In everyday life, people are faced with countless obstacles to living a healthy lifestyle. At Bristol Mountain, our mission is to “inspire multiple generations to enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle in a natural environment.” This statement provides the foundation for how we make decisions in our daily operations.

In line with this mission, we’re also in the business of providing an experience and creating memories for our guests. In the summer of 2014, with the addition of Bristol Mountain Aerial Adventures, we expanded our on-site operations to include summer recreation activities. This new attraction aligned perfectly with our brand and mission.

When mapping out the guest experience at the attraction, we wanted to elevate all of the services surrounding the adventure park to fit with our mission statement, including food and beverage. After our guests go through a physical and rewarding experience outside, why would we fill our Summit Welcome Center with caffeinated drinks and traditional junk food? We wanted the guest experience to flow seamlessly. And it has—guest response has been extremely favorable.

Brand Alignment
We felt strongly that our food and beverage items should be in line with the activities our guests had just participated in, enabling them to live both a healthy and active lifestyle. We also felt a commitment to further the broad national effort to not only promote active lifestyles, but healthier eating habits.

This is a serious issue. Roughly 80 percent of health care costs are a function of behavior, while only 20 percent stem from other factors. Health care delivery systems have been actively working to acknowledge the behavioral aspects of health care costs within their communities. We felt that as a larger business and employer, the more engaged we are—collectively with other businesses—the more the entire community benefits.

Unique circumstances made this decision possible. Not only did we have a new attraction that we could begin to brand differently from the winter operation, but we were also in contract negotiations with two soft-drink suppliers, and without any commitments. As a result, we were able to order beverages we wanted represented at the park through local distributors. At the time, we did not sign on with either soft-drink company, because our options were much greater going through local distributors. Plus, we weren’t confident that we could create the brand we were looking for with the offerings available at the time.

Over the last few years, the main soft-drink suppliers have also begun to heavily diversify and move aggressively into the natural and healthy beverage market. This is making it easier for both resorts and suppliers to transition away from traditional soft drinks.

Forging a Path
While implementing this initiative, we faced a couple of obstacles. For one, our Summit Welcome Center is located at the top of the mountain, and does not have plumbing or running water. That limits what we can offer for food and beverage. So, we installed three reach-in coolers and two vending machines—one for beverages and another for healthy snack items. We found our guests responded well to low sugar/low calorie sports hydration drinks, various fruit-based juices, and all-natural teas.

While utilizing vending machines was an effective solution for the location, there were limited options for the dry goods vending machine. Many great and healthy food options are available through our distributors, but few actually fit in the machine. In some instances, the retail cost was above the threshold most guests would tolerate from a vending machine.

For example, at first we offered a high-end organic energy bar, but it didn’t sell very quickly. It was a high-quality product, but it was at a price point far above traditional vending options. So, we replaced these items with a healthy chip option and had great success. We are constantly searching for the appropriate products, and three years later, we are still adding and removing products based on sales.

In addition to vending items, our food and beverage manager made granola bars in the kitchen at the base of the mountain to be sold at the summit. He had a great time expressing his creativity, mixing and matching a variety of healthy and natural ingredients to create different flavors of granola bars every week. We found this was a terrific alternative to other prepackaged vending options, and we’re able to command a higher price because of the quality ingredients.

A Successful Test
Since opening in 2014, our move away from traditional junk-food items has prompted nothing but positive reactions from guests. We believe that the market is starting to demand more healthy options as guests become more aware of what’s available. A quick snapshot into the portfolios of food and beverage distributors shows the declining sales of carbonated fountain beverages, and the strong presence of alternative brands that appeal to guests. With our small-scale offering in the summer, we have been able to test these new products and still exceed our budgeted per capita F&B revenue.

Our direct-to-consumer summer food-and-beverage business was such a small percentage of the overall financial health of the organization, we saw this as a great first area to test implementation, and have been pleased with the result. Guests are happy and continue to purchase what we offer.

As a result of this success, we have begun to add healthier options and limit soda/energy drinks and junk food items throughout our operations—including winter. Instead of energy drinks and standard candy products at checkout areas, we now offer healthier food, including grab-and-go fruit.

I see many other ski resorts moving in a similar direction. While some of us may fear it will negatively impact the bottom line or vendor relations, this trend has already been pushed more aggressively in other industries, and we are just beginning to catch up. Guests have fueled the demand, and many vendors have responded by adding healthier options to their portfolio.

Sustaining the Brand
For us, the development of this program was never about creating a marketing opportunity, but rather being consistent with our messaging. We have a responsibility to our guests and staff to fulfill our brand’s mission statement through every product and activity that we develop and promote. Our advocacy for a healthy, active lifestyle is not limited to the activities we engage in, but extends to ensuring that every element of our brand is working to promote this lifestyle. While we don’t directly market this experience to our guests, we have found it to be a conversation starter that has helped to gain the attention of earned media outlets—such as SAM.

While we have implemented these changes subtly, we are still working to adjust the product mix based on consumer demand and in keeping with our mission. This will continue to present challenges, but we are committed to providing our guests with the experience—and the sustenance—they seek.