Examining taste testing and point-of-purchase prompting as strategies to promote healthier food selection from food trucks

Objective: To examine the feasibility of taste testing and point-of-purchase prompting to promote healthier food choices at a food truck event. Design: A pre-/post-study was conducted where food trucks provided samples of healthy food items to patrons and implemented point-of-purchase prompting (promotional signage; verbal cues). Implementation fidelity, acceptability and initial effectiveness were assessed via observation, patron surveys and sales data. A linear mixed model with a random effect for subject (food truck) and fixed effect for time point (baseline, intervention and post-intervention) was used to assess changes in relative sales of promoted healthy items as a percentage of food items sold. Setting: Weekly food truck event in Buffalo, New York. Participants: Seven food trucks; 179 patrons. Results: Implementation fidelity data illustrated that all food trucks complied with manualised procedures. Approximately one-third of surveyed patrons accepted a healthy sample, with the majority rating the sample positively. There was no main effect of time when examining changes in relative sales of promoted healthy items across all periods (P = 0·32); however, effect sizes representing changes between individual time points are consistent with an increase from baseline to intervention (d = 0·51), which was maintained through post-intervention (d = 0·03). The change from baseline to post-intervention corresponded to a medium effect size (d = 0·55). Conclusions: Findings generally support the feasibility of implementing taste testing and point-of-purchase prompting to increase the selection of healthy food items from food trucks; implications for future research in this novel setting are discussed.