Snacks and The City: Unexpected Low Sales of an Easy-Access, Tasty, and Healthy Snack at an Urban Snacking Hotspot

Abstract

: While many people declare an intention to eat and snack more healthily, a large body of research has found that these intentions often do not translate into actual behavior. This failure to fulfil intentions is regularly attributed to the obesogenic environment, on which basis it is assumed that changing the food environment may lead to more healthy snacking behavior. To test this premise in real life practice, the present research project investigated whether making a healthy snack easy-to-access in an urban environment characterized by unhealthy snacking would support people in their intentions of purchasing more healthy snacks. The urban snack project consisted of three phases. In Phase 1, a hotspot location for unhealthy snacking was determined by using a Global Positioning System to track people’s snacking locations anda survey to verify the location . In Phase 2, an attractive snack was developed that met consumers’ criteria of what constituted a healthy and tasty snack, together with corresponding branding that also included a small food truck from which to sell the newly developed snacks. In Phase 3, the snack was sold from the food truck located at the previously determined unhealthy snacking hotspot. We counted the number of snacks sold and canvassed people’s opinions about the snack and its branding, finding that in spite of people’s appreciation for the snack, the food truck, and the branding, actual sales of the snack were very low. In the Discussion, we name predominant eating and purchasing habits as possible reasons for these low sales. Future research could focus on placing the healthy snack directly beside people’s habitual snack purchase location to ensure that the new choice gets better recognized. Overall, the findings suggest that merely placing healthy snacks more prominently in people’s food environment is not sufficient to lead people to snack more healthily.

Sensory perspectives of the consumption of chips-type snacks made from black bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) and peanut (Arachis hypogaea Linn) flours by university students in the Toluca Valley

“…Women have more preference than men to buy snacks in supermarkets and self-service stores, in markets, and prepared at home (p0.05). Schlinkert et al, 2020 reported that young people in the Netherlands went to snack outlets, as a result, levels of obesity and overweight increased. However, they are snacking at home (58%), at work, or at school (23%).…”

“…Some examples of snacks are cookies, cakes, sugar-sweetened beverages, and chips. Recent studies also indicate that legume flour can be incorporated into snacks instead of cereals, significantly improving their functional properties and their nutritional value (Szymandera-Buszka et al, 2021). Legumes are highly beneficial in the diet of people, due they have considerable quantities of water-soluble vitamins, minerals, and bioactive ingredients such as polyphenols, essential amino acids, fibers, and proteins.…”

“…Legumes are highly beneficial in the diet of people, due they have considerable quantities of water-soluble vitamins, minerals, and bioactive ingredients such as polyphenols, essential amino acids, fibers, and proteins. Also, they are lower in levels of saturated fat, glycemic index (GI) (ranging from 16 to 30), salt, and sugar (Neder-Suárez et al, 2021;Pasqualone et al, 2020;Szymandera-Buszka et al, 2021;Tas & Shah, 2021). Also, it is a cheaper source of protein and energy, particularly for rural populations (Arise et al, 2021).…”

Are Front-of-Pack Labels a Health Policy Tool?

“…Studies highlight that the "healthiness" of a food is usually not a relevant criterion in the choice of purchasing snacks. For these foods, parameters such as palatability, price, convenience and brand seem to be more important [49][50][51][52]. This would explain why the Nutri-Score appears to not have a significant impact on snack choices [12].…”

The role of attention and health goals in nudging healthy food choice

“…Stimulating healthy snack choice is important as snacking tends to involve the consumption of food of poor nutritional quality ( Larson and Story, 2013 ), and is associated with unhealthy diet and obesity ( Forslund et al, 2005 ). Because snacks are predominantly consumed at home (e.g., Kerr et al, 2010 ; Myhre et al, 2015 ; Schlinkert et al, 2020 ), decisions made in the supermarket largely define the snacks people end up consuming ( Papies et al, 2014 ), deeming the supermarket a relevant location to nudge healthier snack choices.…”