Sheetz Joins Partnership for a Healthier America to Make Healthier Choices Easier for Busy Parents and Families

Top mid-Atlantic convenience store commits to delivering more nutritious options to meet the needs of the communities it serves

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Partnership for a Healthier America

Oct 10, 2014, 11:06 ET

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), which works with the private sector and PHA honorary chair First Lady Michelle Obama to make healthier choices easier for busy parents and families, today announced that Sheetz, one of America's fastest growing family-owned and operated convenience store chains, has made a two-year commitment to deliver more nutritious options across its 475 convenience stores. The announcement was made at NACS Show, the convenience store industry's largest event.

Sheetz has committed to maintain and build upon healthy food choices; continue to make those choices more affordable; and support healthier options through in-store marketing and promotions to meet the needs of the children, families and communities it serves.

"Every day, people across the country struggle to find access to healthier foods. Sheetz is helping change that, proving that convenience can also mean healthy," said PHA CEO Lawrence A. Soler. "We're proud that Sheetz is joining PHA to help get us closer to our goal to build a healthier nation and solve the childhood obesity crisis."

Over the next two years, Sheetz will work with PHA to expand its healthier food offerings, with fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, healthier packaged foods and healthier made-to-order foods. It will offer a minimum number of kids' meals that meet nutrition standards and focus on in-store promotion of healthier products, as well as other tactics geared toward making the healthy choice the easy choice.

"Sheetz strives to meet the needs of our customers, and providing healthy choices has been an ongoing commitment for us," said Joe Sheetz, CEO of Sheetz. "We have seen the need in the communities we serve for healthy options and we are proud to continue to be a part of the solution. We are excited to be a PHA partner and encourage others to join in the effort."

Specifically, by October 2016, Sheetz commits to:

Offer healthier foods, including:

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables – a combined minimum of eight categories of fruits and or vegetables
Whole Grains - a minimum of four whole grain products
Nonfat and Low-fat Dairy Products - a minimum of four nonfat and low-fat dairy products
Packaged Food - a minimum of 15 packaged food products that meet PHA's definition of healthier food or beverage products
'Made To Order' - a minimum of 10 'Made to Order' items that meet PHA's definition of a healthier recipe
Sheetz Healthy Kids Combo Meals - a minimum of two meals that meet PHA nutrient profiles for kids meals

Increase affordability of healthier foods, including:

Pricing healthier packaged food and beverage products less than or equal to comparable items in the store
Pricing healthier 'Made To Order' items less than or equal to other available 'Made To Order' items in the store
Pricing Sheetz Healthy Kids Combo Meals less than or equal to other available kids combo meals or items in meal sold separately

Market and promote healthier products, including:

New Sheetz stores will display a minimum of 10 healthier product offerings within three feet of the cash register
A minimum of 10 healthier foods and beverages will be displayed on each of the following: in-store order boards, in-store menus and web site
A nutrition calculator on the Sheetz web site will provide nutrition information, including calories

Nearly 1,000 convenience stores have now committed to PHA to increase access to healthier foods in their stores. Today's announcement took place at the 2014 NACS Show in Las Vegas, which features more than 20,000 attendees from 60+ countries; three days of general sessions; 65 educational sessions; and more than 1,100 exhibiting companies in a record-setting 403,000 net-square-foot expo.

"We are proud that our industry is playing a leadership role in not only improving access to fresh food and healthy options, but in supporting community programs that focus on activity and healthier lifestyles," said Henry Armour, president and CEO of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). "It's a great model for how our members can engage in the area of nutrition and healthy options in the communities they serve."

The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is devoted to working with the private sector to ensure the health of our nation's youth by solving the childhood obesity crisis. In 2010, PHA was created in conjunction with – but independent from – First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort. PHA is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is led by some of the nation's most respected health and childhood obesity experts. PHA brings together public, private and nonprofit leaders to broker meaningful commitments and develop strategies to end childhood obesity. Most important, PHA ensures that commitments made are commitments kept by working with unbiased, third parties to monitor and publicly report on the progress our partners are making. For more information about PHA, please visit www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.

Established in 1952 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Sheetz, Inc. is one of America's fastest growing family-owned and operated convenience store chains, with more than $6.6billion in revenue for 2013 and more than 16,000 employees. The company operates more than 475 convenience locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina. Sheetz provides an award-winning menu of MTO® subs, sandwiches and salads, which are ordered through unique touch-screen order point terminals. Sheetz currently ranks #87 on Fortune® Magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For list and on the Best Places to Work list in Ohio, North Carolina and Virginia and remains on that list in Pennsylvania where they have resided for 12 consecutive years. All Sheetz convenience stores are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For more information, visit www.sheetz.com.