COMSTRAT 565 Professional Marketing Communication Management and Campaigns - Fall 2016

Final Project

Cartropolis Food Cart Plaza

David T. Green Eat Healthy and Exercise Washington State University Fall 2016

INTRODUCTION…………………………...... 1 CARTROPOLIS COVER PAGE……………………………………………………………………………………………2 SURVEY RESUTS…………………………………………………………………………………….3-5 CONSENT FORMS…………………………………………………………………………………6-26 FOCUS GROUP TRANSCRIPTION…………………………………………………………27-47 MESSAGE REVISION PROCESS…………………………………………………………….48-50

EAT HEALTHY AND EXERCISE COVER PAGE…………………………………………………………………………………………51 CONSENT FORMS……………………………………………………………………………….52-69 FOCUS GROUP INFORMATION……………………………………………………………70-92 MESSAGE REVISION PROCESS…………………………………………………………….93-94 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………………95 PROJECT ELEMENT LINKS.……………………………………………………………………..95

This paper focuses on two work products that were completed during my time studying at Washington State University. First, we will look at a food cart plaza designed during February, 2016. A quantitative survey was developed and sent out via e-mail to 50 members of the plaza’s target audience. A total of 36 people responded to the survey and we were able to establish some external validity using this method. A website was soon created, followed closely by both a Facebook page and a Twitter page. We then formed a focus group to be able to test market all three elements of the food cart plaza, focusing on how members of the target audience felt about each site. The focus group took place on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 from 3 – 4pm in a meeting room at Clackamas Community College. Based on the results of this focus group, we were able to gather some pertinent information which we have incorporated into each element. We feel that the changes made will draw even more customers to our business, which is what makes surveys and focus groups so valuable. The second project element we will discuss in this paper is a Facebook page developed for a health club with the page entitled “Eat Healthy and Exercise.” The club owners were wondering why they weren’t getting much attention drawn to their Facebook page, so a focus group was formed to take a fine look at the page to get an idea of what it is that the audience likes about the page, and what the audience thinks could be done to improve the page. This focus group took place on Wednesday, November 16, 2016 from 3 – 4pm, also in a meeting room at Clackamas Community College. Based on the results of this focus group, changes needed to be made to the Facebook page and this has been accomplished. Reviews by members of the focus group were positive, and the page has been updated to reflect the changes.

