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Promotional and marketing ideas for healthy canteens

"The ‘Go for your life’ workshop taught us a lot of great ideas, but especially the fact that we do need to 'market' the canteen to make it work. Being a not-for-profit canteen it never occurred to us to do this, but now having made a start we can admit that it works to its benefit. There are so many things available to us to help with 'marketing' events and foods, you just need a bit of time and organisation to make it happen! And when it does it is very rewarding for all involved." - Jodie Philipsen, Canteen Committee, Park Orchards Primary School

Download the Park Orchards Primary School Green Theme Day Case Study (341 kb, pdf)

Promotion and marketing of the canteen and the healthy food it sells is essential to the canteen’s success. Students are more likely to purchase healthy food which is advertised well. Promoting healthy food can:

• Help increase healthy food choices
• Assist student acceptance of healthy items
• Keep canteen sales and profits healthy
• Encourage students to try new healthy foods
• Increase sales on promotional days
• Be a good way to introduce new menu items
• Be planned around special theme days, meal deals, daily specials, price specials or taste testings.

• Only promote healthy choices
• Promote healthy foods in a positive way
• Advertise regularly
• Advertise new products or specials
• Advertise old favourites or slow sellers.

• School newsletter - inform parents about healthy canteen choices, new menu items and price changes, promote specials and theme days, and include nutrition articles to increase parents’ nutritional understanding and why it’s important.

• Announcements – regularly promote healthy choices at assembly or over the PA system, especially to promote new healthy products and specials.

• Naming the canteen - a fun, cool name, such as “Tucker Timeout” or “Cool Kids Corner”, not only gives your canteen an identity, but can also be used for advertising and marketing, such as naming recipes and meal deals and branding lunch bags. You can also use a picture/logo to appeal to students, or a slogan, such as “Healthy Choices, Healthy Voices”, “Nuts about Nutrition” or “Feel Good Food” to promote the canteen’s healthy image. Running a naming competition with a prize for the winning student entry will help you choose a name which will be popular with the kids.

• Naming menu items - give foods and drinks catchy titles to get kids excited about the healthy choices. This is also a great way to trial new menu items, then really popular items can be introduced permanently. You can use general names like "Crazy Carrot Sticks" or "Super Strawberry Smoothie", personal names, such as "Mrs Smeeton's Vegetable Bake", or link with popular themes, like movies, sports or special events. You could run a competition for students to help with ideas for healthy menu recipes, sandwich fillings, theme days or meal deal ideas. You can download the Name healthy foods - make them fun (1.75 mb, pdf) to give you ideas for naming your healthy menu items!

How do you know what is popular? Survey your school’s students to find out what is “cool” with the kids. heir answers will give you ideas to help name recipes, meal deals and even help you identify what new healthy items or changes you could make to your canteen. Include a survey with every lunch order or place by the cash register and offer a prize to a random winner at the end of each Term, such as a $2 canteen voucher or a mention in the school newsletter or at assembly. Download the Canteen survey slips (73kb, pdf).

• Fun, descriptive words for healthy menu items - use fun, descriptive words for healthy choices – this can make healthy choices so much more appealing. You might use words such as “yummy” and “hot”, or described how they are presented, such as “drizzled with” and “lightly toasted”. For example, a toasted cheese sandwich may sound uninteresting, but choosing this healthy choice may be far easier if described as a “toasted sandwich with melted tasty cheese”. You can download some Fun, descriptive words for healthy menu items (73kb, pdf) to give you ideas for making your healthy menu items more appealing!

• Canteen menu, order forms and menu boards - List healthy choices at the top using bright, attractive colours, large font and pictures to illustrate the healthy options to help students and parents identify healthy menu choices. Make sure font is easy to read and clear. Place smiley faces beside healthy items so they are easily identified.
  Download fruit and vegetable characters (891kb, doc) to decorate your menu.
  
  
  
  
• Posters and flyers

Download the Drink milk for healthy bones poster (185 kb, pdf).	Download the UFO marketing poster (443 kb, pdf) to promote frozen tinned pineapple rings (individually wrap in cling wrap prior to freezing).
Download the Oodles of noodles marketing poster (169 kb, pdf) to promote your hot noodle dishes.	Download the What can you buy for this? poster (478 kb, doc).

• Noticeboards - promoting specials, theme days, new healthy options, nutrition facts or the next day’s menu can be cheapest and quickest on noticeboards.

