An ordinance emphasizing healthy beverage options for youth in Longmont restaurants will come back to the city council for a vote, after a group of local teens lobbied for the new law Tuesday night.
There was no indication when the vote will be taken as council members and city officials all said local restaurants — already trying to come back from the COVID-19 pandemic — will need to be consulted and asked to be part of the effort.
“We know how hard the restaurant industry has been hit,” Councilmember Polly Christensen said. “We are going to reach out” and gauge the impact of the ordinance on local restaurants before the ordinance reaches the council.
Restaurants may get financial help in rewriting their menus if the ordinance gets on the books, city officials said Tuesday night.
The ordinance would require Longmont restaurants — that offer children’s meals on their menus — to offer healthy beverages as the default option. Healthy beverages include water with no added sugar and/or dairy milk or non-dairy milk substitute with no added sugar.
The proposal got the backing of St. Vrain Healthy Kids and Healthy Longmont and Boulder County Public Health as one way to cut sugary beverages in childhood diets. Concentrated sugar can lead to childhood obesity, diabetes and other health problems, according to a city staff report on the idea.
Officials began reaching out to restaurants with child menus before COVID-19 hit. The pandemic prompted backers to halt the campaign as restaurants struggled to stay afloat, the city report states.
The ordinance does not prohibit a restaurant from selling any other beverage that is available if it is requested by the buyer of the children’s meal, the staff report states.
Members of the Boulder County Sugary Drinks Youth Committee asked the city council to support the ordinance and to increase access to healthy beverages at local schools and recreation centers.
They also presented research that indicated soft drink companies actively target low-income and minority youth to boost sales.
High schooler Nivedita Prabhu told the council that soft drink companies spent $84 million in ads on Spanish language television in 2018, an 80% increase from 2010.
“The focus on minorities leads to more consumption,” Prabhu told the council. The effort to boost sales among minorities has been “incredibly successful.”
