Guiding Stars, the first in-store nutrition navigation program, originated in 2006 at Hannaford in 167 stores. Over the past 4 ½ years, retail store growth has been steady and today the Guiding Stars program can be found in over 1600 stores in 20 states with even more locations by year end.
Guiding Stars, originally developed with grocery retailing in mind, has spread its wings and moved into other venues as well and can now be found in schools, colleges and universities, vending machines, and hospitals.
In Food Service
Whether it is in a high school, college, university or hospital setting, a healthier lifestyle has become the new “norm” and Guiding Stars is becoming a part of the “new” landscape. As people demand more from their institutions and food service providers, many are indeed listening and beginning to provide healthier and more nutritious options. These healthier choices can be found in not only “grab n’ go” but in daily specials including soups, salads, or a complete chicken dinner. Guiding Stars can be and is becoming part of that solution, placing its stamp with one (good), two (better) or three (best) stars on the healthy, healthier and healthiest items in a food service setting.
Guiding Stars rates the ingredients of a recipe which in turn generates the star value. The zero, one, two or three star rating is used as a guide in helping to make a particular food selection and ultimately pointing out among all the selections, the better food choices.
In Vending Machines:
Who says you can’t eat healthy out of a vending machine? Guiding Stars is working with a number of vendors to provide healthy eating alternatives. Using the stars to select what is truly a better choice is a big step in finding more nutritious ways to eat – even from vending machines!
Making Healthier Products:
Guiding Stars works with food manufacturers to analyze what goes into their product and how those ingredients might be tweaked or changed to make the item star worthy yet still scrumptious.
Shopping Mobile (iPhone) app:
Reach Everywhere Shopper’s Guiding Stars app can be used right in the store to figure out how healthy shopping with Guiding Stars is readily accessible right at your fingertips. Find out more at Shopper’s Website »
Online:
Have a craving for a particular food, and want to know more about it? Check out foods you’re thinking about using Guiding Stars’ Food Finder. The results show not only how many stars a food earns but also the nutrition facts label to clearly detail why it is good for you or not! Guiding Stars can easily be integrated into anyone’s lifestyle by showing the way to more nutritious food choices, whether at home, or on the go.
Have an idea on where you’d like to see Guiding Stars? Contact us and let us know. We’d love to hear from you!
Betts FitzGerald is the Managing Director for Guiding Stars Licensing Company.