Diet.com launches “Nutrition on the Go” via mobile

March 18, 2008

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Nutritional advice Web site Diet.com debuted a SMS service called “Nutrition on the Go.”

The service lets customers get nutritional information for foods at restaurants nationwide by sending a text message from their mobile phone.

“We are working with restaurants and restaurant associations to make the database as complete as possible,” said Meredith Oliver, director of marketing at Diet.com, Brookline, MA.

“We are also interested in working with restaurant associations to become an accepted alternative for menu labeling laws that are requiring restaurants to post nutrition information on their menus,” she said.

To use this service a consumer sends a text message with a restaurant name and menu item to DIET1 or 34381 – for example, “Quiznos Caesar Salad.”

Within seconds, the user will receive a text message back with the nutrition information for that menu item – for example, “Quiznos Subs Flatbread Chopped Caesar Salad, Cal: 934, Fat: 54g, Carb: 59g, Prtn: 52g.” If it is not found within the system, the user will receive a message saying that the item was not found.

“We have not heard of any other services providing the type of information in the same tool, so this is completely unique to the food industry,” Ms. Oliver said.

There are currently more than 36,000 menu items within the database for more than 1,700 restaurants. This number is always increasing as Diet.com works with restaurants to include more information.

“This is a free service right now,” Ms. Oliver said.

“Eventually our goal is to integrate this service with our Web site, Diet.com, so that we will provide a seamless process by providing user’s nutrition information and then offering personalized guidance by using the knowledge base on the Web site,” she said. “This will bring us more paying members to our site.”