Sowing the seeds

Healthy eating on the move

The Streetlife Fare vehicle looks like any other snack van as it pulls up outside workplaces across Edinburgh, but customers can soon be seen tucking into roast vegetable pasta and healthy, home-made soup instead of pie, chips and greasy burgers.

The van has become the first mobile food outlet in Scotland to achieve the healthyliving award, and Managing Director David Haggarty is delighted at the effect the resulting publicity has had on his business.  Indeed, several new companies have signed up to his service after reading in the press how Streetlife Fare Ltd achieved the prestigious award.

When David first heard about the healthyliving award, he immediately realised that it reflected what his business was already all about.

David explained: “We needed to make very few changes to the menu, as we found we were able to tick most of the boxes for the healthyliving award already.

“One area we did need to change was in making the healthy offering more obvious to our customers. We put a lot of work into the display and promotion side, to advertise the fact that the food is healthier. The apple logo helps to encourage the uptake of healthyliving choices, but our drivers are also very knowledgeable about the food they sell, and will talk to customers about the healthy food for the day.

“It has certainly helped the business to have the healthyliving award apple logo on our literature. It gives us good credibility, especially with the big companies who are interested in healthy food for their staff.”

The van visits 24 workplaces in the Edinburgh Park and Sighthill areas every day, including several garages and a number of offices.

Healthy options available from the van include homemade soup, healthy pasta dishes and baked potatoes.  There is also a daily hot main meal, plus a range of salads, sandwiches, fruit and snacks.


Healthy fare from the Streetlife van

David continued: “At least half our menu is now made up of healthy options and the customers love it.  The van goes out to building sites and car garages, and we find that the builders and mechanics are sometimes more health-conscious than the office workers.  Builders do buy salads, and are happy with the healthy option as long as it tastes good.

“What we do is certainly working for me; our food is popular and it’s selling.”

David puts his success down to good healthy food, a good chef, well-trained staff and a smart, professional image.  So much so that he has been thinking about expanding the business into a franchise operation, and would urge anyone interested in setting up a similar service to get in touch with him at enquiries@streetlifefare.com.

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issue six:
May 2008
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The healthyliving awardNHS Health Scotland - Scotland's health improvement agencyHealthier Scotland - Scottish GovernmentHealthier Scotland - Scottish Government