Prioritizing Healthy

Health system’s 500 Club helps customers purchase healthy options on campus and in the community.

Foodservice departments across the nation are looking for ways to combat obesity. This is particularly true in hospitals, where directors say that, as a healthcare provider, it is their responsibility to promote wellness for staff, patients and the surrounding community. At the Gundersen Lutheran Health System in La Crosse, Wisc., the nutrition therapy department decided to attack the weighty problem by developing the 500 Club, a program designed to help people make healthy food choices.  

“The mission is simple, but obviously a big one in this day and age,” says Erika Webster, former 500 Club specialist. “We are promoting the health of the community that we serve.” The 500 Club is made up of members—area foodservice establishments and vendors—who offer menu items that have been approved by the 500 Club. Approved items are limited in calories and fat; fiber and salt content may be taken into account for approval for new items.

The program began in 1984, and during the past 25 years, it has expanded to include 46 members, including quick-service restaurants, grocery stores, sit-down restaurants, grab-and-go establishments, colleges and vending companies. Each member works with a dietitian from Gundersen to create menu options that fit the nutritional standards of the 500 Club.

The original concept for the 500 Club was to improve the health of those who worked at the hospital. “The 500 Club started in the health system and with a study in identifying healthier options in the hospital itself,” Webster says. “It really started as a desire to have healthier options in our hospital and for our patients and then it grew out into the community.”

The scope of the program has greatly expanded since its inception in 1984. The 500 Club’s newest member is Culver’s, a national quick-service restaurant with more than 425 locations. Jennifer Larson, administrative director and new 500 Club director, says the addition of Culver’s, “has taken the 500 Club to a whole new level, and we are now able to reach a much broader audience. This has also helped our patients realize that these restaurants and many others do have healthy choices available on their menus and it is OK to eat there as a part of a balanced lifestyle.”

Member services: To become a member of the 500 Club, foodservice vendors and restaurants have traditionally paid a membership fee. Starting last year, the fee has been waived to attract more members. “Since the beginning of 2008, we have offered the program at no cost to the members just because we really want to emphasize the health of the community and allow people to know about these places where they can find these healthier choices,” Webster says. Since offering membership to the club free of charge, membership has doubled.

Once a company becomes a member, some of the member’s staff meet with a dietitian to create a 500 Club menu. Restaurants either have a page devoted to the 500 Club menu or denote which menu items are 500 Club approved. “The dietitian meets with members a minimum of three times per year,” Webster says about the partnership between members and the hospital. “If they are just beginning with their commitment, the dietitian will sit down with them three times within the first month to discuss what the program is and review the menu. The dietitian will also train the staff on how to properly prepare the healthier choices if any modifications have been made to the menu and will address how to answer any questions that consumers may have regarding the program.” Webster says she stays in touch with each member throughout the year to ensure that the integrity of the program is being maintained.

Consumer demands: Webster says one of the things that makes the 500 Club beneficial to both consumers and the foodservice institutions is that the club meets four key consumer demands. The first one is visibility and marketing. Webster says that nearly three out of four Americans say they are looking for healthier dining options in restaurants. “The 500 Club grants easy access to healthier choices,” she adds. “All consumers have to do is identify the 500 Club logo at member businesses. 500 Club food choices can be identified through menu displays, stickers, clings, posters and brochures.”

The second demand is variety. Webster says the wide array of places offering different cuisines is important because then customers will be able to find healthy choices at ethnic restaurants such as Mexican and Italian, supermarkets, delis and vending companies located throughout the area. Both Webster and Larson say that one of the key areas that the 500 Club is working on increasing the scope and reach of the 500 Club so that people can more easily make healthy dining choices when dining out. Larson says Culver’s is such an important part in achieving this goal.

Being able to offer 500 Club offerings so that they are affordable to customers is the third consumer demand. 500 Club offerings at member locations are often lower in price than non-500 Club options. At McDonald’s, non-500 Club items are priced between 85 cents and $5.89, according to Webster. 500 Club offerings at McDonald’s are priced between 85 cents and $4.69.

At the hospital’s cafeteria, the same pricing structure exists. Fruits are being offered for 25 cents per piece and a serving of cooked vegetables is also 25 cents. Larson says this pricing structure has increased fruit sales by 328% and vegetable sales 139% since the pricing went into effect in February 2008. The hospital’s cafeteria also offers a 500 Club choice of the day at the grill station and denotes which other hot entrée items are 500 Club approved in the other serving lines.

The final consumer demand the 500 Club fulfills is convenience. Webster notes that research has shown that 82% of Americans are looking for time-saving foods and meals that are quick and easy to make. The 500 Club helps people do this by offering options in vending and take-home meals.

One 500 Club member is Stansfield Vending, a regional company that provides vending services. In 2008, Gundersen Lutheran piloted a vending project to help identify specific healthy vending criteria and then determined what items in vending machines would fit those criterions. The pilot began with employees sampling 10 healthy snack options, the top five of which are now available as 500 Club-approved items in vending machines throughout the health system’s campuses.

As Webster points out, vending machines are often seen as a convenient place for people to grab snacks on the run during work. “We want to allow people to continue to have the option to use vending machines, but we want to have some healthy options for them as well,” she says. To encourage customers to select the 500 Club’s healthier vending options, the non-500 Club offerings are higher in price than those 500 Club-approved ones. The 500 Club-approved items were originally priced at 50 cents, but they increased to 60 cents last month because of inflation. Prices for non-500 Club items in the vending machines also increased. Prior to the pricing change, three out of the machines’ top 10 best selling items were 500 Club approved. That number has increased to eight out of ten. Following the success of the pilot at Gundersen, Stansfield Vending has extended the program to other clients throughout the area.

Take-home meals were previously available at the hospital’s cafeteria so that employees could purchase easy-to-make, frozen meals to make at home. The company supplying the meals recently went out of business, so the hospital no longer offers frozen take-home meals, but Larson says employees can purchase any of the café’s 500 Club items for take out.

Webster recognizes that people are also looking for healthier options when shopping for food in supermarkets. The 500 Club has partnered with area supermarkets to make healthier options recognizable to shoppers at the deli and meat counters. In addition, the club offers free grocery store tours to help consumers make healthier grocery purchases. Anyone can sign up for the dietitian led tours.

Larson says the next step for the 500 Club is to continue to expand its reach on a national level with members such as Culver’s. She is also looking into a co-op buying group with local farmers who would supply seasonal fruits and veggies, which would then be delivered to the health system’s locations and available for purchase by employees.

At a Glance:
Gundersen Lutheran Health System Foodservice Snapshot:

• The health system includes a 325-bed hospital, one of the nation’s largest medical practices, regional health clinics and nursing homes in 19 counties in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.
• The 500 Club, a healthy eating program developed by the system’s nutrition therapy department, has 46 members and will soon have a national presence with the addition of Culver’s restaurants across the country.
• Eight of the 10 top selling items in vending machines are 500 Club-approved items.
• Fruit sales have increased 328% and vegetable sales have increased 139% in the year since a new, lower price initiative began in the hospital’s café.