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Healthy Grab ’n Go

Houston’s

Healthy

On the Go

ining Services at the University of Houston in Texas was
on the lookout for a way to offer more healthy options
Din its popular grab-’n-go offerings.
“We saw a need within our grab-’n-go program to have a
little bit more of a healthier variety,” said Chris Conti, retail
food service director with Aramark, the campus foodservice
provider.
Students were looking for the healthier choices. “Students
are always asking for healthier options,” said Emily Fahner,
unit marketing manager. “We work with a foodservice advisory
committee, which brings us new ideas and concerns from the just offers a healthier variety with a little brand recognition
campus community.” behind it.”
That is when the school turned to Freshii, a national brand Conti said the grab-’n-go cups are the most popular items,
that originated in Canada that has been on campus for about including the Mexican Quinoa Cup, hard-boiled eggs cups
two years. “We had noticed that our lines were very long at and parfaits.
Freshii, but we weren’t capturing a certain population of stu- The cups are not offered at the main Freshii location. “It
dents, because it was just too far across campus for them to is not just the same old Freshii that they can get if they went
come to Freshii,” she said. “We are one of the few locations through the line, but it is something new as well,” said Fahner.
in higher education that has a Freshii on campus. We are in From the beginning, the addition of healthy items was well
the top 3 percent of Freshii sales from my understanding.” received. “We had to increase our numbers a couple of times
Fortunately for Dining Services, Freshii recently launched and evaluate the production needs for the locations,” said
its own grab-’n-go program. “We thought it would be a great Conti. “We have had to increase production as we’ve received
idea to implement that on our campus, to offer a variety of a little more traffic each week as the brand gets recognized.”
healthy ideas and healthy on-the-go snacks for our campus The addition of the healthy items also allows students to
community,” said Conti. “The main Freshii location is in our choose them when the main Freshii location is closed for the
student center, so this allows us to expand our reach. We are night. “Our Freshii closes early in the evening and one of our
a very large campus with 43,000 students. There are a lot of most popular convenience stores is located within a residential
students to serve, and it is not easy to get them all through hall,” said Fahner. “These are students going in between 10
one location during lunchtime.” p.m. and 1 a.m. looking for something to eat. This is giving
The items are now available in all seven of the school’s them the option of grabbing something healthy rather than a
Cougar Express Market convenience stores. “There is a pretty bag of chips or a candy bar and a soda. They have really liked
large demand for those grab-’n-go products,” he said. “This that option as well.” —OCH

ON-CAMPUS HOSPITALITY MARCH 2017 | 15