Increasing Healthy Food Options in Vending Machines

Through our work at Healthier Generation, we understand that there’s no single solution for addressing complex public health problems. The data is clear that incremental change by major food and beverage industry leaders can produce dramatic shifts in the purchase and consumption of “better for you” products.

Industry can—and should—be a major contributor to building a Culture of Health. The benefit of a partnership like this is that the reach is industrywide. This is a model we’ve employed elsewhere with proven success.

Working with the public health community was critical to helping NAMA make this public health commitment. Healthier Generation, PHA, and other highly respected public health groups provided insights, ideas, and recommendations that we used to strengthen the commitment throughout the two-year development process. All three of us are dedicated to making it a success for everyone—public health, industry, and consumers.

With nearly four million vending machines nationwide, the industry’s reach is substantial and crosses many socioeconomic levels, including lower income communities, where people are disproportionately affected by obesity and diet-related conditions.

Individually, NAMA members have been making progress over the years in providing more “better for you” offerings. Acting together in a formalized fashion will accelerate this progress. We simply felt that there was more for our industry to do, given the epidemic of childhood obesity and changing consumer eating patterns. And although NAMA operators provide a range of services, this commitment focuses on vending machines for two reasons: They represent the majority of consumers we serve, and they are where we feel we can make the biggest impact on public health.

It helped that we know PHA and Healthier Generation well, having worked with them since 2005 on our nutrition labeling program, FitPick.

We worked on this particular public health commitment for nearly two years. First, we studied previous models between PHA and Healthier Generation and other industries, and then we worked with our Board of Directors and industry leaders to craft a model that met our goal of offering increased “better for you” options to consumers.

We formed a nutrition working group; hired expert advisors at Convergency, Inc.; and secured a credible data aggregator and analytics company, Keybridge. Multiple meetings with the Board of Directors, as well as many discussions with operators, food and beverage manufacturers, distributors, and brokers, were held.

We created an extensive database to understand which products meet public health guidelines and to establish the percentage of “better for you” products we offer today—an essential step in determining our three-year goal. Finally, our participating companies conducted field tests across the country to learn more about how to successfully implement this commitment.

It was an intensive effort, frankly far more so than we anticipated. Every step was crucial to building confidence in the data, the baseline, and in setting the ambitious goal we eventually decided upon. Key to our success was the ongoing collaboration with the public health community and our nearly 15-year relationship with PHA and Healthier Generation.

Most importantly, it took leadership, and for that, we thank Carla for her vision and dedication, along with the NAMA Board for its unanimous decision to move in this direction. It’s not easy to motivate an individual company to embrace change like this, let alone an entire sector!

Partnering with Healthier Generation and PHA played a critical role in encouraging our vending machine operator companies to participate by adding significant credibility to this work. That would not have been possible by industry alone.

This collaboration demonstrates so clearly how influential organizations can leverage their respective relationships, assets, and strengths to build impact that’s broader than what a single organization could achieve.

For example, NAMA brings a massive distribution system, customer base, business innovation, marketing prowess, and highly engaged and committed leaders. Healthier Generation contributes a deep understanding of and relationships with the players across the convenience services landscape, coupled with a robust and trusted community engagement approach. And PHA has a credible and efficient validation model, plus a national event platform to spotlight commitments and communications for motivating others.

We expect they will see an increase in the availability of “better for you” products like nuts, snacks made with whole grains, and bottled water—and, of course, fewer full calorie soft drinks and packaged foods high in sodium and added sugar.

Vending machines will carry a broader selection of “better for you” snacks and beverages. This could include favorite snacks that are reformulated and some that are brand new.

To comply with NAMA’s definition of “better for you,” snacks and beverages must meet at least two sets of recognized public health standards. We know suppliers have a wide variety of options and Healthier Generation is looking forward to working closely with them and NAMA to fulfill that goal.

We hope to see the commitment drive improvement in public health and increase the opportunity for choice around “better for you” options in vending machines. We want more kids and families to enjoy their snacks and beverages of choice from vending machines while diversifying the offerings with increased numbers of “better for you” selections. This is one reason we are also calling on food and beverage manufacturers to work with us to ensure that we have the right mix of products to meet ever-changing consumer demand.

We want to maximize the impact of initiatives like this one, and we hope that other food and beverage manufacturers and suppliers will join us in building the demand for healthier products.

It’s simple, really. That more people across the country have the opportunity to select a “better for you” product, more often. That increased pressure to stock “better for you” items will drive food and beverage manufacturers to create new products that meet the established criteria. And that we will collectively see this impact much faster and at a much larger scale by working with a sector-wide group like NAMA.