How Does Nutritional Information about Fast Food Menu Items Influence Consumer Choice Behavior according to Their Health Consciousness and Nutritional Knowledge?

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the nutritional information on fast food menu items influences consumers’ evaluation behaviors of those foods. Second, the study examined how consumers’ health consciousness and objective nutritional knowledge influenced their evaluation behaviors of fast food meals with nutritional information. The findings indicated that first, favorable nutritional information led to significantly more favorable consumer evaluations of selected fast food menu items than did unfavorable nutritional information. Second, consumers who have great health consciousness and objective nutritional knowledge conducted more critical evaluations of fast food meals after begin given nutritional information than did their counterparts. These results provided implications for policy makers engaging in developing nutritional information and for fast food restaurateurs. First, for the policy makers, the findings implied that the new policy of posting nutritional information on fast food menus or menu boards was effective in helping consumer to select healthy foods. Second,the findings implied that fast food restaurateurs should develop healthy menu items in order to attract consumers who are conscious of their health and are aware of objective nutritional knowledge.