CARTROPOLIS FOOD CART PLAZA

Cartropolis Focus Group – Monday, November 14, 2016 DG – David (Moderator) RK – Robert BH – Beth JM – Jennifer BC – Bill AB – Amy AA – Adela JF - Jackie DG - I want to thank you for joining us for this discussion today - this focus group. My name is David Green. I am a student at Washington State University at the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications. I’m getting my masters in Strategic Communications. This is going to be a discussion. The reason why you are here is it is on food carts and a proposed food cart plaza that is going to be planned for across the street from this campus. And we are talking today at Clackamas Community College. Why have you been asked to take part? Well, we’ve chosen you for this study due to the fact that you work, your occupation is here at Clackamas Community College and you would be more likely to take advantage of a food cart plaza across the street. So we will see how that goes as we talk today. We want you to give us your open opinion - open, honest opinion about things about the food plazas use of social media as well as what types of food the carts will be serving to the public. We’ll talk about how you perceive food carts in general, and if you have any ideas of how we can improve this campaign to make the idea even better and stronger. Ok, I want to tell you that this discussion is voluntary you all came on your own accord and I know you all signed consent forms which I appreciate. We don’t see any risks involved in taking part of this study, it’s not you’re not going to be out in the internet anywhere and be spotted and somebody taking exception to you being a part of this study so we want to make sure you know that. Your privacy will be protected ok? This focus group will not be published ok? And this discussion is being taped by Gordon Christensen of Clackamas Community College. And you are aware you are here voluntarily and sorry to say you will not be getting a payment (laughing by the group) – I would love to do it but I’m a struggling college student. (Laughing by the group) JF – You gave us water. DG – I gave you water that’s pretty good ok. So this discussion will take approximately 30-60 minutes total and like I say I want your honest opinions there are no wrong or right answers here. So anything you want to throw out good, bad, or ugly please do, and don’t talk about the moderator when you are talking ugly. (Laughing by the group) I appreciate that. Ok, so first we are going to go around the room and introduce everybody – I will begin – and what I want you to say your first name and then I want you to tell me what your ultimate food dish is. If you could have one food – somebody would buy you a dinner – what would that food be? So think about it. I’ll start. My name’s David and my ultimate food dish is pasta it is rigatoni or penne pasta with crab, shrimp, and scallop’s, smothered in alfredo sauce with beautiful garlic bread on the side and a nice glass of pinot gris. RK – My name is Robert and – a favorite food dish – an ideal food dish – I think I’d have to say Chesapeake Bay blue crabs – a dozen hard crabs – on a table covered in brown butcher paper with a nice little wooden mallet to crack the crabs – pull all the tender meat out of the claws and out of the legs and that accompanied by maybe a couple of good beers. Possibly, well if we were going with a traditional Maryland meal it would be National Bohemian beer which is not all that great actually so maybe Negro Modelo a nice dark beer or a Guinness would work. BH – My name is Beth and if I could choose a meal it would probably be one of your American standby meals just a freshly prepared hamburger patty with fresh, fresh meat – has to be fresh meat – cheese smothered with onions and mushrooms a side of crispy fries some nice ranch to dip those fries in and a cold Coke a cola. JM – My name is Jennifer and my ideal meal I guess really depends on what I am craving that day or minute. So today I am craving something ooowy, gooey, cheesy with really pungent cheese that just melts and then trickles down your throat. (Laughing from the group) And I love that with a salad because then I feel like I’m wanting something good for myself and everything I eat has to be followed by something sweet. BC – Oh geez, I’m getting very hungry. (Laughing from the group) So if I had to pick the ultimate dish it would be a combination – because I’m indecisive - of doughnuts and cheeseburgers which I believe there’s a name for that - the kahuna burger - is that it? They slice up the doughnut…. DG – The big kahuna - Your name is Bill by the way. BC – That’s right my name is Bill and I’m all about food (Laughing by the group) – food first then my name. That’s what I’d pick. AB – My name is Amy and my favorite craving always is Mexican food – something very cheesy, very spicy – Yes – and it has to be followed by something sweet and probably a really good little Mexican beer with that sounds fabulous. AA – My name is Adela. I would pick spaghetti alla vongole which is spaghetti with clams – and would probably be followed by brownies. DG – Wow RK – Just like what my wife would choose. (Laughing from the group) JF – So, I’m Jackie and my favorite food in all the world is a tomato. But that’s not a dish so DG – Thank goodness, I mean I’m sorry. JF – Yes – so if I had the ideal dish for dinner it wouldn’t be just a tomato it would be probably a mezzo platter from a Lebanese restaurant – something vegan – something wonderful and some pinot noir probably from Oregon rather than Washington but I’m flexible there. DG – Very nice…very nice. Well you’ve all made me hungry let’s stop the focus group now and go out on me. (Laughing from the group) No, I wish we could do that but we can’t. Do we have any preliminary questions before we get started with some specific questions? What I’m going to do here is I’m going to just toss out a subject and I’ll call on one of you and then if you want to join in after that person talks – great – or I might just call on a second and third person so we’ll kick these around. So the first question I have – What do you think of when I say the words Food Carts? What comes to your mind? Bill. BC – Hot DG – Hot? BC – Yes DG – Very good. Do you want to expand on that a little more? BC – Oh sure – Food cards – the food is happening right on the street so you have the smells and the sounds all right in front of you that’s sort of what comes to mind when I first think of carts. DG – Oh very good. Jen. JM – Choices – decisions, decisions and somebody who I like different you know again I’m depending on what I’m craving – It could happen you know within minutes of each other and so being able to stand in the middle of the food carts and make my choices of what type of food I’m having – I really like that. DG – Alright. Beth. BH – I love the idea because if I’m going with my family there are many options and hopefully there is something there that is very plain so my husband can partake. Let’s say a burger with maybe cheese on it that would be good. I would like something that is oooy and gooey and something authentic and something spicy – again depending on what my mood is but that’s where I get to enjoy foods that normally I wouldn’t get to go out and have because we go to the same places. DG – Great. And I’m sorry did you want to go by Robert or Bob? RK – Says’ Robert. DG – Ok Robert. RK – When I think of food carts I guess first and foremost I think of Mexican food. That’s what first comes to mind. Always secondarily do I think well there are other kinds of food carts with other kinds of food as well? But I maybe it was among the first food carts that were Mexican food and if I think about it some I’ll say well there are different kinds of Mexican food carts from different states within Mexico regions within Mexico and so again there’s that variety there and you can try new things out - you can eat something from Jalisco or something from the Yucatan or Oaxaca and they’re all going to be different. DG – That’s great. Jackie. JF – I think of the ethnic mix – you know not just Mexican that I think lots of different ethnicities but also I think this is probably more important is that when anybody wants to go to the food carts I say “yes” because I think vegan options because it’s so hard for me to go out with my family. I usually have to order at a restaurant the plain baked potato, maybe with salsa and so but I have choices at the food carts. DG – Alright. Adela AA – I agree, I think of alternative foods not so much as I’m going to eat a burger if I go to the food cart. I think of fast service. I think of maybe dishes that I wouldn’t find at a restaurant. I think of it being inexpensive and I would hope that it’s cooked there because I do know that the space restrictions sometimes being that they have to bring food in. And I think it’s a place where you can socialize a little bit more that being sitting in a restaurant where you have your table and you don’t really talk or engage with the person next to you. Food carts sometimes you get areas with big tables and you can sit right next to complete strangers. I like that. DG – Very good…very good. Amy AB – I like the variety where you know we could go and have a gyro – share a gyro and then go over to the dessert cart and share dessert – I like the variety in going to the food carts. DG – Wow that’s great. That’s excellent. So the next question coming off of that one. Have you ever dined at food carts before and if so what did you think? And if not, why haven’t you? And let’s go here to Jackie. JF – Yes every chance that I get and I love for the food but the problems that I’ve run into that I don’t like are very difficult to find a place to sit and also very difficult if it’s too big of an area to keep up with my husband and my son. It’s there all going in their own directions and so to find a place to sit together - when they’ve run in all directions - is sometimes a problem. DG – So that’s important for you to make sure. JF – Oh yes DG – And what about parking? JF – Parking is important although normally not an issue because normally I’m downtown and I’ve already parked. DG – But maybe thinking of a potential spot across the street from here in a lot, how would parking be important? JF – Well I would hope they would have a handicap spot just for me. (Laughing from the group) But on the other hand a lot of other people would be able to walk that were just across the street. DG – Ok JF – I mean if I had to choose between a parking spaces and tables, I would go with tables. DG – Ok. So is it right to say here that everybody has visited a food cart one time or another? (The group all answered yes) DG – Ok. Does anybody want to answer anything on top of what Jackie said there about issues you may have had? JM - Somewhere to wash my hands before I eat has always been an issue every time I go to a food cart so especially since I have kids handwashing is very important and I don’t think I’ve only been to one food cart lot where they’ve had a place to wash hands. DG – Great. Anybody else want to join in on that topic? Anything else you seen or experienced that were not, you know, any issues you may have had. JF – It rains a lot here and so covered areas.

