 10 grams of carbs for this bunless burger. Kind of makes you wonder what "secret ingredients" they have in the meat.

I'd guess the ketchup/secret sauce.

It must be the condiments -- I thought In-N-Out is one of the only chains that does not add icky ingredients and additives to their meat. Their burgers are better for it, I think. (I visit In-N-Out every time I go to CA.)