A day after the courts blocked it, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is asking restaurants to voluntarily stop serving sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces. The mayor appeared with city officials Tuesday at Lucky’s Café, a Midtown restaurant which has opted to serve smaller drinks.
The owner of Lucky’s, Greg Anagnostopoulos, ordered his own menu change after a court ruled the Board of Health cannot ban sugary drinks bigger than 16 ounces from restaurants like his.
“I just see it as smart eating, smart drinking,” Anagnostopoulos said. “I said, ‘You know what? Let me look into it, let me see what’s this is about, what is the negative effect of eating or drinking too much sugar.”
Speaking to reporters, Bloomberg and city officials said they hoped other restaurants will follow suit as the city has formally filed an appeal.
“In the meantime, we’re asking all restaurateurs to do the responsible thing and voluntarily serve portion sizes that are appropriate to humans, as Lucky’s is doing today,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, the city health commissioner.
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3 Responses
Smaller drinks are usually more profitable to the seller.
From a consumer protection point of view, small drinks are a “rip off”.
How about we ask mayors to serve in terms appropriate to mayors and not run a third time?
I guess Duneberg is out of that one.
He should’ve tried to do this in the first place.