Thursday, March 3, 2005
As an employee at The Underground in Wescoe Hall, Amanda Faires, St. Louis sophomore, has seen the green Better Bites sign at The Underground’s entrance. Unfortunately, because she never sees the logo on individual items, she never thinks about choosing a healthier option.
“If it were more visible, I’d probably get it more often,” she said.
Awareness of the Better Bites program has been an issue since the program arrived in Fall 2003, said Ann Chapman, Watkins Memorial Health Center dietician. A new marketing campaign and other improvements will be implemented to improve the program’s visibility and its appeal to students.
Better Bites provides healthier eating options to students through KU Dining Services, vending machines and convenience stores such as the Hawk Shop.
Though the program expanded to vending machines and Hawk Shops last year, student awareness is still not where Chapman would like it to be.
A new marketing campaign with posters and an updated brochure is planned for release later this spring. The posters will target each gender separately based upon perceptions of health and fitness, Chapman said.
She said that she was meeting in a few days to discuss the budget for the program. She said that she didn’t know the program’s costs and that current budget was too small.
Better Bites products are sometimes misplaced in the vending machines, Chapman said.
Some students have complained that non-Better Bites foods were being placed in slots with the logo on it.
With student volunteers, Chapman is conducting a survey of vending machine stocking. It will be finished the week before spring break, she said.
Monitoring use of Better Bites is difficult, Chapman said, especially for the meals offered through KU Dining Services.
Because the program is still a work in progress, it is unknown whether students consciously choose the healthier meals, said Nona Golledge, associate director of residential dining.
KU Dining Services does not gather statistics on how many Better Bites meals are produced.
Chapman plans to conduct surveys about student awareness and frequency of use of the program to gauge the Better Bites’ importance.
Of four students who were asked about the program, none of them had ever heard of the program.
Though he has eaten in The Underground, Jordan Goldschmidt, Wichita sophomore, never saw the signs advertising Better Bites. But he said it sounded like something he would use.
“I like eating healthy most of the time,” he said, “if it’s easy to get.”
There are students who are aware of Better Bites. Whether they care about the program is another question.
Though he tries to eat healthy, Anthony Hildebrand, Lubbock, Texas, junior, said he wouldn’t let a label for a healthier item stop him from getting something he wanted. He said he thought most students thought the same.
Sara Dixon, Derby senior, said people ate unhealthy food and needed to have something else available. But, she said she thinks the financial cost of a healthier meal is a big factor of a student’s decision.
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