DG – Very good. Beth? BH – Agreed. That is exactly what I was going to say. DG – That’s good to know. AA – It would also be great to have heat lamps too. DG – Ahhhhh! There you go. So, you know, I’ve seen food cart plazas comparable where they’ve had open area but they put like a tent around it in the winter instead of – does that work or have you experienced that or do you insist on being in a building at those times. You said heat lamps so were you thinking of that or in the evening time. Anybody think about that you know have you experienced that like when it’s really cold outside being at a food card sitting in a tent eating is that ok? AB – Yes I think so. It’s kinda also nice to have – I mean – we live in Oregon and it’s if you’re going to go and have the adventure of going to the food cart – you know – take your umbrella and stand and eat your hot dog. BC – I probably wouldn’t go if I felt like I couldn’t stand it or deal with it. I might opt for a brick in mortar place. RK – The winds howling and the storm… JM – If it were tented though I would go. JF – Kind of like the Costco experience. (Laughing from the group) DG – That hooks onto another question here and I just asked this out to you… On a rainy day would you be inclined to stop and purchase food at the food cart if you were going out to eat at a food cart say one of your favorite food cart places and it just a down pour happened, would you just continue on to the food cart place or would that have any bearing on that? BC – Well sometimes I’ll just eat in my car and often don’t plan my meals very well so sometimes if I just need food real quick, I might stop and grab food at the food cart and run back to my car, scarf it, and go where I’m going. So that is not uncommon. DG – Anyone else? RK – Depending on where the food cart was I might go to a food cart and get something and simply take it home depending on how far that was. AB – Is this venue going to have delivery at all? Any options of delivery? DG – Oh that’s a good question – Delivery - we will write that down and we really haven’t considered that but thinking about a school just brings that up to me - I was thinking maybe functions or meetings or athletic events. Does anyone service that now at this school? AB – We have a Trio catering services through the college that we are required to use if it’s an on campus meeting, but if they can’t accommodate a certain price or even a certain type of food that they might not be able to offer us, we would maybe have the options of using an outside service. DG – Ok JM – I’m on the food services committee and before Trio was an option it was discussed in the group that perhaps food carts were an option for our food service. They could come up to the quad and that would be our food service. DG – That’s interesting. So that may be receptive now. RK – I don’t know that any of the athletic events, especially the outdoor ones -- have ever had food service attached – I know there’s the little snack bar in the gymnasium that’s essentially run by the athletic department as a fundraiser, but hotdogs in the stands during a softball game or baseball game or a track meet – I don’t know if that’s ever been done. DG – Interesting. AB – I know that I’ve been to a couple of softball games and Jimmy John’s delivers and they are zipping on and off campus. RK – Jimmy John delivers…so food carts with a delivery service could accommodate that as well. DG – And your saying that would be a positive because of all the choices you’ll have. AB – Yes – I wouldn’t have to have just a sandwich, I could have a chimichanga delivered right. (Laughing from the group) AA – Would it make sense to have a food cart deliver? The advantage of a food cart is that – I mean – not the space they have to cook meals and deliver it more like they don’t have to pay the rent so providing the food so I guess it might make a lot of sense if you would have one here at the college and you can come up to it and have your – you know – buy food, but I wouldn’t think of calling a food cart to deliver my food why would I limit myself to a small kitchen a limited possibilities and ingredient you know where I’m going with that? I mean why not just deliver it from an actual faithful kitchen. JF – Or you could have a delivery service for the whole Cartropolis complex that would go around from all the different carts and then deliver. DG – That’s an interesting idea. BH – I like that idea. JM – Then each cart would put money in a kitty for an employee to do deliveries – Like that? That’s interesting. DG – Interesting…good points. So we mentioned a local – you say you had an in house café here at this school - Here’s a question for you. How satisfied are you with the current food options on campus? Beth. BH – They are wonderful – I mean – we’ve had some bad cafeteria experiences and Trio has come on campus and offered us a wide variety of healthy choices – salads – different salads from macaroni salads to sandwiches to burgers you name it. The prices are, for the quality of the food we are getting - it’s good…. it’s good. But it’s the same thing every day – you know it’s the burgers and the salads and so you know if you are going to go down and get a salad – you get a Caesar salad or you get a chef salad or chicken cashew salad and – you know – the variety isn’t there – I mean there is variety but it’s – if you’re working here all the time you get used to it I would guess and it would be nice to have some other options. JF – It’s great until 2 o’clock and then there’s really nothing so you have to make sure you get over there before 2 o’clock and that’s not always possible. It’s kind of a food desert and coffee desert as well. DG – Let me go on with that and say is there anybody here who – and remember – this is confidential so it’s not going to be run back to your café – Is there anybody who’s not so satisfied that maybe wants to see something else compete with it. BC – I think competition is good but I think they’re great. AB – I agree – I think our cafeteria is very nice and they offer nice things but when I get a chance to actually get off campus and take a lunch – maybe take a little longer than my regular schedule, I’m going to go and have something adventurous and we don’t have a whole lot of different options here in Oregon City, so having one location you could go to with a group of people and everybody could get something different – and it would be fun – like ok I’m getting off campus and out of my office for a while I think that would be fun. RK – And located close to campus…. AB – Within walking distance…. DG – And then you could like get your Mexican food and like you wonderful boyfriend could probably get a poor boy sandwich he wants – he likes the shrimp one – that’s what he likes. Adela do you have anything? AA – No I agree, I like the food here but I can’t eat it more than – you know – occasionally because I always get the same thing because I don’t feel like they have many options. I’ve asked them to “hey can you do” – one time they had a philly sandwich and I thought it was a philly sandwich but it was actually a hamburger with like cheese and onions and a philly stake flavor. I was excited because it wasn’t a hamburger but it turned out to be just the same. DG – That’s great to know. Jennifer. JM – On the food services committee I had actually opted for the food carts to come in but it was ultimately kind of taken down because we do have larger events here that need catering and need large – sometimes 300 people or more – to be catered and I don’t see how food carts could manage that. RK – Unless you had a lot of food carts. JM – Yes – so that’s really the only thing that would stop me from wanting the food carts here full-time. DG – Any thoughts on that Robert? RK – Well that’s certainly a good point about the need for campus catering – it might be hard to overcome for having food carts on campus as a substitute for a cafeteria – but certainly adjacent to the campus I think there’s certainly good precedence in other places that adjacent to a college being a good place for food carts to stake out territory particularly if the space is available and available at a reasonable cost – I think it’s got good possibilities for adding to the variety that’s available to students and staff on campus. JF – The food cart plaza were adjacent to the college it would also be adjacent to the high school. JM – Exactly… DG – There you go…. RK – And to the adjacent business shopping there. JF – And the homes… DG – Good point. Here’s our last question of the general questions about food carts and then we’ll get on to looking at some of the things you checked out before you came here. If you were to – say you’re here at the school – say most likely lunch would be where you would go over to use the food carts – maybe breakfast, but lunch – if you really liked the food there would you be inclined to come back and