Swiss Chalet, Always So Good For So Little!

For years I have been telling my friends, family, clients and even the stranger standing next to me during random line ups in banks or grocery stores that Swiss Chalet is my number one, on the go healthy restaurant choice!!

 

First let’s discuss the succulent flavor of their rotisserie chicken. Packed full of protein, the meat is so tender and juicy that anyone on a strict eating plan is sure to believe they are cheating! The secret is the rotisserie process, which slowly cooks the chicken from the outside, leaving the skin crispy and the meat tender and soft.   Much like a home cooked chicken breast, Swiss Chalet’s skinless option accounts for only 240 calories (Chalet, 2012). The dipping sauce is warm and flavorful, yet for 100 mls it only contains 25 calories and .5 grams of fat (of which none consists of trans fats!) (Chalet, 2012). Healthy sides include steamed vegetables, crispy salads, and freshly baked potatoes. Leave on the skin for added nutrients!  

In 2007, Swiss Chalet was the first restaurant to join The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Health Check program (Foundation, 2007).  Registered dieticians assess menu items to ensure that they meet nutrient criteria.  Understanding that 40% of meals in Canada are not purchased at home, Health Check was implemented to inform consumers of healthier meal choices (Stroke, 2007).  Swiss Chalet not only meets Health Check criteria, but also continues to work at making their products consistently healthier. 

As always, there are many critics out there.  Some individuals complain that Swiss Chalet chicken is factory based. Although Cara Foods (the owner of the Swiss Chalet brand) has never fully divulged this information, I must admit that their large donation of $500,000 dollars to the McGill University Centre of Poultry Research is quite suspicious (Howarth, 2005). For this reason I could understandably appreciate your restraint from Cara chicken.  My only question becomes, what are you substituting for Swiss?

Where does the chicken on your pizza come from? And the chicken from those wings that came with that combo?  I hate to break it to you, but if you have decided to eat out, you are probably not deciding the fate of your fowl.

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I confidently stick by my love for Swiss Chalet!

On those long and busy days when making my meals just isn’t an option, on the days when I have been too tired to cook, I have happily dialed up my local Swiss Chalet.  I have received the Health Check Chicken combo in less time than a 40 minute pizza.  My vegetables have always been steamed to perfection and my taste buds playfully dance to the familiar Swiss Chalet melody “Swiss Chalet, always so good for so little!”