If you visit a fast-food chain in the next few years, expect the menu to look a little less gluttonous.<\/p>\n
In between the usual deep-fried options, industry observers anticipate more offerings that come in smaller portions, pack nutrients like protein or fibre and check enough boxes to be considered healthy. <\/p>\n
The changes aren\u2019t just a reflection of our growing predilection for snacking or our ongoing quest to trim down our tabs \u2014 and waists. They\u2019re also because more people have shrinking appetites triggered by injectable drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.<\/p>\n
These glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1s, were predominantly used to treat diabetes until the masses realized they slow down emptying of the stomach, causing people to feel full longer than without the drug. Ipsos suggests 1.4 million Canadians are on GLP-1s and that number will triple by 2030 as many flock to a pill form Eli Lilly promised soon.<\/p>\n
The uptake could spell trouble for fast-food joints already contending with more price- and health-conscious customers not on the drugs. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of absolute dollars, yes, restaurants are going to feel it,\u201d said Leigh O\u2019Donnell, head of shopper and category insights at research firm Kantar.<\/p>\n
Since they began taking GLP-1s, 42 per cent of the 500 Canadians her company surveyed in December 2024 said they began making healthier choices. Thirty-four per cent said the drugs had them eating less often and 30 per cent said they were gravitating toward smaller quantities.<\/p>\n
The results fly in the face of an industry that has supercharged its profits by conditioning diners to believe bigger is better. For years, people barely thought twice about \u201csupersizing\u201d their fries for less than a dollar or opting for the burger with an extra patty.<\/p>\n
Sure, followers of the latest diet fads winced at the calories and when prices rose, many hated the cost, but for others, one whiff of anything bathed in fryer oil or pumped with sugar was all it took to convince them to open their wallets. Even less indulgent customers could be counted on to roll through a drive-thru for coffee on the way to work or a meal after hockey practice. <\/p>\n
GLP-1s could put those habits in jeopardy. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow mom\u2019s not hungry, so everybody else has got to wait until they get home (to eat),\u201d O\u2019Donnell said.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just hunger GLP-1s are trouncing. They\u2019re also getting people to rethink how they eat.<\/p>\n
Kantar\u2019s research shows 31 per cent of Canadians surveyed said their taste in food had changed since being on the drug. In the U.S., notable numbers of GLP-1 patients are skipping processed food or opting for items lower in sugar or more laden with fruit and vegetables.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of a sudden, they become more mindful, so instead of going out for burgers and fries once a week, they may replace that with something else, maybe a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a burger, and maybe a salad instead of fries on the side,\u201d said Jordan LeBel, a food marketing professor at Concordia University.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the best-case scenario for restaurants, but not everyone will switch one big-ticket item for another. Some might say no to upsizing their order, making it a combo or adding an extra treat to it. Others will forgo stopping at the fast-food joint altogether.<\/p>\n
The result could be a drop in spending at restaurant chains that mirrors a decrease already materializing south of the border, where GLP-1s have caught on even faster.<\/p>\n
A December 2024 paper from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business reported an eight per cent decline in spending at fast-food chains, coffee shops and limited-service restaurants like takeout counters during the first year of someone taking a GLP-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t sound like a big number, but that\u2019s hundreds of millions of dollars,\u201d LeBel said of the drop in revenue it could equate to.<\/p>\n
At McDonald\u2019s alone, equity analyst firm Redburn Atlantic has predicted there could be up to 28 million fewer customer visits because of GLP-1s, resulting in a revenue loss of US$482 million per year (about $674.2 million Cdn).<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s Shake Shack that William Blair analysts said in February 2024 that they \u201cworry the most about.\u201d The U.S. chain that entered the Canadian market last year is vulnerable because of its \u201cindulgent menu with a focus on burgers (one of the categories for which consumption declined the most post-GLP-1) and a lack of history of successfully pivoting to healthier offerings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though the firm\u2019s research shows they are among the chains that have lost the most visits from GLP-1 users, Outback Steakhouse, Chipotle and the Cheesecake Factory will likely fare better because they have more room to pivot to different menu items and portion sizes, the analysts concluded.<\/p>\n
Some businesses have begun making that shift already. U.S. restaurant chain Cuba Libre has a GLP-1 menu items backed by nutritionists and Tucci, an Italian joint in New York, lets people order single meatballs from what the owner jokes is an \u201cOzempic menu.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though it\u2019s hard to weed out whether GLP-1s or other eating habits were the trigger, sit-down restaurants in Canada are experimenting more with vegetables, fast-food giants are devoting a growing portion of their menus to snacks, and protein lattes \u2014 which pack a nutrient GLP-1 users require \u2014 are available at caf\u00e9 chains like Starbucks and Tim Hortons.<\/p>\n
Tims president Axel Schwan told The Canadian Press in late October that his company was aware of GLP-1s but said it wasn\u2019t impacting the business.<\/p>\n
While she didn\u2019t name names, O\u2019Donnell said most companies have their \u201chead in the sand,\u201d when it comes to GLP-1s, because they\u2019re too stressed about other health trends, labour problems and rising beef costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just another whack,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Still, she maintains \u201call hope is not lost\u201d for them because most of the population isn\u2019t on GLP-1s and not everyone who tries them will stick with them. <\/p>\n
Plus, even those that decide to take it for the long-term will want a treat every so often.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are not behaving monastically. They\u2019re not like, \u2018I will only eat cardboard and water for the rest of my life,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality of people\u2019s crazy lives is they go to a quick-serve restaurant and even if you have a small fry or a Tims with extra cream in it, maybe that\u2019s not something you do every day \u2026 but they\u2019re indulging a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2025.<\/p>\n
Companies in this story: (TSX:QSR)<\/p>\n
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you visit a fast-food chain in the next few years, expect the menu to look a little…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[97,243],"class_list":{"0":"post-323745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}