pick up dinner – maybe not the same day of course – like a weekend day if you liked it – would you come out from your home to visit that food cart plaza? AB – I think definitely – you know – especially like what Beth said if you have picky children that just want something simple and you know what you’re making for dinner but you know that you don’t want to make two dinners so you just going to pick up something quick for the kids and then you can make your dinner at home. That might be kind of a nice option. DG – Good….anybody else? Jennifer? JM – I wouldn’t come – I live too far away – I wouldn’t come back – but I would have a terrible time with planning meals and so I get home and I’m like in the car thinking what am I going to make for dinner – I would absolutely go to the food carts on my way home and get something. That would be so easy. BC – Yes. AB – Convenience. RK – That’s a good point. I was thinking I live quite a ways a way as well and so I certainly don’t think I would come back – in fact there are probably other food carts between here and home that would be closer, but I might on occasion stop and pick something up and take it home especially if it’s something that you can reheat in a microwave after 20 some odd mile drive…and traffic. (Laughing from the group) (Computer screen is now showing the Cartropolis website home page) DG – OK. That’s it for the general questions. Now I hope you all had a chance to kind of peruse the website and social media sites. So we’re going to take a look at it now up here on the screen. It’s a sharp website. Here we go. So you’ve had a chance to look at this. First off…right away.. What do you think of Cartropolis as the name? Is it catchy, does it catch the ear, does it…. JF – Because with the ethnic theme I always think of Greek. DG – And you see the flags around. BC – I was thinking that I heard a couple of people call it Cartopolis instead of Cartropolis. I think that Cartopolis rolls off the tongue better to that’s my first inclination is to drop that second “r” but….. DG – Interesting. Ok. RD – I think I would agree with that and maybe to avoid the other company in Montreal, I might think at least separating cart from opolis with a hyphen just to draw distinction because obviously it’s an unfamiliar word - it’s a made up word that people seeing it for the first time are going to stumble over it a little and if you separate the two the first syllable and the last two…or actually the last three with a hyphen maybe it would roll off the tongue easily…I don’t know? But I like the idea of dropping the second “r”. DG – Ok very good. Anybody else on that subject? BC – I think I like it all as one word but that is just my preference. RK – I’d need to see it and see who it’s written and that would be a good topic for a focus group. (Laughing from the group) BH – There you go. DG – Ok now let’s just move along. How do you like the flags around? RK – I do. JM – I do. The forks are al little – it doesn’t fit in with that I almost want to have that as the background instead of the green. DG – Would you – this flag represents the health food cart? (Group all say oh yes…ok) DG – So does that make a difference? JM – I didn’t get that so… BC – It’s a health flag? DG – But overall do you like the flags around the name. JM – I do. JF – Yes DG – Does that tell you what kind of going on here? AB – So the flags are representing the different food carts. Ok. DG – So let me ask you – Beth I’m going to ask you this. What do you think of the tag line? Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of food? BH – I think it’s fabulous –Yes - I think it’s great. It kind of wraps up the whole – what you’re – we’ve got a little of this and a little bit of that and – and we’ve got the different countries associated with the plaza – I think it’s nice. DG – Anybody else have any thoughts on the tag line? RK – You can even allow for future growth and additional carts representing different cuisines? It’s not just limiting you to those particular ones – or if one of those different work out you could easily substitute another without having to change you tag line. DG – And so by going back to the flags going back the flags you can see there are six carts in this plaza. RK – Once you understand the forks is one of the carts. DG – And if that’s interesting and if that’s noted maybe there’s a different way to approach that. Does anybody have any ideas on that? BC – I’m trying to think is there a healthy flag? JM – And well do the flags need to be flags or can they be picture of a gyro, picture of a burger, picture of a …. JF – Maybe a picture of a tomato…No (Laughing from the group) AA- And I think healthy food is – you can find health foods in a sorts of cultures, so I don’t know if it deserves a flag on this – because you can have a Greek salad that’s healthy and Greek – when I saw it the first thing that came to mind was that you need a sixth flag. JM – That’s what I was thinking – there’s five food carts and then that’s a picture of forks. Yummy! JF – I thought that was a salad bar carts. DG – Ok JF – Can I say something about that everybody likes the “Spanning of the globe to bring you the constant variety of food” – to me that when I first read that it kind of read funny to me. And I almost wanted to say something like “Spanning the globe to bring you a worldwide variety of food” or something, but the constant variety of food that tells me that this time I’ll be getting a gyro but next time I come it’s going to change so I won’t be able to get a gyro next time – like they will be changing constantly. DG - Ok RK – Oh…I read it just the opposite. JM – Oh did you… RK – I was interesting judge to position of constant with variety – constancy is the quality of food – good food and tasty food, but its food in a variety – that’s the way JM – Oh…I didn’t read it that way. RK – It’s very cleaver you coming up with that. DG – Ok anybody else have anything on that? BC – Personally I like to go a little more abstract with sort of tag lines – less literal of like we’re spanning the globe, we have food we’re bringing it to you – I don’t have a better alternative – But I like that as it is so I don’t really have any complaints but something involving flavor might be a little – make you think a little more – there’s a lot of different directions you can go – I don’t know what I’m talking about so. DG – Ok we’re going to move down the page and then come back to the - to our – links. So what do you think of the video of the week? We’re not going to play the video right now. But to have a video of the week mostly centered around customers – the actual plaza and finding out mini interviews and maybe the owners talking about specials coming up – what are your thoughts about having a video as far as the front of the webpage – on the webpage? JF – I like the idea, but you have to get permission from the person and maybe let them preview it. RK – It’s a lot of work to keep up with and if it’s a video of the week that means changing it weekly and if you’re running a food cart – a food cart plaza – that’s a pretty significant task to keep up with every week – ones that’s not directly generating any revenue. AB – It could also generate revenue if you featured a dish from one of the carts. RK – Indirectly, yes. AB – That could be something like that so you could maybe the healthy truck is going to feature an item so it helps their business for the week or the person that’s getting to do the interview could tell you all about what they thought about the dish. DG – What if something like this – not even on my list of questions – what if something was like the owner or one of the hosts – dressing in semi the attire of one of the carts promoting a special that week of say Mexican food – some special Mexican food – something like that – could that work in that? AB – Sure DG – Ok. Bob? RK – As long as you don’t overly stereotype the ethnicities – be so careful of that. JM – And you don’t want to… AA – I like the video of the week because I feel like it gives the website life and if I go in and I see a video that needs to be updated and it looks updated – well then I feel like it’s busy – there all going to be open – I’m going to show up and it’s going to be a cart that’s closed because they just didn’t care to show up. Sometimes that has happened to me with cart food. So yes I would say that I would like it. DG – Does it make you think that the owners take pride in keeping their website up to date? AA- Yes RK – It does do that. I would have to balance it against whatever the cost was of doing the weekly thing and if that penciled out as an advertising promotional costs that could be absorbed I think it would be great, but I would have to watch it very carefully if I were in this business. DG – Ok. I think that Gordon (video cameraman) has agreed to do it free of charge every week. (Laughing from the group and the