Healthy Vending Machines and Snack Bars

A healthy food and beverage policy can increase access to healthy foods, offering nutritional benefits to occupants and protecting against the development of chronic disease.

Key Terms

• Vending Machines and Snack Bars are a machine, pantry, kiosk, micro-market, convenience store, or other similar amenity, where regular occupants can obtain small articles of food or beverages.
• Fitwel Food Services Standard is a healthy food and beverage framework, based on the Food Service Guidelines for Federal Facilities, which provides guidelines for food, nutrition, facility efficiency, environmental support, and food safety in food service concession and vending operations, including cafeterias, cafés, snack bars, grills, concession stands, sundry shops, micro markets, and vending machines.

For full strategy and documentation requirements, please refer to the digital scorecard made available on the Fitwel Platform.

Strategy Insights

• In Fitwel’s Workplace scorecards:
  • Coffee and tea stations within break areas that do not provide any food do not need to be considered under Section 11.  
  • For strategies 11.1-11.4, either all or none apply for Not Applicable. 
  • Convenience stores and micro markets under the control of building management are considered snack bar areas.
• If a food space is unstaffed, then it is considered a vending machine/snack bar under Fitwel’s definitions.
• If a food space is staffed with cashiers, but none of the food is prepared on-site, then it is also considered a vending machine/snack bar under Fitwel’s definition. 
• If all food is prepared off-site and is packaged, that is considered a snack bar relevant to this strategy. Some snack bars do include "perishable" foods (think: packaged salads) but this food is in packaging and is not prepared within the project building. Some snack bars may even include dining tables, but the food is not prepared on-site and served hot, so it is more of a snack bar or micro market than a restaurant or cafeteria, which is relevant to other Fitwel strategies.