Healthy Vending
Inexpensive changes in the cafeteria, snack room foods and vending machines can go a long way toward providing a healthier workplace for employees.
By providing vending options like the ideas listed below, employers can promote healthier eating during the workday:
- fresh, canned or dried fruits
- 100% fruit or vegetable juice
- plain or mixed nuts
- low-fat or baked bagged snacks
- bottled waters
Healthy Vending in City of Cleveland buildings
Working with Steps to a Healthier Cleveland, the City of Cleveland has a policy that 40% of all vending options provided by the City’s main vending contractor, AVI Foodsystems, must comply with the following healthy vending guidelines.
Each serving must have no more than:
- 220 calories
- 35% calories from fat (except products with nuts)
- 1.5 grams of saturated fat
- 0 grams of trans fat
- 300 mg of sodium
- 35% sugar (by weight)
Promoting healthy vending to employees
Just because you put the healthy options in the snack machine doesn’t mean people will eat them! Try some of these ideas to promote your healthy vending initiative and to encourage employees to pick the healthier choices.
- Implement a “lucky sticker” challenge. Label random healthy products with a lucky sticker. When an employee gets a snack with a lucky sticker, reward him or her with a prize! Check out these examples of lucky sticker promotional posters.
- Post point-of-decision prompts at or near the vending machines to remind employees about which options are healthier and the benefits of selecting a more nutritious food. View the sticker Steps to a Healthier Cleveland uses on City of Cleveland vending machines.
