Eat Well Berkeley! Restaurant Criteria

Restaurants must meet the 7 mandatory criteria below to be registered with the Eat Well Berkeley program. 

City of Berkeley Public Health Division
1947 Center Street, Second Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704
Map to Public Health Division

510-981-7710 (Phone)   510-981-5395 (Fax)   510-981-6903 (TDD)
JEvangelista@cityofberkeley.info

Monday - Friday: 8:00am - 5:00pm

• Environmental Health:  Restaurants must be in good standing with Environmental Health Division regulations.
  
  
• Fruit and vegetable:  Restaurants must offer a fruit or vegetable side dish (e.g.: salad, fruit cup, sautéed vegetable, etc.)
  
  
• Healthy drinks:  Restaurants must offer a drink option other than soda, at a comparable or lesser cost.  Possibilities include: unsweetened iced tea, fresh lemonade, hot tea, low-fat milk, 100% juice, etc.
  
  
• Lean meat or protein:  Restaurants must offer a lean meat or other protein (e.g.: chicken breast, turkey, fish, tofu, etc.) prepared in a healthy way (e.g.: broiled, barbequed, roasted, steamed, poached or grilled).
  
  
• Trans fats:  Restaurants must not use partially hydrogenated oils / trans fats.
  
  
• Salad dressing:  Restaurants that serve salad dressing must offer a low-fat salad dressing (less than 3 grams of fat per serving) and offer the option to order the salad dressing on the side.
  
  
• Kid’s menu:  Restaurants that offer a kid’s menu must offer a fruit or vegetable on the kid’s menu, not offer French fries on the kids menu and not offer soda on the kid’s menu.
  

Restaurants must also meet 3 of the 4 additional criteria below. 

• Soda:  Restaurants must not offer free refills on soda, or serve more than 20 oz. of soda as one beverage.
  
  
• Whole grains:  Restaurants must offer a whole grain option (e.g.: brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole grain bread). 
  
  
• Complementary Items:  Restaurants that offer a complementary item routinely (such as bread or tortilla chips) must serve portion sizes proportional to the number of people being served and not automatically serve them with a side of butter.
  
  
• Desserts:  Restaurants that serve dessert must offer a dessert with at least 1 serving of fruit.

Finally, restaurants must offer specific menu items (“Eat Well Options”) that meet specific health criteria.  These items must be labeled as Eat Well Options (either on the menu, on a posted board, on table tents, etc.) so that customers can identify them.

At least two entrees, and two appetizers, side dishes or desserts served at a participating restaurant must meet the criteria for an “Eat Well Option”. 

 Note: If a restaurant has a limited menu and serves less than six dishes in a particular category, they are only required to have one Eat Well Option in that category. 

The criteria for an “Eat Well Option” entrée is:

• A serving of fruit or vegetable;  a whole grain;  a lean protein source
  
  
• Have less than 750 calories, 25 grams fat & 8 grams of saturated fat. 

The criteria for an “Eat Well Option” side dish, appetizer, dessert is:

• Have one or more of the following three things:

• a serving of fruit or vegetable
• a whole grain
• a lean protein source

• Have less than 300 calories, 10 grams of fat & 4 grams of saturated fat.

For more information about the criteria, contact 510-981-7710 or JEvangelista@cityofberkeley.info
or see the Restaurant Application.