I appreciated it — but I definitely spent less money because of that. I quickly realized everything tasty on the menu had between 800-1300 calories in it and ordered a cheap and (still unhealthy, but comparatively less calorie dense) side of macaroni and cheese. And I still felt guilty. I remember Boston Market less as “the place that conveniently put calories right by the menu options” and more as “the place where every meal is half my daily calories”.

http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff.28.6.w1110v1.pdf

Second, this is a business that is not built for healthy eating. It’s designed to meet a need for convenience and cheap food, and that often times means it’s unhealthy. If any one restaurant put all that information up there, people would likely be surprised at how bad the food is for them, and it might harm its sales unless every other restaurant did it too. If any company were likely to do it, it would likely be the one that served the healthiest food — but even places that serve relatively healthy food have items on the menu that top out at well over 1,000 calories. So there’s not much of an incentive for a firm to voluntarily put that information up there — evidence of which is the fact that the restaurants are mostly fighting these laws.

Third, I think this is one of those cases where people want to be blissfully ignorant of the damage they’re doing to themselves — just as too few people go to the dentist regularly because they’re afraid they’ll have cavities, and too few people avoid get regular physicals because the doctor might find something wrong. I don’t want to know what’s in my Qdoba queso dip because I love it so much and if I knew, I might not order it as often.

Fourth, this is a case of asymmetric information, where the sellers know more than the buyers. In those markets, you get adverse selection, where low quality tends dominate the market. In those cases, you don’t have a perfectly functioning market that should be left to its own devices — you get market failure and a lack of high-quality goods. It’s the reason the FDA was created — to fill the information gap in the canned food market. Private companies can help fill the gap (like Consumer Reports and Mens Health), and the government can also help fill the information gap.

I don’t sense a big push by consumers to have this information. But studies have shown that when people have the information, they respond to it and develop healthier eating habits. If the changes are small, people will make them. If they are big changes (like quitting smoking), we know that’s hard for people to do.

P.S. I’m not sure the fast food industry is competitive. A few players dominate the market. Some chains have very loyal customers, and they wouldn’t want to scare them away by giving them all this information right out in front.