cameraman) AB – What a great sport! DG – Ok now moving over to the beautiful, young lady and the guy. Do you like seeing the people who own the company on the website? JF – Yes, I like that you puts hosts and it’s very welcoming. RK – Yes, but you do need a better picture though of the guy….just telling you. Amy’s is fine, your needs a little work. (Laughing from the group) DG – Good. Ok we’ll move down. So we show the pictures of the carts. Is that important? (Everyone agreeing “Yes” from the group) DG – Who wants to take off on that at all? Anybody? AB – I will. I like seeing the different trucks because you can see how clean they are. You can see how they do their menu. They have some of their individual seating. Some have a covered area. I look’s really nice and professional and clean. RK – Yes… and their all different which is what you… JM – And if you are on a website to see what carts are there, you pretty much decide where you are going to go and so it can be kind of embarrassing into a food cart area blink and you walk up to one and that’s not what I want. (Laughing) and you just have to walk away. So the visual of what cart I’m going to be going to – If I’m taking the time to go onto a website to see what it is. RK – As well as having the menus right there. JF – Right. Menus are a real plus. AB – And to see what each thing looks like… RK – And the price…. JM – And how much you get…. DG – Speaking of the menus we’ll move right along. What about the names of the carts? Does anybody have any thoughts about the names? Are they witty or are the…… AB – They’re fun! DG – Do they tell you what kind of food is available? AB – Absolutely. JM – The Pastalicious when I clicked on it was a little confusing because it looked like it mostly pizza. DG – Well let’s click on it and take a look. AA – Ravioli... JM – It was – you know – it’s Pastalicious. Its pasta – and then it’s like four or five different kinds of pizza. BH – Well there’s lasagna…. JM – There is – there is but with the picture and then the menu with pizza it doesn’t seem like it’s a pasta specific cart. BH – Maybe a picture that is more Italian? JM – It seems like it’s more Italian RK – Itailiano…. DG – What do you think about when we go through these different carts and – were all adults here – some of us I’m sure drink beer – (RK raised his hand) DG – Ok Robert. What about the beer being from those countries? AB – I think that’s really neat because….. RK – It is. AB – I’ve never tried either of those kinds of beer RK – I didn’t even know they made beer in Italy…. AB – And if I was ordering the Fettuccini Alfredo I would maybe choose to select one of those beers to try. I mean – I’m out having an adventure, I might as well try something new. DG – Ok. Let’s go to another. Anybody else want to talk about that? AA – I also noticed that the beers that they were from the place specific and I noticed that the heathy eating one had like Coors Light and Bud Light. DG – That was a good spot though. AA – I wanted to see something other than that. RK – And those domestic beers are priced the same as the specialized beers in the other trucks. DG – Another good point…good spot. RK – Most people would say I’m not going to pay the same for a Bud and I’m willing to pay for an imported beer. JM - Bud DG – Jackie, you sounded like you’re health conscious maybe vegan here. JF – Yes. DG – How would this make you – would you be able to find some things on here? JF – Unless you through cheese in sneakily. (Laughing) Yes, it’s great – It’s great. There’s lots of things I could choose from. DG – Ok. We’ve talked about the beer selection. RK – For the soft drinks you probably want to give some clue how large those are? JF – Yes. 75 cents is really inexpensive. RK – For 75 cents that’s not a high price for a soft drink so how tiny is that soft drink. JM – It’s in a dixy cup… (Laughing) RK – Is it 12oz – 16oz – 32oz? Some indication of what it is. AB – It would probably be a good idea to put something on there like you’re getting a can or bottle. BH – 12oz bottle of…. JF – It would also be nice to have water available at all these places too. DG – Did you say bottled water? All the trucks do sell bottled water. JF – Did the “Health of It” sell water? I didn’t see that. DG – Well let’s move on. Let’s go across our – first we’ll start with “Our Stories” where you’re going to learn about the background of the – I’m sure you’ve already look this over – what do you think of this or did it give you an idea of… RK – You’re introduced to the owners, the people who are responsible for bringing this – it makes you kind of feel like you know them. JM – I agree with Bob. I like the history of the couple. They used the word finest twice in two sentences – “the finest style of foods” “the finest and most fresh food” – but it doesn’t say anything about if it’s local if the food is local or – and that’s kind of big here… in Portland. If it’s sustainable business practices – things like that. DG – Very good. Anybody else on that? JF – Organic non-GMO JM – And if it’s not then you don’t put that in AA – I was going to say that I would’ve maybe preferred to have read that this six foods are your favorite, as opposed to, finest according to you guys. And maybe like – we’re passionate about these six cuisine’s and that way your passionate about these foods and why you selected them because otherwise be like – Fine what about Peruvian food – that’s great. (Laughing from the group) DG – That’s excellent. Anyone else on that? BC – I think related to that, I like the personal aspect of that – I’d maybe even add more – you could add about your pets – or what other things do you like – something that would give it a little more – because I like the personal aspect of that. JM – Yes, like we’re going go and see people we know right? DG – Great. Ok. We’ll go first to the contact – so for here and do you see – it does send live messages – shows you right where we’re on the map – where the plaza is – and you can send in… RK – I didn’t play around with it that much – does the map – is it – can you zoom out to get a sense of where Clackamas Community College is? Like if you were finding this say online using a search tool – but you really didn’t know the area very well – can you zoom out so you can get the interstate high way – so you would get an idea of how to get to this place? DG – Ok BC – Click the Google on the lower left-hand where it says Google and that will pull you to the full map. (The group all saying Oh…look there. Yes…) BC – Not sure if this map is tagged though. RK – Ok -- but that’s the idea – will that scroll down? DG – You must be in surveys Bill? RK – There you go, so now you can say now how do I get there from the high way in Oregon City. BH – And then you could connect – oh there’s Clackamas Community College even though it’s not pinned there….yes. RK – It would be idea if you wouldn’t lose the pin – you should have that there. DG – Ok great. Other than that Ok? (The group all at once say’s yes) DG – Ok – so last but – oops let’s get that back… AA – You could also use the David and Amy – those two – under your pictures - have them be a link to like an email – because if you click on it looks like it a hyper link and it doesn’t - nothing happens. DG – That’s a good idea. Ok so now we’ll move to the online ordering. I hope you had a chance to look through this. What’s your initial thoughts? JM – I like pictures. BC – Yes. RK – That would be great for a softball game – to be delivered to you or to pick up on the way to a game. BH – I’m very visual so being able to see the menu at the sight and then come in specifically to do online ordering was very nice – there you go – an you assuming – I didn’t try this – I did an order from Gyro Mania, but what would be really nice to be able to go I like a gyro, pita salad and then click into “For the Health Of it” and order mac n’ pa… - what was that - yes mac n’ squash – that was it – I was trying to visualize it – but you could have three or four places that – and then you could really push it through – now again I didn’t try that – but that would be a suggestion. RK – Mix and match…. JM – Just the whole families order. DG – You can do that. BH – You can do that? Ok. DG – You can take any of these carts and put them in one order BH – And that will be your order on the right hand side? Ok. JF – What would be great would be if you had a central pickup point. DG – Ok. That’s good to know. RK – Yes. BH – Especially if you are doing an online order – especially. JM – That would be kind of cool. BH – Then you wouldn’t have to visit four or five carts to get your – yes. DG – Ok RK – You would certainly need to know your online customers know about that because that’s kind of unusual to be able to essentially be online go to several different food carts order something from each one and yet combine it into a single order. JF – It’s kind of like we are moving toward