Week5

Current Business Research Project Paper

The article chosen reflects the research regarding providing healthier snack choices for high school students in Ontario, British Columbia, Canada. In an effort to improve nutrition choices for adolescents as a means to create healthier habits and lifestyles, a study was created to see how well-received the healthier alternatives would be when offered. As has already been well documented, better nourishment provides the fuel needed to learn better, stay active, and potentially maintain the healthier lifestyle as adults. One way to provide healthier choices was to offer healthy snacks through school vending machines (Callaghan, Mandich, & He, 2010). The Healthy Vending Machine Pilot Project (HVMPP) was created to determine if vending revenue would be affected if healthy snacks replaced part or all of the choices.

Business Problems Under Investigation

One question to be answered was how well did the healthy snacks sell? Did the healthier alternatives affect the vending revenue? One barrier encountered was that students perceived the healthier choices to be more expensive with less value. Others found that they preferred the taste of the less expensive unhealthier snacks (Callaghan, Mandich, & He, 2010). Additionally, the healthier snacks had a shorter shelf-life than the less healthy alternatives resulting in increased monitoring of freshness. Most students preferred to purchase their healthier snacks directly from the school cafeteria (Callaghan, Mandich, & He, 2010). All of these barriers posed a threat to the total revenue received from the vending machines. Many schools in North America rely on the revenues from vending machines. The revenues received help to fund school events, buy materials, and pay for equipment and supplies (Callaghan, Mandich, & He, 2010). The loss of such revenue would prove to be a detriment to individual schools.

Data Collection Methods Used

Several...