Iowa's Pick a better snack™ Retail Campaign

Katie Bogue, Iowa Nutrition Network

I believe Pick a better snack™ [retail campaign] has reached and touched many individuals. “You made me a believer” is one response I received from a man within the community. Trying new things and eating fresh fruits and vegetables can really make a difference. I truly believe that people of all ages (especially children) like fresh produce. By having food demos and giving out recipes, parents can realize that their children will eat vegetables and fruits that they never thought to buy before. A lot of times the parents will buy the ingredients that day! Pick a better snack™ continues to bring easy, healthy, affordable recipes in to the community one step at a time.
- Kimberly Langel, Iowa Pick a better snack™ Retail Specialist

After a particularly successful demo of colorful quesadillas at a Hy-Vee food store, Kimberly and I looked at each other in awe. We then looked over at the spinach cooler. Where there was once a bursting pile of spinach, there were now a couple of lonely bags. We had witnessed many people buying the ingredients for the quesadillas. I decided to ask the produce manager how many bags of spinach the store had sold during the hour-and-a-half of our demo. After checking the numbers, he informed us that 14 bags had been sold. When I asked him how many would normally sell during an afternoon such as this, he responded “maybe two.” Again Kimberly and I looked at each other with wide eyes and knew that we were making a difference.
-Elizabeth Wyatt, Iowa Pick a better snack™ Retail Specialist

This year, the Iowa Nutrition Network embarked on the Pick a better snack TM retail campaign in sixteen grocery stores throughout the capital city of Des Moines. Retail stores include Hy-Vee, Dahls, Fareway, Aldi, and Super Wal-Mart.

Des Moines is the ideal location for this pilot project as most elementary schools in Des Moines receive Pick a better snack™ nutrition education in the classroom. Numerous children at the grocery stores recognize Pick a better snack™ and connect the campaign with the school-based nutrition education. The consistent Pick a better snack™ message and brand are reinforced.

Retail partnerships are win-win situations for the Nutrition Network and the grocery stores. The goal is to increase consumption, and thus sales, of fruits and vegetables. Produce has a high mark-up and spoils quickly. Teaming up with the Pick a better snack™ retail campaign enables the store to increase its produce sales.

The retail campaign consists of four main components, including:

 


 

Seasonal poster stand that remains in the produce section

 

 

Monthly bilingual parent newsletters that are identical to the newsletters sent home with elementary children

Bi-monthly food demonstrations promoting in-season fruits and vegetable snack recipes

 

 

Colorful recipe cards

 

The retail campaign is impacting people at the point of decision making. The food demonstrations and poster stands remind people to purchase fruits and vegetables right at the moment when they are making that choice.

The retail campaign has also proven to be cost effective. To reach 100 individuals, it takes approximately two hours for two people (including set-up and tear-down). The food demonstration materials are either donated by the grocery store, or cost about $10.

Funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Food Stamp Program, the Network is allowed to conduct nutrition education at high volume retail stores, or grocery stores that receive a large amount of Food Stamp reimbursements each month. For more information about the Iowa Nutrition Network and Pick a better snack™, log on to www.idph.state.ia.us/pickabettersnack