Full Spoon by Whole Foods Market brings wellness to the workplace

Happy, healthy employees are essential to a company’s wellness and success. That is the inspiration behind Full Spoon, the new business-to-business venture by Whole Foods Market, created to support employee wellness at work. Currently, Full Spoon is available only in the company’s Northern California & Reno region. The food-focused program helps employees develop practical, sustainable habits through educational seminars, online and mobile tracking, and healthy eating incentives like employee contests and a discount on healthy foods at Whole Foods Market stores in Northern California and Reno. Companies of any size can hire the Full Spoon team to design a custom package based on four essential elements: education, interaction, incentives and metrics. Full Spoon’s food education program is based on Whole Foods Market’s Four Pillars of Healthy Eating, which emphasize whole, unprocessed foods that are rich in nutrients and contain healthy fats. Hands-on workshops empower participants to take ownership of their health, as well as build confidence and community. Employees can join on-site cooking classes, kitchen coaching sessions, healthy living workshops and interactive wellness events. With Full Spoon’s mobile kitchen unit, clients need not provide space for the sessions – they can take place somewhere as informal as the parking lot. Healthy Eating Specialists can also help users make the most of the program and the discount in stores with personal shopping, culinary coaching and demos and classes at stores across the region. Full Spoon takes the experience online with the new Count It platform, a responsive app and private reporting portal designed by Social Workout Media. Count It integrates wearable movement devices and motion tracking apps. It also supports healthy eating contests hosted by Whole Foods Market chefs and nutrition educators (the contests don’t get too personal – it’s “who made the healthiest lunch?” rather than “who lost the most weight?”). Each month, participants earn points and “level up” for being physically active and shopping for and eating healthy foods. By “swiping” their virtual discount card when buying groceries, participants earn points and cash in their hard-earned Full Spoon rewards discount of up to 20% off healthy groceries. Users get digital feedback on shopping habits so they can quantify and improve their eating habits over time. Full Spoon lets clients know exactly how the program is working for their company. Reporting focuses on verifiable, engagement-centric metrics like physical activity, event attendance, user retention and in-store discount redemption to see if, in general, Full Spoon is encouraging employees to eat healthier foods. Through a tracking and reporting dashboard and meetings with a data analyst, employers can easily track and review their company’s engagement in real time.  Reports come in an aggregate randomized format with no personally identifiable health information to protect employee privacy. “Health is a very personal thing, and Full Spoon concentrates on engagement and empowerment,” says Caesare Assad, Full Spoon program director. “We want people to feel comfortable starting where they are. For some, that means adding a piece of fruit every day. For others, it’s completely removing processed foods from their diet. The point is to be positive and inclusive, and to get people thinking about health where we often don’t: at work.” Full Spoon’s services are health plan neutral and non-discriminatory, and encourage employee retention, productivity and well-being. The Full Spoon team comes with diverse expertise in nutrition, fitness, culinary arts, coaching, health insurance, benefits administration and technology. Program pricing is based on the unique needs of each client.