Selling Health at a Discount

It's not just schools that are trying to encourage its students to make healthier choices. Colleges, B&I and hospitals are all jumping on the health bandwagon in an unexpected way: price discounts for healthy fare. Operators have realized that in this economy, nothing encourages purchases like a discount.

Even as the federal government tries a stick—a wellness mandate tied to the National School Lunch Program—to try to get children to eat more healthfully, a growing number of companies and institutions are waving a carrot—price discounts—in front of their workers to encourage them to make better food choices.

Pitney Bowes, based in Stamford, Conn., and Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, in Mattoon, Ill., are two locations where lower prices for healthful food items are being offered as an incentive to employees. Pitney Bowes has been phasing in its program over the last couple of years, while Sarah Bush Lincoln introduced its efforts last March.

Such tests are aimed at stemming the rising tide of obesity that is plaguing the country. A recent “Work and Health” survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com revealed that one in five workers say they have gained at least 10 pounds since starting their current jobs, while one out of 10 employees confess to having packed on more than 20 pounds.

De-’value’ the menu: Pitney Bowes’ program took shape when the company’s medical department began to examine ways to emphasize wellness among employees.

"One of the things that has always frustrated us about getting people to eat healthy was seeing all the (fast-food) value meals out there," explains Dr. Brent Pawlecki, associate medical director for Pitney Bowes. "They are often the least healthy options on the menu. Why do (they) incent people to eat unhealthfully? When we realized that, then we started to make the jump: what about in our cafeterias? And we started to look at ways we could encourage healthier eating."

The first place the company looked, Pawlecki notes, was its sandwich station, where potato chips always accompanied sandwich platters. "We decided that the default would be carrot or celery sticks, or pretzels," says Pawlecki. "You could still get chips, but you would have to ask for them."

That, however, was a passive change, and Pitney Bowes executives believed that more could be done.  "We wanted to find ways to incent people to do the right thing," Pawlecki recalls, "rather than punish them for making bad choices."

Health for less: So the company began to offer price discounts for certain items deemed to be smarter food choices. Whole fruit became less expensive than before. The foodservice department introduced a daily Fitness Fare special, which is sold at a discount. And now, each Friday, the salad bar becomes an all-you-can-eat deal for $3.50—healthy to the extent people load up on the veggies, not dressings or toppings.

"Not only does this encourage people to eat more healthfully, it also helps foodservice, because they don’t (end up with) wasted produce at the end of the week," says Pawlecki.

Other changes have included the introduction of a smoothie bar and a prepared-to-order sushi bar every Thursday. "We also have a skillet station where we do vegetable stir-fries," explains Glenn Wallberg, Pitney Bowes’ director of administration. "We may add a protein such as chicken, shrimp or tofu, but we cook in stock, not with oil, which makes this a very healthy alternative to other foods."

Wallberg notes that preparing foods a la minute certainly helps to sell healthy items. "With our sushi, we tried offering it every day, bringing in fresh, prepackaged sushi, and it didn’t sell very well," he says. "Now, we offer it once a week and prepare it in front of the customers, and it’s selling much better."

"The biggest challenge of offering healthier items," adds Wallberg, "is the product itself. The American palate defines flavor as a combination of seasonings and fat. So cooking a healthy item and making it palatable is a challenge. We tap into a host of resources for our recipes, from Web sites to cook books such as Weight Watchers and South Beach."

Historically, Pitney Bowes has operated its own foodservice program, but that went by the boards in late August when Host America Corp., from Hamden, Conn., was hired to manage the program. Host America had been managing foodservice at six other Pitney Bowes’ facilities in the region. But Wallberg says he anticipates no diminishing of the company’s push toward wellness.

"If there is any change it will be an increase in healthy dining," he suggests. "Host America has taken our Fitness Fare special and used it in all of its locations; as we go through the changeover here we will now have an entire station dedicated to Fitness Fare."

A Fresh Start: The Fresh Start program at Sarah Bush Lincoln may be newer than Pitney Bowes’ efforts, but it also may be more encompassing. Under Fresh Start, introduced when the hospital opened its renovated Basement Bistro in March, foods that meet criteria developed by the hospital’s registered dietitians are priced at a 25% discount to encourage better eating habits. For its efforts, Sarah Bush Lincoln received a Spotlight Award from the National Society for Healthcare Foodservice Management (HFM) at its annual conference in Tampa last month.

All Fresh Start foods are labeled with an apple sticker, placed either directly on the foods’ packaging—on baked chips, for example—or onto the signage, for skim milk and similar items, explains foodservice director Cathy Babbs. Point-of-sale signs now tell customers the price, calories and fat grams for each food, and portions are strictly controlled.

Some portion sizes have actually decreased, Babbs says, to comply with standards. A three-ounce chicken breast replaced a four-ounce serving, for example.

Less is more: The Basement Bistro has taken a slight financial hit, even though check averages have remained stable. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, Babbs notes. "We anticipated lower sales because of the discount," she says. "n the first three months sales were down 5%. But I’ve seen more people picking skim milk, for example, because it’s cheaper." Babbs adds that the hospital’s executives are firmly behind her efforts. "I told my administration what I wanted to do, and I told them it could decrease sales," she explains. "They told me that it would be a cheap price to pay for healthier employees."

Since the introduction of the Fresh Start program, whole-wheat breads, rice and barley have been well-accepted, and two surprisingly popular dishes are fried green beans (which qualify for the Fresh Start discount) and potato dumplings. The salad bar has been revamped with more fresh fruits and vegetables, low-calorie and nutrient-dense foods, and high-fiber items. In addition, mayonnaise-based salads have disappeared.

Babbs adds that she hopes to replace less nutritious items with more healthful ones over time. "Our plans are to continually decrease fried foods," she says. "We have just ordered new combi-steamers and hope to be able to use that equipment to give the appearance of fried foods, but actually bake/steam them."

Culture of health: Pitney Bowes’ Pawlecki says he would like to see his company adopt a discount pricing strategy similar to the Fresh Start program at Sarah Bush Lincoln. "We haven’t gotten to (two-tiered) pricing as much as we’d like to yet," he explains. "But I think we will. We’re trying to create a culture of health within the organization."

He’d also like the foodservice department to print out "calorie receipts" with customers’ purchases, something else that Sarah Bush Lincoln does. "I know the technology is out there," he adds. "This way employees would get an even better idea of what they’re buying."