Harry Balzer Quotations

We want to buy fresh, but we don't want to deal with it, I can make pretty exotic meals, but I don't have to deal with buying ingredients, chopping vegetables and cleaning up.

My Diet -- that's the number one diet in America, and it's the easiest diet, because you make it up as you go,

I would say it has leveled off. The bad news is we haven't found a way to lose weight.

January doesn't require you to take clothes off. In March, it's imminent.

The real problem with health is that there is no immediate payback. If I have low-fat milk today, what do I get? Did it save me time, did it save me money? The feedback is going to get to you 40 years from now.

With self-service, customers generally fly through. It will save time and money, unless the order is complex.

What can I say? Americans love fried chicken.

We say we want fresh, but the truth of the matter is, to deal with fresh, it takes over your life. You have to prepare it, store it . . . and then you'll probably throw it away anyhow.

We like what we like. All we do is put a new name on what we like.

At some point, they are going to have to knock a hole in the side of the wall and throw the rotisserie chicken out as you drive by.

The trend is clearly toward frozen or ready to eat -- the trend is clearly toward not cooking, whether you're young or old. It's about making life easier.

Perhaps Americans have found that the easiest way to deal with their weight is to change their attitude...and buy bigger clothes.

People don't want to get out of their cars to get dinner.

Americans have always had the means to eat healthier. But they do not have the will.

Americans like anything that makes life easier, saves time and is new.

They are aware of it, but they haven't changed their behavior.

It turns out health is a wonderful topic to talk about. But to live that way is a real effort.

The restaurant industry has experienced two big turns. There was the growth cycle in 2000 followed by the big downturn that's still going on.

This is just the latest incarnation of the trend of Americans' trying to lose weight by eating,

Ill tell you what we don't eat on the Fourth of July. French toast, Asian food, Lasagna. Are you spotting a pattern here?

In a downturn, expect to see all kinds of innovative things take place. Some will succeed, some won't.