Five-a-Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Employee and Managerial Impressions of Implementing a Healthy Dining Option

Abstract

Chronic illnesses account for three-quarters of healthcare costs in the United States and are generally statistically correlated with bad diet and lack of physical activity. The 5 A Day program can be adopted by hospitality organizations that want to offer their employees more healthy meal choices at work. The goal of the program is to provide the employees with the information and support to improve their eating habits and practice healthier lifestyles. A 5 A Day program has begun at a hotel-casino in the Southwestern U.S. On the first day of this program, a survey was administered to employees that intended to identify the amount of fruits and vegetables currently consumed by employees, their awareness of recommendations about how much of these products to consume, as well as if there are any differences between eating habits among the different groups based on their demographics. The company was also interested in knowing what motivates employees to eat healthier meals. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were run to test for statistically significant differences among the various demographic groups. The results of this study indicate that the majority of respondents eat at least five Five-a-Day Keeps the Doctor Away 243 servings of fruits and vegetables per day and that they are highly motivated to eat healthy. There were statistical differences between Spanish-speaking employees that were more comfortable with the healthy options offered by the employees' dining room (EDR) compared to their English-speaking counterparts. Implications for the industry are presented.