NPS Mission - National Park Service

National Park Service FY 2013 Budget Justifications
At a Glance…
Healthy Food Initiative
The NPS manages 250 Food & Beverage (F&B) operations in more than 75 park units. These F&B
operations generate more than $185 million in revenue annually. Park F&B operations include sit-down
family style restaurants, fine dining restaurants, cafeterias, packaged "grab and go" food, cookouts, and
backcountry meal services. Additionally, the NPS oversees hundreds of convenience stores and vending
machine operations providing snacks and beverages
to visitors.
Muir Woods Café, Muir Woods National Monument
Prosper, which states that the NPS will:
Managing diverse F&B operations serving millions of
visitors annually presents the NPS with the unique
opportunity to provide visitors with healthy foods,
reduce the environmental footprint of operations
through sustainable food sourcing and service
practices, and educate visitors on the multiple
benefits of enjoying healthy and sustainable foods.
Such actions strongly support the Administration’s
initiatives including America’s Great Outdoors.
In August 2011, the NPS issued the Call to Action, a
five-year strategic plan that contains 36 action items
targeted at national parks and their partners. The
development and implementation of the Healthy Foods
Program was addressed in Action 8: Eat Well and
Encourage park visitors to make healthy lifestyle choices and position parks to support
local economies by ensuring that all current and future concession contracts require
multiple healthy, sustainably produced, and reasonably priced food options at national
park food service concessions.
To achieve this goal, in FY 2012 the NPS, led by the Commercial Services Program formally initiated a
Healthy Foods Program. Kicking off the effort, the NPS partnered with the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) to conduct Observational Surveys of F&B, retail, and vending operations at more
than 40 parks. This effort, to be completed in early FY 2012, will provide the NPS scientifically collected
data on the availability of healthy food that will help inform the effort, as well as field collection tools and a
baseline from which to monitor progress.
The NPS Commercial Service Program is working with the Institute at Golden Gate, a non-profit partner
of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. A Food for the Parks Report was prepared that highlighted
best practice examples both inside and outside the Service that will help parks and concessioners identify
their own healthy food opportunities. A second report, Food for the Parks, A Roadmap for Success was
commissioned by the NPS and will provide concessioners practical guidance on how to cost effectively
implement healthy food programs at the park level.
The NPS began working with the White House Office of Domestic Policy to coordinate activities with the
First Lady’s Lets Move! Initiative. This effort is helping to engage and stimulate support from a full set of
stakeholders including government agencies (such as the CDC and US Department of Agriculture),
private business (including concessioners and other industry experts), and nonprofits.
The NPS has begun integrating healthy food concepts into its Commercial Services Program operations.
Minimum Healthy Food Standards and Guidelines and a Healthy Food Implementation Strategy have
been developed. A key component of the strategy is setting minimum standards and then using the
competitive concession contracting process to leverage the business expertise and innovation of vendors
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