TWU students craft recipe for restaurant makeover

June 30, 2025 – DENTON – Dallas-Fort Worth restaurant chain HG Sply Co. underwent a major overhaul recently. Yet, walking through the doors of one of its four DFW-area locations, nothing looks different – not at first glance. It’s when you sit down and look at the menu that you see the subtle, but impactful, changes. 

HG Sply Co. revamped its menu in 2025. All its dishes’ macronutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) are now printed on the menu. And, the majority of those dishes were updated to better reflect an intentional focus on nutrition-conscience dining.

The restaurant company has built a reputation for being health driven, so the decision to double down on that wasn’t earth shattering. What was a little surprising was the involvement of two Texas Woman’s University dietetics students. Laura Gallegos and Anthony Herbert worked with HG Sply Co. on its nutrition update.  

“Laura and Anthony were super helpful in breaking down the science behind the numbers,” said Elias Pope, co-chief executive officer at UNCO. UNCO is a DFW-based hospitality group with 12 restaurants, including HG Sply Co.

Gallegos focused on the nutritional analysis of the menu, while Herbert translated the technical terms into messaging customers could easily understand. Both are enrolled in TWU’s master’s dietetic internship program on the Denton campus. 

“Nutrition is evolving a lot right now and people are really prioritizing their health,” Herbert said. “This is something that people are really interested in, so having a restaurant you can go to that’s also prioritizing health that aligns with what you are doing, it’s only going to spark more interest.”

The partnership started with a casual conversation about nutrition between Gallegos and Pope in early 2024. Gallegos knew Pope from her sister, who worked for HG Sply Co.

Gallegos suggested adding macros to the menu. By law, HG Sply Co. is not required to do so. The Food and Drug Administration requires calorie information be listed in restaurants with 20 or more locations.

“Why don’t you do it now?” Gallegos recalls asking Pope. “You’ll be ahead of the game. You want to grow, you want to expand. This is a really cool aspect that you can focus on.”

Gallegos offered to translate all the menu items to macros, which turned out to be a huge undertaking because of the restaurant’s extensive menu. The sheer amount of items, which included drinks, became so intense that Gallegos had to quit her other job.

“I think when I calculated all the hours, I did over 130 hours just for doing all of their prep items,” Gallegos said.

Gallegos remembers seeing some shocked faces when company leaders learned more about the content breakdowns of its offerings. 

“Obviously, they looked at the numbers, they saw the sodium, they saw the fat and that’s when they realized, we need to do something about this, we need to change this,” Gallegos recalled. 

Because of her dietetics education, she was able to explain what all those numbers meant and suggest some easy swaps. Greek yogurt for ranch dressing. Incorporating avocado oil. 

“We started to take a closer look at some of our menu items that we’d always thought were healthier than what you’d find at most restaurants,” Pope said. “What we found was pretty surprising—even though we were using good, clean fats, they still added up to some pretty high-calorie dishes. That was a big eye-opener for us and led us to explore lighter options that cut back on fat without losing any of the flavor we’re known for.”

When it was time to communicate what all those changes meant, Gallegos recommended Herbert, a classmate and friend. Herbert joined the partnership and worked on website content and social media posts; explaining the impact of saturated fats, sodium, pasture-raised eggs. He didn’t realize how much he would enjoy the communication aspect to nutrition. 

“I definitely see myself continuing on with the communication aspects of things,” Herbert said. “Hopefully doing more business with other brands out there with companies that want to focus more on health.”

And the partnership isn’t over. After the menu launched, HG Sply Co. offered nutritional coaching to its managerial staff. This led to the creation of LXAnourishment; a nutrition coaching business founded by Gallegos and Herbert.

The business is something they hope to grow once they graduate and have their RD credentials in hand. They are both thankful for the opportunity that HG Sply Co. gave them. 

“It was a great learning experience for us,” Herbert said. “It’s our first major gig. And, even before we are credentialed. So, the fact that they trust us enough now to do it without having those credentials just yet behind our name is really cool.”