a restaurant. (Laughing) RK – Yes but a multi-cost for this. BH – That would be a service that would be well received and appreciated from someone that is doing an online order and going to just pick up – if you could just pay the total of $45 and whoever presents your order would be able to get the money to the four other carts – well that’s you know…. RK – There are a lot of logistics to work out. BH – What about a tip? How does a tip get distributed if someone – and is there an option to leave a tip on the online ordering? I don’t recall that? RK – I’m not sure either. That’s always a nice… DG – Ok we’ll mark that down there. BH – It’s nice to be able to add that if you wish as an option or you can put the money in their bowl when you get to the food carts. DG – Anybody have anything else so far? JM – I have a little thing about the menus again. I didn’t notice that there were any kid menus. Most places have at least a couple of kid menu things – and I know that if your kids want a burger and fries then they are going to get a burger and fries but usually that to giant. And same with the Mexican food it’s just too much. Usually it’s just a size down. And maybe the Red, White, and Brew might have a peanut butter and jelly or mac n’ cheese. BH – At a discounted price… JM – Yes at a discounted price for kids and a smaller plate. So a kid menu would be a nice thing to have. DG – So what in just going off of that real quick – another one right off the without doing down the questions – what about a future cart just for kids? JM – Oh Please! Yes! DG – We might talk about that at the very end on suggestions so let’s get back to that. BH – Ok. Yes. JM – And also, I didn’t notice any - because I like sweet after - I didn’t notice any desserts on any of the menus. There no cookies or brownies ice cream AB – Another new cart? DG – Oh yes maybe there’s an expansion for these carts. JM – There are. DG – Ok. Great so I’m going to go around the room real quickly and start with Jackie and work our way around. On a scale of 1 – 10 overall how appealing is this website? JF – Um I would put it at around 8. If you’d make those changes we talked about 9 or 10. AA – I would say an 8 too. I’d like movement so maybe if you could have a Facebook feed that shows people talking saying good things something that makes it look like it’s happening – it’s active – theirs people going there – you know – it’s a fun environment. DG – Ok…Amy? AB – I’m going to give it a 9 because it’s very personal – you feel like you’re kind of at home – and I love the online ordering aspect of it – I’ve never seen that as a part of food carts before – I’d give it a 9. BC – I’d say maybe 9 yes absolutely. JM – Yep 8 ½ - 9 or 10 with the changes BH – I would give it a nine – I really like the connection with the hosts – the connection with the video of the week – getting to know the cart owners and/or the workers behind the scenes – there’s a lot of feel good with this – with this website that makes me feel connected to it – the story as well. DG – Robert? RK – Yes I think I would be right in the same ballpark with what everyone else has said on here – I think it works very well – One thing that I’m not quite as certain of is the image of the cart in the middle there. It looks sort of like a canned, generic food cart image and I think you could probably improve on that. DG – Maybe putting one of the food carts on there? RK – You could put one of the carts on – depending on whether you want that to be a logo for you – a single identifier image – in which case – I don’t you’d want one of the individual food carts but if nothing else maybe a drawing that fits better - a little better with the rest of the images. It just looks a little cartoonish whereas the rest of the site doesn’t. DG – Ok. One last question on the webpage. Would you use a smart phone app to order or get information about specials if it was available? BH – Absolutely. JM – Heck yes. BH – Yes. (Computer screen is now showing the Cartropolis Facebook site) DG – We’re going to take a quick glance at the Facebook and Twitter page – just to get your initial ideas on it. Just one moment... You can see that this logo is still there. It carries over. What were your initial thoughts just going through – anybody have any? AB – I loved all the deals that they had for during the week. I want to say that I don’t have a smart phone so – I have one of those really old flip phones – and I would love the option of maybe being on a mailing list that I could get coupons. BH – How about a text message? Possibly a text…. AB – But I love the daily deals – you know the - all the different fun activities – you can bring your cat in and get a free catnip milkshake. (Laughing from the group) AB – I thought that was fun – it was playful. DG – What do you think of this maybe connecting with the school right here… “Monday Madness Visit Cartropolis wearing any CCC Cougar clothing and receive a free reusable Cartropolis water bottle. JM – Oh yes…right! BH – Great idea. DG – Ok. So you are big on specials and promotions. Good. JM – I was kind of expecting – not hoping or anything – but just expecting to see the video that you had on your website on the Facebook page as well because with Facebook your website as a video of the week – and so you missed it last week – and your friend was on it – you could go to your Facebook page and see all the videos that were there. So I was expecting to see the video there. DG – Ok. Anyone else before we move to Twitter? AA – I would look at photos that would be my first thing to go look at and see – pictures of the food. DG – Ok photos…very good. JM – And people enjoying it. (Computer screen is now showing the Cartropolis Twitter site) DG – Ok…let’s move to Twitter. JM – (whispering) I don’t Tweet. DG – There’s…. JM – Well that looks nice. That’s a great image right up there. BH – Yes….I did notice that there seemed like there was a little bit more – there was less green I would have to say I kind of liked that compared to the Facebook page and there were some other photos that were – it was a little more appealing the Twitter. DG – Ok great. Any other thoughts? JM – I really like that photo up top. AB – Once again I don’t have a Twitter account so I don’t know how I‘d be able to utilize this but – you know – but back to the same making sure that there’s a mailing list would be a good idea so I would get emails and it would be fresh in my mind weekly or monthly that they’re over there and they’re having an event or a special. BH – I don’t have a Twitter account either but my assumption would be that some of the same specials and deals to get people out might be the same – you wouldn’t miss out if you just had a Facebook account. DG – Ok. JF – Putting the specials on like that would keep people visiting the site a lot. (Computer screen is now back showing the Cartropolis website home page) DG – Ok great so we’ll wrap this up with just an overall – any ideas – anything you could think of now that you would through out to – that you’d like to see in a food cart plaza – or on any other social media sites that we haven’t talked about yet? JM – We covered a whole lot. BH – Yes. AB – I mean I love Jen’s idea of having an additional kid’s cart – a dessert cart I think that’s great. I also love the idea of having all the photos pulled into Facebook and see all those things. And then the thought – the really scrumptious picture that’s on the Twitter page – maybe that could be pulled in somehow to this website as well. JM – And if we are talking about kids – you wanted to have just a little – tiny little play place or sand box – well sand would be gross when there eating but you know a kid picnic table – a little something – swing set – something for – kids don’t sit still and eat – they run around and everything. RK – But also at least in good times of good weather you’ve got to have some music – arrange some live music. BH – Oh music. JM- Yes. DG – Very good. BH – And those could be things that could be featured in a Tweet or in a text message – “hey come down and… RK – Have something to eat… JM – It would be a good connection to the college as well. AB – You could get some of our students to play over there. RK – Get Bill Clinton to play his sax over there. (Laughing from the group) BH – You never know…. DG – Are there any final thoughts? JM – It’s a great idea. BC – Yes JF – I love it. AB – Makes me hungry. DG – Well, I want to thank each and every one of you today. These are great ideas and I’m sure the hosts are going to take in your considerations and incorporate them and I’m sure this is going to be a great project that both the school and the community are going to be happy about. So thank you for your time. I wish you were well compensated but I appreciate you all being here, so thanks for all your information. BH – Thank you for including us. RK – Thank you for including us. It’s good.

