The Smarter Lunchrooms Initiative seeks to nudge student food choices in school cafeterias towards healthier options using low-cost behavioral economic strategies. This is done by increasing the appeal and availability of healthier foods while decreasing less healthy foods. Specific strategies include empowering students through a nutrition advisory council, increasing variety and availability of healthier foods, placing healthier foods in more prominent locations, and increasing parental and social influence. The goal is to encourage long-term healthy eating habits through subtle environmental changes rather than restrictive policies.

1. © BEN Center 2011 Smarter Lunchrooms Initiative Introduction to Behavioral Economics in Food Choices

2. References Just, David R. and Brian Wansink (2009), “Better School Meals on a Budget: Using Behavioral Economics and Food Psychology to Improve Meal Selection,” Choices, 24:3, 1-6. Just, David R. and Brian Wansink (2011), “School Lunch Debit Cards are Associated with Lower Nutrition and Higher Calories,” under review at Journal of Adolescent Health. Wansink, Brian, and David Just (2011), “Healthy Foods First: Students Take the First Lunchroom Food 11% More Often Than the Third,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 43:4S1, S9. Wansink, Brian, David R. Just, and Joe McKendry (2010), “Lunch Line Redesign,” New York Times, October 22, p. A10. Wansink, Brian, David R. Just, and Collin R. Payne (2012), “The Behavioral Economics of Healthier School Lunch Payment Systems,” under review at Journal of Marketing. Wansink, Brian, David Just, and Laura Smith (2011), “Move the Fruit: Putting Fruit in New Bowls and New Places Doubles Lunchroom Sales,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 43:4S1, S1. Wansink, Brian, Koert van Ittersum, and James E. Painter (2005), “How Descriptive Food Names Bias Sensory Perceptions in Restaurants,” Food Quality and Preference, 16:5, 393-400. Wansink, Brian, David Just, and Laura Smith (2011), “What is in a Name? Giving Descriptive Names to Vegetables Increases Lunchroom Sales,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 43:4S1, S1.

3. Choices…are they really ours? Behavioral Economics What factors affect our choices? Is it just price and preference? If so, the trilemma is a dead end Are there other options? Lots of research in this area Our research: What kinds of changes affect students’ daily choices in the lunchroom?

4. Choice Architecture Choice architecture Designing the choice to lead an individual to a particular outcome without forcing them Uses the tools of psychology to access economic decision-making Generally, adjusting the choice architecture is cheap Big bang for the buck

5. What issues impact changes in School Lunch? Rising obesity rates Many blame school lunches Local school lunch administrators under pressure to improve quality and nutrition Cut sugared drinks, dessert items, pizza, hot dogs and burgers Various proponents push for selling more “whole grain”, “vegetarian”, “organic” or “raw” Often, these are not what the students want Heavy-handed or short-sighted intervention can lead to worse outcomes for students and schools

6. School Lunch Trilemma Pressure to improve the nutrition of meals Pressure to keep participation up Pressure to balance revenue and cost

7. School Lunch Trilemma Pressure to improve the nutrition of meals Pressure to keep participation up Pressure to balance revenue and cost We are going to stop selling chocolate milk

8. School Lunch Trilemma Pressure to improve the nutrition of meals Pressure to keep participation up Pressure to balance revenue and cost We are going to stop selling chocolate milk I’ll stop buying

9. School Lunch Trilemma Pressure to improve the nutrition of meals Pressure to keep participation up Pressure to balance revenue and cost I’ll drink 3 glasses of chocolate milk when I get home We are going to stop selling chocolate milk I’ll stop buying

10. The School Lunch Challenge The Challenge: Improve nutritional content of meals Maintain low cost Maintain participation Encourage longer-term healthy decisions

11. Why?:Economics and Psychology Reactance Rebelling against a threat to freedom Fat tax versus a thin subsidy Limits on ketchup “Don’t press this button” Attribution It was my choice, I will repeat it in the future Choosing between celery and carrots

12. What We KnowAbout FoodDecisions We have two decision-making mechanisms Deliberative – Rational Emotional – Naïve, knee-jerk reactions Which takes over depends on the level of cognitive resources available Stress or distraction leads us to eat more and eat worse It takes effort and resources to resist temptation

