What Would Have Been Mayor Bloomberg's Next Step in His Food Crusade

What Next for Mayor Bloomberg’s Food Crusade? Mayor Bloomberg is motivated by the need to save New Yorkers from themselves in their dietary habits – hence the selective ban on large sugared beverages. That ban was overturned by a court last week, and the Mayor will be termed out of office soon. Let us assume though that the judicial decision is overturned and that the Mayor’s successors wish to not only carry through his goal but to expand it. Any such campaign to have even a chance of success would have to act against the purveyors of high calorie, high fat, high cholesterol, high sugar, and high salt foods: the restaurants. Would the Mayor and his successors want to take on these chains: Applebees Au Bon Pon Benihana Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Buffalo Wild Wings Burger King Capital Grill Chevys Chilpolte Chock Full o’ Nuts Cinnabon COSI Dominos Dunkin Donuts Fatburgers KFC Krispy Kreame Little Caesars McDonalds Mortons Nathan’s Famous Olive Garden Outback Steak House Paneras Papa Johns Pizza Hut Popeye’s Potbelly Quiznos Red Lobster Ruby Tuesday Ruth’s Chris Sbarros Starbucks Subway Taco Bell TGI Friday’s Tim Hortons Tommy Bahama Wendys White Castle Then we could include all the locally owned bars, restaurants, delis, and steak houses on the list, as well as events at Yankee Stadium and The Garden. The list would include such favorites as the Carnegie Deli, Gramercy Tavern, Grand Central Oyster Bar, Le Cirque, Petrosian's, Russian Tea Room, Sardi's, Shake Shack, Smith & Wollenskys, and the 21 Club. An extensive enforcement mechanism would need be established to prevent the ever-ingenious New Yorkers from “smuggling” Big Gulps into the Big Apple from “bootlegging” retailers across city or state lines. New Yorkers might eat better, but the economy will be dead while they will be exceedingly morose.