FAMS PRESENTATION TEMPLATE WITH PREPARATION GUIDANCE

The Food Availability and Marketing Survey (FAMS) assessment is an excellent tool to help examine food retail environments concerning stocking and marketing of healthful foods as well as promoting walking access to individual stores.

In practice, however, when it comes time to present your findings to a partner, knowing the best way to feature the good things a store is doing and recommending other helpful steps can be a challenge. This template and associated guidance is designed to help you quickly and easily prepare a written report that can be shared with a partner and discussed using simple language and non-jargon terms.

Additionally, this document should be used in conjunction with ‘The Business Case for Healthy Food Retail in Small Food Stores’ toolkit.

Uniform Template

Below is a picture of the uniform template developed in the TSET Healthy Living Program template and color scheme. The template is available in Microsoft Word document format on the TSET Healthy Living Resource page at http://okintheknow.org.

Template Breakdown and Recommendations

The template can be presented in as few as two pages and as many as 5 pages, depending on the recommendations you are making. This section will break down the individual pieces of the template and make recommendations that you can copy and paste into the template for use depending on your needs.

Intro/Thank you

The first section of the template is a paragraph that summarizes the report and teases the results. You have the option of choosing a more generic template, as seen below:

The [your county] TSET Healthy Living Program works towards improving the nutritional profile of foods offered within food retail outlets. It is the program’s goal to improve the health of [county name] County residents by working with food retailers to promote and stock healthy food options for its customers. The [your county] TSET Healthy Living Program serves as a free resource to the community.

Additionally, you may choose to take a more customized approach, as seen here:

Thank you for allowing us to survey [your store]. Our goal is to improve the health and well-being of our neighbors and your customers. The nearest grocery store to your location is [XX] miles away, which means many of your customers rely on your store for grocery foods. This creates an opportunity – and perhaps a business advantage for you – to offer healthy foods that people are looking for! We hope you will adopt some of the recommendations we have for your store. Our assistance is completely free and voluntary.

Feel free to customize or otherwise alter the wording used to fit your own situation. Remember to:

Always be gracious and appreciative of the store owner/manager for allowing you to conduct the FAMS assessment

Listen to any concerns relayed to your program by the store owner Emphasize how this may help them become champions of health in the local community Highlight what the store is doing well and be realistic with the changes you are proposing the

store to make Respect where a store owner is and what challenges they face

Positive Outcomes

This section of the template is where you should review the FAMS and glean 2-5 positive things that you can highlight. They can be from the FAMS itself or from conversations that you’ve had with the store owner/manager that focus on the positive healthy things they already do. Examples might include:

SNAP (or WIC) is accepted and SNAP (or WIC) sign is displayed Canned Tuna, eggs, dried beans, and canned fruit in 100% fruit juice offered in store

Store is easily accessible by car or on foot Variety of produce increased in last year Healthy options priced competitively with other options Healthy options marketed as healthy with noticeable signage or in-store display Healthy options grouped together for ease of access

Recommendations

Following the positive outcomes section, you have the opportunity to present your recommendations based on the FAMS findings. Make sure to factor in barriers that have been identified so you are giving recommendations that have a good chance of being implemented. It is recommended that you focus on 6-8 examples of concrete things that a partner can do in their store to make a difference. If they implement those, you can always make additional recommendations. What you want to avoid is overwhelming them with so many recommendations that they feel like they cannot possibly do all of it. Start small and grow their willingness and trust over time. Sample recommendations include:

Offer produce and healthy foods Increase variety of produce Increase variety of healthy snack options Promote healthy food options with signs indoors Promote healthy food options with signs outdoors Place some healthy items or produce near the checkout counter Use signs and labels to highlight the healthy foods sold Offer in-store promotions to increase healthy food sales Provide a wider variety of whole fruits and vegetables Relocate unhealthy foods away from the checkout Display SNAP (or WIC) signage to inform customers Continue to stock fresh produce Continue to stock healthy foods near the checkout Consider options to increase “walking” traffic in store Consider implementing an innovative business practice, i.e., parking lot farmers’ market, etc. Increase images of healthy foods on store exterior Consider making some healthy swaps in your purchasing, i.e., brown rice for white rice, etc.

How the TSET Healthy Living Program can help you

At the end of the day, the partner that has worked with you to get this far will want to know what you can do to help them implement some of the recommendations you are making. Focus on things you think they’d be most willing to do and items that will make the most impact. Remember, any positive changes to the health profile of a store is a good thing for the community. Sample ways you can assist a partner directly or point them to appropriate resources might include:

Customer survey at checkout to see which healthy items customers want Education about healthy food signage and displays If they are dedicated to selling more fresh fruits and vegetables, TSET HLP can recommend

where healthy items might appear in the store for maximum exposure and offer marketing

suggestions to make them more appealing Help identify foods they already sell that could be easily switched to a healthier option

A variety of partners can be utilized to provide assistance to you as needed Assessment tools used to gauge improvement are available once some of the

recommendations have gone into effect Offer innovative ideas on how to keep produce fresh and how to market the product to increase

sales. Share healthy food marketing tools. Suggest ideas for healthy food alternatives.

Contact information

Make sure to put your contact information on the template so the partner can contact you with ease to discuss the changes they are considering. It is appropriate to put your lead agency logo in this space if you choose to do so.

Optional Pages to use with Presentation Template

While considering the entire package you want to present to your partner, you may want to include some additional supporting information. Be cautious not to overload the partner with information since we want this to be a summary and something that actually gets read and acted on.

List of Healthy Options – Among the things you may choose to include is a page with a listing of healthy options. It might be helpful as you discuss with the partner which items they already have in their store.

Quick Switch Options – This section might include a few items you identified when conducting the FAMS that you know could be swapped out for healthier food options.

Signage Samples – This page has signage samples. TSET has plans to develop some downloadable signage, but this page might be used to inspire store owners to promote healthier options in a constructive way.

Produce Display Samples – This page has display samples that stores might utilize to properly display fruit and veggie options.

Cold Display Samples – This page has photos of cold displays where many healthy options are grouped together.