This process contains revisions that have been made to each of the food cart plaza elements, following the Cartropolis focus group. We felt that several of the changes suggested were valid ideas and we ended up using them in our revisions. However, after thorough discussion among the owners, some of the other ideas brought up were not used due the fact, among other things, that the quantitative survey results, showed otherwise. The following is a chronological based assessment of the focus group results: 1) The first question that was brought up focused on delivery. “Is this venue going to have delivery at all?” We have revised the on-line ordering section of the web page to include delivery at a nominal charge. The delivery area will be within a 3 mile radius of the plaza.

2) The next idea was to change the name of the food cart plaza to “Cartopolis” dropping the second “r” from the original name. Another idea was to put a hyphen between Cart and tropois. The owners decided to stick with the original name of “Cartropolis” due to the fact that the quantitative survey found the name to be both catchy and professional and the owners just love that name.

3) Although the group as a whole really like the flags in the title page, they were confused about the forks in the final flag. This was a valid point that the owners understood and decided to change that flag to another American flag.

4) The question about the tagline “Spanning the Globe to bring you the Constant Variety of Food” was brought up. One idea was to change the wording, but that will not be happening in this instance.

5) When the “video of the week” was mentioned they consensus was that it was a good idea, but only if the video was kept up to date, with constant changes. The owners agree and this has been instituted.

6) When looking at the different names for the food carts, the name Pastaliscious was mentioned because one of the members thought that the name invoked pasta only and she was surprised to see more pizza choices than anything else. The owners think the name is synonymous with Italian food, so they want to leave it as is, but appreciate the suggestions. 7) Concern about domestic beer being priced the same as foreign beer was the topic of the next slide. The owners are changing the price to reflect the ideas of the panel.

8) They panel overwhelmingly agreed that the price of a soda was too inexpensive for what you were getting. The picture is of bottles of soda with a seventy-five cent price tag. The owners have changed to picture to indicate that the soda comes in cans.

9) The “Our Stories” tab was mentioned next. One of the members pointed out that the wording needed to be changed. She things it should point out that the food is fresh, which is important in the Portland area. The owners agree and have addressed this.

10) Within the same tab, a member wants to see more of the human side of the owners, such as interests, pets, etc. The owners agree and, once again, have addressed this.

11) The map was next on the list for the group and overall, they loved it. They would like to see the pin remain for Cartropolis and the owners agree and are working on this.

12) One of the members wanted to be able to “mix and match” their orders by choosing items from more than one food cart. This has been changed to accomplish this and now the customer can put one order in and include menu items from any or all of the carts.

13) It was suggested that there could be a central pick-up point for orders from different carts and, once again, the owners agree and want to do this.

14) It was mentioned that there might not be any area to leave a tip in the online ordering system. It was then pointed out that there was indeed a place for this.

15) The idea was brought up about a cart just for kids, or at least adding kid’s items to existing menus. The owners added a kids cart to the survey, but the respondents didn’t rank that kind of cart very highly on their wish list. The same thing was mentioned about a dessert cart. The owners will be adding carts in the future and both of these carts will be discussed.

16) The logo on all three food cart elements was not popular among the focus group. They thought the logo looked “cartoonish” and “generic”. It was suggested that the owners use a photo of one of the actual carts. The owners agree and this change has been made.

17) Next, the Facebook page was shown to the group and it was brought up that there should be a mailing list for people who don’t have smart phones and want coupons. This is a great idea that is being worked on by the owners.

18) Adding the video of the week to the Facebook page was a great idea by one of the members and the owners are going to do this.

19) Another overall idea was to take the green background out of the main Cartropolis title page on all three elements and maybe change it to a food background. The owners have listened and addressed this immediately.

