California-based Healthy Dining expands innovative SchooLicious! Program, contributing to healthier generations of U.S. school children, families and communities
Healthy Dining, creators of HealthyDiningFinder.com and leaders in bringing healthful strategy to the restaurant industry, announces the unveiling of its groundbreaking SchooLicious! smartphone app on February 3rd, 2016 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. at the San Marcos Elementary School, 1 Tiger Way, San Marcos, CA. The SchooLicious! Program is an innovative partnership uniting monetary contributions from restaurants that serve Healthy Dining menu choices with desperately needed funding for fitness and wellness programs in elementary schools.
SchooLicious!, piloted last year in San Diego County’s Poway Unified School District and now expanding to the San Marcos Unified School District, boasts a new smartphone app employing cutting-edge beacon technology. This technology enables parents and community residents to easily find participating restaurants and their Healthy Dining and Kids LiveWell menu choices as well as provides the tracking of restaurant visits correlating to the financial contributions by the restaurants. Development and evaluation of the SchooLicious! Program is funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute to contribute to the prevention and control of childhood and adult obesity, cancer and other lifestyle-related problems. Healthy Dining plans to expand to more districts and states in the coming years.
“SchooLicious! is an exciting win-win,” said Nicole Ring, R.D., vice president of Healthy Dining. “Schools receive much needed funding for PE programs and playground equipment, garden programs and nutrition education; students are more active at school; and families learn more about healthy eating. We are thrilled about the potential to grow this program nationwide to impact America’s children and future generations.”
“Poway Unified School District believes the physical, social, emotional, and behavioral health of each student is a basic and critical need for learning. We were delighted to be the first district in the nation to launch the SchooLicious! program. Funds provided through the pilot program last year enabled us to develop a multi-year plan to assess the physical education needs of our 25 elementary schools and to provide SPARK instructional materials and staff training for our K-5 PE programs,” said Noreen Walton, Director II, Office of the Superintendent, Poway Unified School District. “The next SchooLicious! check will be evenly allocated to all participating schools to support site-based activities that focus on healthy eating, physical activity, and social/emotional well-being.”
“With the main goal of helping kids and families to make healthy choices when dining out, this innovative program will raise funds for school health and wellness programs at all of the 11 San Marcos elementary schools,” said Kevin D Holt, Ed.D., superintendent of the San Marcos Unified School District. “Like Healthy Dining, we are passionately devoted to a healthy community and encourage all of our families to choose the SchooLicious! restaurants in our area because of their commitment to supporting healthy lifestyles.”
SchooLicious! Restaurants have a unique way to give back to the communities they serve, gain loyal guests and promote their Healthy Dining and Kids LiveWell choices. Currently, there are 19 restaurant locations in Poway and San Marcos contributing to each school district’s health and wellness programs. Inaugural SchooLicious! restaurants include Athens Market Café, Bongiorno’s Pizza, California Pizza Kitchen, Kebab Shop, Noodles & Company, Pure Burger, Slater’s 50/50, Victor’s Café, Sombrero and Wendy’s.
Scripps Health, a nonprofit health system in San Diego, California, has joined as the first health partner. “We are pleased to support efforts focused on the health of children and their families,” said Don Stanziano, vice president of marketing and communications for Scripps. “We know that starting healthy habits when you’re young means there’s a better chance of continuing those habits as an adult. And these lifestyle changes are key to avoiding illnesses like diabetes and heart disease, which are so prevalent today.”
It is Healthy Dining’s passion to contribute to a healthier America – in a delicious way! Healthy Dining’s signature web and mobile site, HealthyDiningFinder.com, is the only search engine and inspirational source of its kind providing personalized dining out recommendations validated by Healthy Dining’s team of registered dietitians. HealthyDiningFinder.com enables millions of diet- and nutrition- conscious restaurant diners as well as those dealing with diabetes, high blood pressure, and other conditions to easily find Healthy Dining choices served at restaurants coast to coast. HealthyDiningFinder.com also features a Kids LiveWell platform, a program developed in partnership with the National Restaurant Association to help parents find restaurants offering healthier fare for children.
Healthy Dining’s team of registered dietitians and health promotion experts is a leader in providing healthful strategy to the restaurant industry. Healthy Dining’s team has been providing nutrition analysis and related services (e.g., gluten/allergen identification) to hundreds of restaurant companies for more than 25 years, making the company the most experienced and prolific provider of such services in the world. Healthy Dining has also been selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop and evaluate innovative technologies designed to impact the nation’s most urgent public health priorities, specifically focused on bringing positive, health-related environmental and individual behavioral change through the restaurant and food industries and nationwide and regional stakeholders.
