Sneaky tricks restaurants use to serve you less food revealed - as chains admit to quietly shrinking portion sizes

It's been a well-known secret for years: Food companies are making portions smaller but driving up the price - and some chains are even fessing up to the practice. 

America has long been known for its large portion sizes, but with inflation strapping pockets tight and the ongoing fight against obesity - where the US ranks in the top 20 countries in the world - some restaurants are skimping on meals. 

Eateries like Chipotle have recently come under fire for frugal portions, causing customers to resort to tactics like filming employees and using male names rather than female in hopes of getting a bigger meal. 

And the frustration won't stop anytime soon as a number of venues are re-framing their shrinking portions as 'balanced meals that are low in calories,' or using smaller plates or portions to fool customers - like some Burger Kings dropping the 10-piece chicken nugget to an eight-piece. 

'We’re getting ready to get ready,' Chip Wade, who is chief executive of the Union Square Hospitality Group, told The New York Times about the restaurant industry preparing to reevaluate portion sizes. 

Surprisingly, most Americans actually want smaller meals - but they want the price to match the portions.

Seventy-five percent of customers surveyed by the National Restaurant Association in 2024 said they prefer a smaller meal for a smaller price. 

Some restaurant chains' biggest attractions right now are deals like Panera's You Pick 2, where customers receive a small discount on each item by bundling them together, and Subway's $3 hot wraps, which lean into the younger crowd's love for snacking rather than having large meals. 

Georgetown University's Portion Balance Coalition, which is housed under its business school, began a year-long study this month to try and figure out how restaurants can offer smaller meals but without upsetting value-minded customers. 

The coalition is hoping to get at least 10 high-volume chains, like Chick-fil-A and Panda Express, to join in. 

With inflation massively affecting the price of food, restaurants are feeling the financial strain. Add in that around 40 percent of food served at is thrown away, according to a 2020 study, and it leaves restaurants trying to find a happy medium that doesn't anger customers, but lets them lessen waste. 

Food waste costs US restaurants billions per year, according to the International Journal of Applied Management & Technology. 

California, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Massachusetts have already tried to limit food waste by restricting how much can end up in landfills, but a Science study found them to be ineffective at actually managing the problem. 

With an increasing number of Americans using drugs like Ozempic to curb their appetites, even more food is going to waste as patrons struggle to finish their meals. 

And trends like Girl Dinner - a popular social media craze over the summer where young women showed their mismatched plates filled with random foods to make up a meal - show that some Americans just aren't as interested in eating a full, well-balanced meal. 

'When it comes to quantity it’s the right size for me or for my needs at the moment,' Shelley Balanko, Hartman Group's senior vice president, said of the snacking trend. 

The Hartman Group found that half of what an American eats in a day can be considered snacking. 

With the growing need to combat food waste and to appeal to customer's wishes for smaller portions, some chains - like Panera - offer half-sized portions. 

ReFED President, Dana Gunders - whose company is part of Georgetown's study - told The New York Times customers can usually 'customize everything about my order, except the size.' 

'People want this choice and they are not getting it,' she said. 

For years, people have ordered off the kids' menu or split meals between multiple people, or even taken leftovers home for tomorrow as a result of the incredibly large portions. 

Abby Fammartino, who works for the Culinary Institute of America and is also a part of Georgetown's study, told The Times when she goes out to eat with her husband and son, they only order two meals instead of three 'because we know that the portion sizes are high.' 

Some are even ordering catering and splitting up the portions for several meals because it's cheaper than buying several individual meals. Others are simply feeding more people using the catering size than the recommended number. 

Three Southern California restaurants, which were not named, conducted an experiment in 2023 in which they offered balanced meals that did not exceed 700 calories - half the amount of what some meals are on menus. Calorie counts at restaurants typically range from 900 to 1,500, according to The Times. 

Two kept the options after the experience, while another changed its marketing on its larger portions to 'dinner today, lunch tomorrow,' according to the outlet.  

Despite the shift toward smaller portions, not every American is ready to give up their gigantic burgers and endless pasta orders. 

Kevin Hochman - CEO of Brinker International, which owns Chili's Grill & Bar, among others - won't be changing his chains' portion sizes anytime soon. 

'There is a truth about American consumers: People want what they want,' he told The Times. 'It’s our job to meet guests where they are and not where we think they should be.' 

And for his customers, that means sticking with the concept that you leave obnoxiously full like you would your grandma's house. 

'Grandma always wanted you to leave overly stuffed and feeling like you can’t eat anymore,' he told the outlet. 

At the end of the day, Deborah Cohen, who led the balanced meal study in California, said most Americans don't know how to control how much they consume when given too large of a portion. 

And although she recognizes changing the tide will take years, she believes 'we have to go in that direction of changing the environment, not just letting people go at it on their own,' she told The Times. 

'They are not likely to succeed if everything is stacked against them,' she said. 'It’s like trying to swim in the tsunami.' 

America currently ranks 19th in the world for adult obesity and 22nd for children, according to World Obesity. 

More than 40 percent of adults are obese in the US, while 20.5 percent of children are. 

Other countries, like Australia and the United Kingdom rank 51st and 86th out 200 countries for children, and 58th and 77th for adults, respectively.