Better bites: Snack strong—changing the food landscape at recreational facilities for school-age youth and families

Kentucky ranks 3rd in the nation for childhood obesity and 10th for adult obesity. Increasing access to healthy food has been identified by the Institute of Medicine as a key strategy for reducing obesity. Better Bites, a healthy snacking initiative, was developed in 2011 by the Tweens Nutrition and Fitness Coalition and Lexington Parks and Recreation to increase access to healthful foods at recreational and other venues that tweens (youth ages 9-13) and their families frequent. The findings from an analysis of sales data, observational reports, implementation experience, and 154 one-on-one interviews with managers, staff, and patrons at five community pools were evaluated using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Better Bites sales more than doubled from 2011 to 2012, increasing from 9% to 19% of total sales at the Parks and Recreation pools. Key themes from patron interviews include: variety of options, price, and quality of menu offerings. Challenges reported by managers and staff centered on storage and preparation space, adjustment to new menu items, and perishability of fresh items. Recommendations were generated and were grouped into four categories: menu, training, promotion, and concession stand operations. These results are informing the Better Bites menu, staff training, brand promotion, and concession stand operations for summer 2013 and beyond. Because of the success in changing purchasing patterns in the test setting, there are plans to expand the Better Bites brand to other venues including schools, after-school programs, PTA and booster-club sponsored events, community centers, neighborhood stores, restaurants, and a mobile snack cart.