Is it important for food outlets to offer menu transparency to their customers?
If you put tuna on the menu and say it's dolphin-friendly and comes from such-and-such a country, I don't believe it would help sell it. Transparency ends up giving too much information and can undersell your product. It can spoil the menu choice and the whole enjoyment of eating.
Stuart Everson, managing director of caterer Everson Hewett
I think it is important to tell customers where their food is coming from, because I think we should try and get back to following the seasons with food. I'm sure people want to know the history of what they are eating. I don't know if you should list everything on the menu though - it would be too much reading.
Douglas Jordan, chef-proprietor of Jordan's in Ryton, Northumberland
We do a lot of mentioning of suppliers on our menus, but I try to balance it. If you become too anal, I think the food almost becomes less appetising. It's important, though, to let people know how enthusiastic we are about local food - when they're paying a high price for a dish, they need to be sure of the sourcing of the produce they're eating.
Roy Brett, executive chef, Seafood Restaurant, Padstow
The short answer is yes, you should have transparency. To a certain degree you can do most of it in your wording, but you can't put all the information down on the menu. If you did, it would read like War and Peace. The objective is to keep it simple. Making sure the staff know is the main thing.
Mark Chambers, senior general manager at the Alexander House and Langshott Manor hotels