SAN ANTONIO & LA CROSSE, Wis. -- As a new program in San Antonio targeting diabetes and obesity encourages convenience stores to carry more fresh produce, the Kwik Trip c-store chain in Wisconsin is being honored for putting fruits, salads and other healthier offerings front and center in its stores.
The San Antonio program is a practical intervention launched at two west side corner stores. In those areas, you’ll find many people riding bicycles or taking the bus. Not everyone has a car, and a trip to the grocery stores isn’t always convenient.
But the M & I Meat Market is. Breakfast tacos are popular fare. Now, next to the barbacoa and beans, customers can find a refrigerator case filled with fresh produce, such as cucumbers and apples.
“When they walk in, the first thing they see is the refrigerator,” Irma Bijarro of M & I Meat Market told KENS2. “And then they start looking. ‘Ah, you have mushrooms. Ah, you have this. Wow. We didn’t know you had all this.’ ”
The program to make healthy foods more accessible is called Tiendita Por Vida (Little Store for Life).
The display cases were paid for with federal stimulus money. The refrigerator sits where the sodas used to stand.
“I think it’s a win-win to provide this food for people to have as an option as an alternative that they don’t otherwise have,” said David Clear with Metro Health. “Because we know that there’s a linkage between the high rates of obesity and diabetes and the lack of options for healthy food that are available.”
Tiendita Por Vida started with two stores on the west side. The plan is to add five more stores next year.
Meanwhile, 1,200 miles north in La Crosse, Wis., Kwik Trip has partnered with Gundersen Lutheran Health System, providing fruits, salads and other healthier offerings bearing Gundersen Lutheran’s “500 Club” label given to foods that have fewer than 500 calories.
“It’s one thing for us to say it’s healthy. It’s another to have Gundersen Lutheran say it,” John McHugh, corporate communications manager for Kwik Trip, told the La Crosse Tribune.
Customers have embraced healthier foods, McHugh said this past week. Last year, Kwik Trip sold 17 semi loads of bananas a week. Now, they sell 22.
Kwik Trip already offered a good selection of nutritious foods, but the foods weren’t as prominently displayed, said Jennifer Larson, administrative director of Nutrition Therapy at Gundersen Lutheran. Larson and her team showed the chain how to package different foods for a healthy meal, such as combining a small sub sandwich, milk and apple slices for 482 calories.
Gundersen and Kwik Trip recently received a Best Wellness Initiative Award from Food Management Magazine.
“The feedback has been unbelievable,” Larson said. “It’s been a wonderful partnership.”
McHugh has lost 15 pounds in the past year, something he credits to the 500 Club program.
He used to eat a 550 calorie sausage, egg and cheese croissant for breakfast. Now he’s switched to a Western English muffin, which has about 210 calories.
“Having that 500 Club label takes the guesswork out of it,” McHugh said.
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