There’s ANOTHER bill on the radar as well, in case you didn’t know: H.R. 3307 (a.k.a. “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010). This bill is chock-full of improvements needed to be made to continue and improving the National School Lunch Program and for healthy eating in schools in general.  This bill is on the Senate’s calendar, but may not get approved this week before the month-long recess.

Seriously, Congress? A month-long recess? That’s what the fat kids of America need, NOT YOU!

President Obama’s original request for funding ($10 billion) for improvements in Child Nutrition fell short for H.R. 3307 when it went through the Senate Agricultural Committee: passing with funding being approved so far for only $4.5 billion.  I’d supply the rest but my private jet is in the shop and I just ordered a new platinum grill for my MOUTH.

The Senate needs to get its act together ASAP. Want to see how awesome this bill is? Check it out:

• $20 million in grants provided for Summer Food Service Program expansion.
• Increases the number of Summer Food Service Program sites.
• Child and Adult Care Food Program expands suppers to all 50 states.
• Foster children made automatically eligible for free school meals.
• Elimination of paper applications which makes access easier
• Mandatory funding for pilot projects that will provide nutritious food to hungry children.
• Increases the federal reimbursement rate of school meals by 6 cents per meal.
• Provides funding for farm-to-school programs.
• Expands WIC certification to 12 months.

How is this different from H.R. 5504? Both bills take much-needed steps towards expanding outreach to more children and providing more accessibility to healthy food options.  Both bills have measures to make efficiency improvements in current programs, reduce childhood obesity, and increase the federal meal reimbursement rate.

You’ve got one month until recess, Congress. Get crackin’! Class dismissed.

After holding my breath since June 10th, today I am proud to say that a MONUMENTAL bill has passed in the House of Representatives.  H.R. 5504 “Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act” was passed yesterday, and parents across the country are saying: “It’s about TIME.” This is a huge milestone in the promotion of healthy eating in the nation’s schools, as part of the war on childhood obesity (not-so-fun-fact: one out of five children are obese!  Next step is getting it approved in the Senate…

If this is news to you, then let me give you an overview of how fantastically awesome the bill is:

Summary: Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to revise the school lunch and breakfast programs, the summer food service program, the child and adult care food program (CACFP), and the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC program). Reauthorizes appropriations for such programs through FY2015. Includes among such revisions:
(1) encouraging the direct certification of children who receive other public assistance as eligible for free meals under the school lunch and breakfast programs;
(2) establishing new mechanisms by which schools or local educational agencies (LEAs) with very high proportions of low-income children can receive federal reimbursement for free or reduced price meals under such programs without collecting individual paper applications from households;
(3) establishing a program awarding competitive grants to states and, through them, competitive subgrants to LEAs to establish or expand the school breakfast program at low-income schools;
(4) expanding the access of low-income rural areas to the summer food service program;
(5) requiring updates to meal patterns and nutrition standards for the school lunch and breakfast programs based on recommendations made by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS);
(6) requiring the establishment of science-based nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools outside the school lunch and breakfast programs;
(7) requiring LEAs participating in the school lunch and breakfast programs to establish local school wellness policies for their schools that include goals for nutrition promotion and education, physical activity and education, and other school-based activities that promote student wellness;
(8) requiring reimbursable meals and snacks provided under the CACFP to meet the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans and certain authoritative scientific recommendations;
(9) encouraging WIC program participants to breastfeed; and
(10) requiring WIC electronic benefit transfer (EBT) systems to be implemented nationwide by October 1, 2020.

Right here we have a trifecta of health, affordability, and efficiency to combat the current trifecta: few healthy options, low-income families, and inefficient bureaucracy. Sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), this bill is accordance with Michelle Obama’s mission of ending childhood obesity.

So what comes next? Implementation! Schools now have their work cut out for them.  It starts with baby steps: setting goals in regards to nutrition and physical activity programs, replacing junk food vending machines with healthier options, and competing for grants with other schools.  Revamping their school lunch program will be no easy task, but the clock is ticking as waistlines steadily expand.

The junk food industry probably has some nice people in it.  But they are definitely doing some not nice things.  Let’s air their dirty laundry now!

1. The junk food industry deliberately targets kids as young as two years old in order to create brand preference and lifelong loyalty.
2. Fast food chains lure kids with free toys in their meals to get their parents to spend.
3. Flavorings and colorings can cause rashes, asthma, and hyperactivity.
4. Many children now prefer man-made flavors over real food!
5. The average kid in the U.S. sees 25 hours of TV, which equates to 20,000 junk food ads a year! That’s a lot of brainwashing…
6. 20% of kids under the age of two are given soft drinks by their parents! When my nephew was two, he did not need Mountain Dew. He needed to be shot with a tranquilizer dart.
7. The average can of cola has 10 teaspoons of sugar. Picture that.
8. Over 90% of children eat McDonalds at least once per month.
9. American teenagers drink, on average, over 760 cans of soda per year!