• Canteen layout – the layout and promotion of healthy items in the canteen is very important. Here are some tips:
  • Place posters of healthy foods in the canteen to encourage spontaneous healthy purchases.
  • Attractively display healthy options.
  • Place healthy options eye level and within easy reach for students.
  • Ensure healthy options are always in plentiful supply.
  • Only place healthy choices at the cash register and for over-the-counter sales to encourage last minute healthy choices - A4 or smaller plastic display stands on the counter are a quick, easy and inexpensive way to advertise and promote healthy options.
  
  
• Canteen workers and school staff – encourage them to be role models with their food selections, and to promote healthy foods in classroom discussions! Canteen staff can also verbally encourage healthy options, for example asking them if they would like a bottle of water or piece of fruit with their order.

• Theme days – another great way to trial new healthy items and expose kids to new foods. Theme days may be just a few special menu items, such as offering a new fruit or vegetable each week by going through the alphabet or according to seasonal availability, or a completely special menu as an alternative to the regular menu. They could also be your one nominated healthy menu day of the week, such as Fruitilicious Friday.

Theme days could be based on:
• Awareness Weeks, such as offering calcium-rich smoothies during Healthy Bones Week.
• Special Days, such as offering red menu items on Red Nose Day or Valentines’ Day.
• Religious and cultural events, such as serving an Asian influenced menu to celebrate Chinese New Year, or having a Italian day serving healthy pizzas and pasta (Healthy pizzas can be made using pita bread as a base and healthy toppings such as plenty of vegetables, lean meat and low fat cheese).
• Calendar events, such as a Halloween themed menu, or serving green and yellow foods to celebrate the Commonwealth Games.
• High profile events like the AFL Grand Final.
• Movies, such as a Harry Potter Day with menu items like Harry Potter’s Magical Soup.
• The curriculum, such as serving the foods studied in a history class.
  
  
Theme days should be planned well in advance and promoted heavily to ensure their success. Plan a calendar of promotions at the start of each year or term and link in with the curriculum to reinforce nutrition messages taught in the classroom, like food studied in history, languages and discussions on nutrition and awareness weeks. Don't underestimate how popular the day may be – be prepared by ordering enough food and having extra helping hands on deck in the canteen. Sending home an order form for pre-orders is a good idea to help you estimate its popularity. Decorating the canteen is also a great way to get everyone excited. You can download the Theme day ideas (1 MB, pdf) to give you practical ideas for healthy theme day menu items or view a summary of Special calendar dates and Awareness Weeks (50kb, pdf).

• Specials – may include special days, weeks or daily specials and are a great way introduce a new healthy product at a good price to entice buyers and to assist in reducing wastage and maintaining profits by helping sell slow sellers, excess or leftover stock.

• Meal deals - a great opportunity to include fruit, vegetables and dairy to make the meal in line with Dietary Guidelines. They are also an excellent way to reduce product waste at the end of the week, introduce new menu items and entice healthy choices with a value for money offer. Give the meal deal a catchy name using colourful, fun titles to entice orders. Make sure to price the meal deal as slightly less than if the items were to be purchased individually and advertise this cost benefit. You may like to include a small non-food trinket as part of meal deal, such as stickers, balloons or a flower.

• Prices of healthy options need to be competitively priced so that students and parents are not financially enticed to choose a less nutritious option, while allowing the canteen to increase sales and maintain healthy profits. Here are some tips on how price healthy foods:
  • Cross subsidise prices– drop the price of healthy options and increase the price of unhealthier ones to encourage healthy choices
  • Offer value for money - offer a selection of low cost, filling, nutritious items, such as raisin toast, sultanas and corn cobs, which children can spend their small change on.
  • Accurate pricing – make sure the price of your menu item is similar to shops, or priced at the Recommended Retail Price, otherwise a packed lunch from home might be the more affordable option
  • Special prices - Offer reduced prices to promote slow selling items, excess or left over stock. You might want to reduce prices over a week to increase the item’s popularity if it has been a slow seller, or discount it at the end of the week or lunch hour to prevent wastage.
  • Promote value for money – for example, “Was $2.50, now only $2.00!” or “Special Price Today Only!”
    
    
• Taste testing - introduce new healthy foods to students to trial their success and “hype up” the new items by offering free taste testing. Many food companies provide samples for free.

• Prizes and incentives - One school has a reward or incentive system where receive a sticker on their lunch bag and then each class keeps and collects the healthy lunch bags and submits them to the canteen who keep a tally of the class with the greatest number of healthy lunches in the month. This not only helps promote healthy eating, but also a helps a healthy environment by recycling.

• Link in with the curriculum – link the menu with what is being taught in the classroom and the vegetable patch if you have one to compliment the curriculum.

• Involve everyone - get feedback and ideas and involving students, teachers and the wider community in decision making for your canteen.

• This information has been sourced from Nutrition Australia.