© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Smarter Lunchroom & digital Screens

1

1. Pull out mobile phone2. Open Safari or Chrome3. Type in www.kahoot.it

An engaged student can be empowered and educated

© BEN Center 2013

Small Changes That Make Big A Difference

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

• Food & Brand Lab• Consumer Behavior Research 

• Industry and Government Funded• How Do Environmental Cues Impact Food Choices

• The BEN Center• School Focused Research & Outreach

• Changes Schools Can Make to Encourage Healthy Choices• The Smarter Lunchroom Movement 

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Distractions On average, you will consume 28%

more food while eating in front of a computer or TV

Larger Plate, Larger Meal Using a bigger plate to serve a meal

typically results in a 25% increase in the amount of food

Fat-free? People given low-fat granola ate 35%

more than people who thought they were eating regular granola

Hide the Candy Put that candy dish in your drawer,

you’ll eat 3 fewer candies per day.

Brian Wansink, Ph.D.

Hidden Influences in the daily Diet

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

How Behavioral Economics & Choice Architecture Can Help

• Choice architecture• Designing the choice to lead an individual to a particular outcome 

• Uses the tools of psychology to access economic decision‐making

• Generally, adjusting the choice architecture is cheap• Big bang for the buck

What is the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement?

The Smarter Lunchrooms Initiative seeks to… •Nudge choices: Using research‐based suggestions to guide students to unknowingly, make smarter, healthier choices in the lunchroom•Increase sales: Finding innovative ways to increase cafeteria sales and participation by encouraging greater consumption of healthier foods•Implement low‐cost/no‐cost changes: Since many cafeterias receive a limited budget, suggestions are focused on changing the school lunch environment•Keep a variety of food choices: Nudging students without completely eliminating unhealthy choices from the menu or only raising prices on less healthy foods

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

The Name Game• Use cool or appealing labels to describe foods• Carrots X‐Ray Vision Carrots  Doubled the consumption of carrots

• Bean Burrito  Big Bad Bean Burrito  Increased burrito consumption by more than 40%! (It could have been more, but they sold out in the second of three lunch periods!)

CasseroleMacaroni Veggie Mania

Why not “Extreme Yogurt”, “Mega‐Milk” “Champion Cheese” &                                  “High Flyin’ Flat Bread”

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Give Milk the Edge

• Rearranging the coolers to highlight white milk  resulted in an increased rate of purchase by approximately 46%

• Removal of flavored milks in lunchroom caused daily milk sales to decrease nearly 11% 

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Hot Lunch Line

Old Location for Salad 

Bar

Cash Register #2

Cash Register #1

New Location for Salad Bar

Daily Salad Sales increased 200-300% within two

weeks

Increase Convenience of                       Healthier Foods

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

The School Lunch Solution

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

www.SmarterLunchrooms.org

Learn More!

Come to our session at 1pm this afternoon!

Room 221ABC

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

The Smarter Lunchroom 100 ‐ Point Scorecard

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

www.SmarterLunchrooms.org

Learn More!

Advertisers spend $12 billion per year trying to reach the youth market.

Children view 40,000 commercials per year.

… at 109 commercials per day and 30 seconds each, this adds up to 32 minutes each day

Occupy the attention of students when the visit your cafeteria

An engaged student can be empowered and educated

Behavior change requires active listening. Standardized messaging is often perceived as judgmental and irrelevant to individuals

engageverb | en•gage | in-ˈgāj, en-\

occupy, attract, or involve (someone's interest or attention)."he plowed on, trying to outline his plans and engage Sutton's attention"

Synonyms: capture, catch, arrest, grab, snag, draw, attract, gain, win, hold, grip, captivate, engross, absorb, occupy

Mobile Texting

2,097Votes

The results so far…

288Voters

7.28Votes per customer

5Interactive lunch polls

“I thought mobile texting would make the cafeteria more unruly. It was actually the opposite. The students were paying attention to the screens and a little more quiet than usual. I loved their engagement!” – Lora Gilbert, Director at Orange County Public Schools

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Traditional Word of Mouth Networks

Examples:‐ Conversations‐ Phone calls‐ Traditional letters‐ Advertising

Characteristics:‐ Powerful because of relationships‐ No enabling tech‐ Significant friction‐ Limited reach

© COPYRIGHT 2016 SCHOOL NUTRITION ASSOCIATION – #ANC16 – SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Word of Mouth Networks + Social Media

Examples:‐ Community networks‐ Consumer‐generated media (pics, video, etc.) ‐ Consumer‐generated content (blogs, email, etc.)

Characteristics:‐ Powerful because of relationships‐ Empowering tech‐ Instant feedback‐ Community‐driven

gamificationnoun | /ˌɡāmifәˈkāSHәn/

The application of typical elements of game playing (e.g., point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity, typically as an online marketing technique to encourage engagement with a product or service.

"gamification is exciting because it promises to make the hard stuff in life fun"

gamificationnoun | /ˌɡāmifәˈkāSHәn/

Competition and LeaderboardsMotivation and prizesEarn badges and prestige

Digital Signage Games

“When performance is measured, performance improves”

Thomas Monson

104,000Enrollment

Overview and introduction

51%F/R Pct

64CEP Schools

200+TV Screens

Operation: Use Digital Signage to Increase Healthy Foods Consumption

• 16 week project in 10 Elementary Schools• Targeted 3rd & 4th Grades – easy on the operational team!• First week in each school was spent collecting baseline consumption data• The rest of the time was spent running digital signage and measuring fruit and vegetable consumption

• Display the menu• Promote healthy eating behaviors• Run digital signage competitions

The Video?

From the perspective of the Director….

1. It’s always great to get students involved in eating more healthy foods2. My central staff participated in the project. They were reinvigorated and seeing 

the children get excited about healthy eating really set a positive tone for the entire school year. 

3. Participation went up in these schools? (need to get this data if it is true!)4. Reminded once again why we do what we do. We’re here to feed children!5. Without any reservation, I’d engage in this project with Nutrislice and the research 

team again. It was super beneficial. 

One final word…