Drum roll please……

And the TENTH junk food fact that is off-the-wall-ridiculous:

10.  The average person day consumes more sugar in TWO WEEKS than a person a century ago would consume in a whole YEAR.

I know. I know. It blew my mind as well.  Somehow people 100 years ago still survived their workday without draining over TWO cans (20 teaspoons, as we now know) of sugary crap drink.

Now that I’ve opened your eyes to the deadly advertising all around you and your children, I bet you’re going to retreat into the wilderness to hide.  Fear not! We can counter this marketing movement of junk food advertising and consumption with responsible eating habits and educating kids to not believe the stupid commercials they see.

Obesity and malnutrition would rather step into the ring with these boxing greats than the Boys & Girls Club of Ada County, Idaho.

The mission of the Boys & Girls Club is “to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.”

Gotta love ‘em.

On July 20th, the Garden City and Meridian clubs joined the fight to promote health for its kids by implementing a state of the art healthy vending program through H.U.M.A.N. Healthy Vending.  With a high tech machine installed at each club, the positive and measurable impact on the kids’ health has begun.

Star athletes from Boise State and nutrition experts participated in an educational event before unveiling the machines, speaking to the children about the importance of nutrition and exercise at the Moseley Center.

CHECK OUT THE NEWS COVERAGE OF THE EVENT!

Local H.U.M.A.N. operators Amy and John Hobbing are excited to be the first exclusive healthy vending operators in Idaho: “As leaders in the Treasure Valley have come to realize, poor nutrition and obesity are not just bad for kids, but its bad for business.  One out of every three adults and children are now classified as overweight or obese.  The cost of poor health is well documented: lost productivity, higher healthcare costs and a lower quality of life.  We have decided to take a stand against poor health and help innovative organizations and leaders like the Boys & Girls Club bring the right kind of tools to help kids and adults with better nutritional choices.  Lastly, we want people to know that good health can taste good!”

When I was a kid, I couldn’t tell you the difference between sodium and simple carbohydrates.  Heck, most of the time I couldn’t even match my socks.  Not surprisingly, not much has changed.  In Garden City, the kids crowded around the colorful and high-tech machine feeding it quarters and excitedly retrieving their snacks as reporters quizzed them on what the basic ingredients were.  The look on the kids’ faces said it all: “I don’t know, lady, I just know it tastes good!”

With a customized array of snacks chosen for both taste and nutritional content, kids and parents were not disappointed.

I have to say that nothing warms my heart more than seeing a kid chugging Hansen’s soda instead of Pepsi.  My wife was offended by this because apparently our wedding video should take precedence, but that’s neither here nor there.

And as childhood obesity rates soar throughout the country, the Boys & Girls Club in Ada County, Idaho has scored a first round knockout.

This machine is custom built for vending success. Not only will you make your standard margin on product sales, but you now have access to a completely new revenue stream by taking part in the booming digital advertising industry!

Through the H.U.M.A.N. Ad Network, ads can be uploaded remotely and customized towards any machine location. The Media Mogul comes with a 23″ HD LCD screen that looks great. It is such an eye catcher that product sales go up simply because people want to check out the machine.

This machine does not come with your standard coil trays either. It is equipped with the most sophisticated vending technology to date — a conveyor belt style delivery system. What does that mean for you? Higher capacity (meaning less work for you) and product versatility (you can vend anything that fits!). It is an entrepreneurs dream.

In vending, it’s all about finding the best locations. LOCATIONS, LOCATIONS, LOCATIONS!

Premium locations with high traffic is what any vending machine owner strives for. We at HUMAN could keep our strategies a secret, but we like our operators and potential operators to be fully informed.  Check out our 6-Step premium location acquisition process:

Step 1 – 4 stage direct mail campaign to the top 250 locations in your region
Step 2 – 4 to 6 Weeks of Telemarketing to every single healthy vending conducive location in your region that meets our criteria (at least 20 vends per day)
Step 3 – 1 week of in-person location discovery & acquisition training with a HUMAN location pro
Step 4 – A HUMAN location pro attends 30-40 top-tier meetings over the course of a week
Step 5 – Custom press release and media outreach to every newspaper, tv and radio outlet
Step 6 - Constant follow-up marketing and outreach to EVERY location in your region for the lifetime of your partnership

With Step #3, this is all about the “Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime.”  We’re training you to be successful in the short and long-run!  Which brings me to my next point, #6.  We perform continual follow-up marketing for the lifetime of our partnership to ALL of the locations in your region.  We have a custom email and customer marketing solution that helps us with this.  Additionally, as our brand grows nationally and internationally, you’ll benefit from our success.  Everyone who comes to HUMAN is passed along to you.  And as our brand grows to tens of thousands of machines, it’s very, very good for you.