13. Hot vs. Cold Decisions Hot State We eat for Taste Convenience Size Visual effect “This decision is an exception” We buy Bigger More hedonistic Cold State We consider Prices Health information Logic We buy Smaller portions Moderate foods

14. Sin and Virtue The food environment responds to us Marketers have learned to sell sinful foods to those in a hot state Healthy convenience food is generally a flop Healthy fast food is a flop Bad foods that are difficult to prepare are also less successful Cognitive policies (information or prices) won’t impact hot state consumers Commit while in a cold state: Control your future environment Limit exposure to temptation

15. What Does This Mean for Kids? Ever wonder why kids food is generally less healthy? Kids have not fully developed their rational system Very little understanding of long term consequences Developing understanding of the marketplace Almost like a hot state – all the time Reactance to paternalism Fortunately, most kids find some healthy foods to be appealing and acceptable We can make some foods cool Wecan lead them to make the right choice

16. Smarter Lunchrooms What if we design the lunch room to gently encourage the decisions we want? Use behavioral theory to encourage better choices Some of these changes can be extremely low cost This avoids reactance Banning sodas etc. can be self-defeating Encourages future healthy choices

17. The BEN Center Mission Explore how the tools of behavioral economics can be used to encourage better school lunch choices Share successful behavioral strategies with school lunch administrators and encourage their use Provide policy-makers with accurate information on how policy changes may impact children’s choice behavior

18. Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics and Child Nutrition Research

20. Increase sales: Finding innovative ways to increase cafeteria sales and participation by encouraging greater consumption of healthier foods

21. Implement low-cost/no-cost changes: Since many cafeterias receive a limited budget, suggestions are focused on changing the school lunch environment

24. Students can influence one another’s food choices based on what the ‘leader’ of the group chooses

25. Influencing this ‘leader’ to choose healthier items can impact what other students choose

27. Increase Student Involvement Empowerment/Ownership/Self-serving Choice: Make students feel good about eating healthy Empowerment creates enthusiasm Placing posters by the lunch lines of role models eating healthier items encourages students to emulate them Increase student involvement in their own food choices through cooking or nutrition education

28. Increase Parental Involvement Provide lunch menus or pictures of food on parent newsletter or website Parent advocates and monitors Host a cafeteria open house

29. Thank You Learn More! www.SmarterLunchrooms.org

30. The Smarter Lunchrooms Initiative and the BEN Center www.SmarterLunchrooms.org BEN@cornell.edu The BEN Center: Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs Part of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab Director: Dr. Brian Wansink, wansink@cornell.edu Deputy Director: Adam Brumberg, ab697@cornell.edu BEN Center Coordinator: Erin Sharp, eks6@cornell.edu

31. References Just, David R. and Brian Wansink (2009), “Better School Meals on a Budget: Using Behavioral Economics and Food Psychology to Improve Meal Selection,” Choices, 24:3, 1-6. Just, David R. and Brian Wansink (2011), “School Lunch Debit Cards are Associated with Lower Nutrition and Higher Calories,” under review at Journal of Adolescent Health. Wansink, Brian, and David Just (2011), “Healthy Foods First: Students Take the First Lunchroom Food 11% More Often Than the Third,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 43:4S1, S9. Wansink, Brian, David R. Just, and Joe McKendry (2010), “Lunch Line Redesign,” New York Times, October 22, p. A10. Wansink, Brian, David R. Just, and Collin R. Payne (2012), “The Behavioral Economics of Healthier School Lunch Payment Systems,” under review at Journal of Marketing. Wansink, Brian, David Just, and Laura Smith (2011), “Move the Fruit: Putting Fruit in New Bowls and New Places Doubles Lunchroom Sales,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 43:4S1, S1. Wansink, Brian, Koert van Ittersum, and James E. Painter (2005), “How Descriptive Food Names Bias Sensory Perceptions in Restaurants,” Food Quality and Preference, 16:5, 393-400. Wansink, Brian, David Just, and Laura Smith (2011), “What is in a Name? Giving Descriptive Names to Vegetables Increases Lunchroom Sales,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Volume 43:4S1, S1.