[From my January 7 column in the Colchester Bulletin]
A couple of months back, I wrote in my column about this wacky idea I had: unhealthy options. Essentially, it is about changing the default situation to providing healthy meals and offering unhealthy alternatives, instead of the other way around. In practice, I was proposing that fast food chains routinely include fruit and milk with kids’ meals, offering the fries and soda as an option. The hypothesis is that the majority of people will simply stick with the default, for a variety of reasons, and automatically eat healthier; actually, this theory bears itself out in virtually every scenario in which it is studied.
Not content to simply throw the idea out there, I wanted to see if this proposal might have some legs. Soon thereafter, I met with the managers of Colchester’s local McDonald’s and Wendy’s and discussed the idea to see if they might be receptive to an experiment along these lines.
Not surprisingly, it was not an easy sell. One of the great things about chain restaurants is their consistency: no matter where you go, you know you’ll get the same products and services. Of course, the downside to this is that there is very little room for change or variation. If something does not improve the brand’s image and/or bottom line, it is unlikely to be adopted.
Fortunately, this proposal has the potential to do both. In today’s health-conscious world, businesses seemingly fall over each other to promote their latest and greatest efforts to be healthy, “green” and generally earth-friendly. By advertising an effort such as this to improve the overall health of its customers, these companies could certainly score big points.
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As for cost savings, this could be a bigger challenge. It is a well-researched phenomenon that economically disadvantaged people are much more likely to be overweight. One of the key reasons for this is that healthy food is much more expensive than unhealthy food. I’m sure you can guess which costs more: an apple or a bag of chips; a half-gallon of milk/juice or a bottle of soda. For this reason, fast food chains make a much bigger profit when they serve fries and soda with a meal than when they provide fruit and milk.
However, there is an opportunity for cost savings here. As the manager at McDonald’s pointed out when we met, while it is cheaper to give out fries and soda, it is more expensive if you have to provide both. On some occasions, upon serving the fries and soda, some customers have responded that they’d prefer the apples and milk. In this situation the restaurant actually has to throw away the fries and soda, as they can not serve them to anyone else. As a way to avoid this “double serving”, this particular McDonald’s location has begun asking people which option they prefer at the time of ordering.
Does this seemingly minor adjustment have any affect? Let’s compare the numbers. According to McDonald’s statistics, approximately 1 out of 6 people choose the apples and milk – about 14%. Wendy’s, on the other hand, continues to provide the default fries and soda; by their account, about 1 out of 25 people request the oranges and milk – around 4%.
While this is far from scientific research, literally comparing apples and oranges, it is clear that there is something going on here. Perhaps the simple act of asking people which they prefer is enough to make them think about it, or at least be reminded that there is an alternative. If we can improve the health of ten percent of children just by asking a question, imagine the implications this could have in other areas. What questions can our department ask to help improve the health and wellness of our community? As always, I’d love to get your feedback and ideas!
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