Here is a sneak peak of The Media Mogul! My next post will highlight the features of this unbelievable automated retailer/digital media money maker!!!!

The Top 4 Blunders Sean Kelly, H.U.M.A.N. CEO, had to overcome before the business model was completely optimized…

Blunder #1: I didn’t REALLY know the ins and outs of the vending industry. I had no idea how opposed the industry is to progression, innovative technologies, and health promotion. In the beginning, I tried to work completely WITHIN the old-school good ol’ boys club that is the traditional vending industry. This simply caused me to waste months of time and thousands of dollars in a stagnant industry that didn’t want to budge.

Solution #1: I analyzed and improved upon our business from the progressive, innovative, and demanding perspective of a discerning, health-conscious customer, instead of a traditional vending operator. This means our machines attract customers, rather than being the last resort of a passer-by.

Blunder #2: I tried to have us operate all of our own machines. To maintain complete control of our operations and maximize profit, I thought it would be a good idea for us to operate machines across the country by ourselves, or more specifically, via people that we hired on an hourly basis. This wreaked-havoc on our supply chain, slowed-down expansion, and created logistical nightmares. We weren’t fully opening-up our arms to others, and this minimized, not maximized, profits.

Solution #2: I now share our expertise, experience, and innovation with open arms by having our partners operate all H.U.M.A.N. machines, while we help them by managing locations and advertising.

Blunder #3: I set-up 100% in-house product distribution. Another BIG time whammy! We stored and shipped-out every product order ourselves, focusing a great deal of effort on the wholesale side of our business. Even though this generated profit, it meant higher prices, slower delivery times, and less-the-optimal service for our vending operators. My focus was not where it should have been.

Solution #3: I refined our business model so that we now completely outsource our product distribution to 20 warehouses across the country, meaning w make zero profit from our product sales in order to ensure that our partner vending operators receive the lowest possible product prices with the fastest delivery time.

Blunder #4: I allowed partner vending operators to start-off with fewer that five machines. Talk about a bad decision for everyone! Almost always, operating a route of only 1, 2, or 3 vending machines requires too much time and hassle for the reciprocal amount of profit that is produced. My parnter vending operators could have been making more money in less time, but my planning was off-target.

Solution #4: I placed our partner vending operators’ profits as my top priority, and therefore, require operators to start-off with at least five healthy vending machines to maximize their “profit to time” ratio, experience immediate positive cash-flow, and set themselves up for long-term success.

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Sean Kelly, Chief Humanist, tells the story…

A passion for health and improving the lives of others is why this company was formed, but I soon learned that I needed a whole lot more than good intentions to reach the pinnacle of healthy vending success…

It all started in New York City on a mild winter night in late January.

I had just finished a grueling workout with my cousin Luke at New York Sports Club on Manhattan’s Upper West Side – the health club where I spent my time personal training while I wasn’t studying biomedical engineering & bio-mechanics at nearby Columbia University.

It was 8:30pm on one of America’s busiest streets, but something seemed strange…Luke and I couldn’t find any convenient, healthy foods or drinks within a 10 block radius of the gym.

Instead, our only quick “refueling” options were a white-flour- worshipping bagel shop downstairs and sugar-laden soda machines inside the health club. I was dumbfounded.

If we, as serious health enthusiasts, could not find convenient healthy food & drink options in New York City after searching up and down the streets, how in the heck could we expect other people to do so? The answer was we couldn’t.

The fact was that there was a serious void in the market and it was having a disastrous effect on peoples’ lives. Thoughts of obesity, diabetes, and malnutrition filled my head.

It all started making sense – without convenient access to healthy dietary options, it was no wonder that preventable health problems were spreading like epidemics across the globe.

Something had to be done. But what?

The answer came to Luke and I when we returned to the gym. As we approached the soda machine next to the treadmills, a middle-aged woman bought a coca-cola from the vending machine and then returned to her regular evening workout on an elliptical machine.

WHAM-BAM! This woman had just shown us the answer: vending machines stocked with healthy foods and drinks instead of junk food and sugary beverages.

“This idea will change the world,” I vividly remember thinking. Not long after this epiphany I made the tough decision to not attend medical school, and instead, decided to dedicate my life to public health…first, by way of operating a network of healthy vending machines.

I was starting to understand that sometimes the largest problems have the simplest solutions, solutions that have profound and wide-ranging beneficial effects on mankind.

Fueled solely by our passion for health and improving the lives of others, we created the world’s first healthy vending machine company. With such true, respectable, & good-hearted intentions, what could possibly go wrong? I soon found out that the answer to this question is a WHOLE LOT…

Check out our next Blog and find out “The Top 7 Healthy Vending Mistakes We Made & Learned From!”