EAT HEALTHY AND EXERCISE

Eat Healthy and Exercise Focus Group – Wednesday, November 16, 2016 DG – David SH – Sara LF – Laura MB – Miranda AB – Amy JB – Jessica SS – Stephanie DG – Ok welcome to this focus group. My name is David Green from Washington State University’s Edward R. Morrow’s School of Communications - working on my masters in strategic communications program. This is for COMMSTRAT565 “Professional Marketing & Management Campaigns”. You’re here voluntarily, of course, to be involved in a focus group – participate in this focus group and what we’re going to do today is talk about the exercise and eating habits of women your age, generally between 18 and 50 years old. We’re also going to evaluate a Facebook page and determine its value to the audience that views the page. Ok? We don’t see any risks in taking part of this study. Your privacy will be protected. This will not be put out on any social media sites or YouTube – anything that will damage your privacy. Ok? This discussion is being taped – videotaped – Gordon Christensen of Clackamas Community College is the cameraman and we are taking this focus group is taking place at Clackamas Community College and you are here voluntarily and unfortunately you will not be receiving any payment. I would love to do that, but I’m a college student so you know what that means. Ok? So on that note welcome to the focus group and we’re going to go around the table individually and introduce ourselves. I just want to hear your first name – and then I want to hear – I want you to think about this for a moment – while I will start it, but I want you to tell me your favorite healthy food. So your first name and then if somebody said I’m going to get you – make you a meal but it’s going to be healthy – what would you order from that person? And I will start… I am David and my healthy food would be salmon with one of my favorite vegetables mixes peas and corn and some onions involved in that and a little bit of garlic and a nice glass of pinot gris wine. SH – Healthy – My name is Sara. If I could order something healthy…. – I have no idea what it would be … - I like steamed broccoli – I think it’s delicious. I would order that – I mean – we make some pretty good broccoli in my household with probably some chicken and rice because brown rice is delicious. LF – I’m Laura I think my favorite healthy meal would be grilled chicken salad with avocado, tomato and balsamic dressing. And I’d add a glass of cab. (Laughing from the group) MB – I’m Miranda and one of my favorite go to foods is stir fry. AB – My name is Amy and I love to make a salad put beans and sliced up apples and maybe a crispy garden burger chopped up on top – and I love the Opa’s salad dressing – it’s a yogurt based salad dressing. Then of course I’d have to have a little 5oz class of pinot gris with that…healthy. JB – My name is Jessica and I too really love steamed broccoli – I’m on a kick with that right now – I really enjoy that stuff. There’s also a nice little Mexican soup dish that I’ve made before with Sara and it’s really nice and I think we put like some tomatoes in there and like cilantro and just like spice it up and it turned out really well and there’s like nothing bad in it – It’s just like vegetables and fruits and bell peppers and stuff like that. So yes it was really good. SS – I’m Stephanie and I guess I would probably order some of like sandwich wrap or something like that – I also really like pineapple so I might just ask for a whole bunch of pineapple – the fresh good kind though. DG – Ok great. Let me start by asking a question and I’ll direct it to one of you and anyone can chime in afterwards or I’ll move it around the room a little bit. This about this….What does a healthy person look like to you? What does a healthy person look like to you Miranda? MB – Confident. DG – Ok. Amy? AB – God I love that answer…that’s really good. I would say that a healthy person has good tone skin and you know they look like they’re alive (Laughing from the group) I don’t think it necessarily they have to be skinny, skinny, skinny, you know it can be any body size - it’s how you feed your body – how you treat your body – but I guess even a really big smile. That’s healthy. DG – Nice. Laura? LF – I agree. Those are both really good. I was thinking like too skin tone, vibrant coloring and a smile – and stand up straight – give off a positive energy – that feels healthy to me. DG – Stephanie? SS – I think of healthy people as people who do things in moderation so whether that is food or exercise or whatever it is – so some sort of balance. Also who are able to live the level of activity that they want for their lifestyle. So that means that if you’re a runner then you exercise more and maybe you eat cleaner and if you’re more of a casual hiker or something like so that your body doesn’t necessarily get in your way of living your life. DG – Good. We’re going to keep moving on now and I’m going to go with Sara with this one. In the past, what has helped you to be or stay healthy? SH – I feel like for me goals have been mentally thinking about where I want to be in the future or like not physically but mentally – where I want to set myself up physically in the future so – the choices I make today are important as to what I make 20 years from now. There’s some people who don’t make as healthy choices and you can really see it sometimes in older generations – like goal setting and making sure you’re in the right mind set is really important especially mentally knowing that you’re using what you think is right for you and not just doing because of what other people say as well. DG – Great. Jess? JB – Yes I think goals have helped me in the past as well. I think one thing I’ve always struggled with is like telling myself you need to do this. So I’ll get up in the morning and I’ll be like I have to work out today and I’m just like I don’t want to do this - I don’t want to do this. And then I just have to tell myself, you just have to go out there and do it. Because as soon as I go out there and start doing it – it’s not as bad as the dread of doing it. So I think just getting out there is biggest thing. DG – Great. Amy, in the past what’s gotten in the way of you becoming and staying healthy? AB – Uggh.. Today’s a new day I always say. I always put this goal in my head and then I screw up – eat something bad and then I go I just messed up my whole day, but if I put in my mind set that ok I just had a hamburger I could start fresh right now and it’s not like I have to start over next Monday – I could start over right now and I think the things that have been holding me back is just saying to myself – I’m not going to start Monday…I’m going to start right now. DG – Great – and Miranda you’ve talked to me before the focus group about getting into an exercise programs and everything’s really working really hard at that. We’re all proud of you for that buy the way MB – Yay. DG – What has gotten in the way in the past to you from becoming healthy? MB – Definitely my mindset it has a huge part in that and just wrapping your head around – this is what I need to do for me – and then making the time commitment to do it. It’s very easy to find excuses to kind of get out of that and not do it or postpone it or – it’s a vicious cycle so really consciously scheduling the time to do it – and it’s on my calendar and that my time to do it and sticking with it. DG – Ok. Stephanie? SS – Your question was about what gets in the way of… DG – What gets in the way of becoming or staying healthy? SS – I think mostly similar to Miranda and Amy it’s about a mental state, but I also noticed that when I surround myself with friends that are making healthier choices, I also make healthier choices. Sometimes if I’m really not doing well with that, I choose to not hang out around then – which is a sign in and of itself that things are not going so well, but often when my friends are making healthier choices and we’re all on board with one another’s choices we tend to support each other and it makes it a lot easier. So instead of inviting me out to dinner to hang out, we might go for a walk…or something like that. DG – Great. Ok let’s direct this to Laura. Laura how do you decide what to eat at home? LF – Well, I’d like to say I do meal planning but not always consistent with that. So sometimes it’s a matter of what we have a home and scrambling to figure it out and get it made. Sometimes it’s actually being prepared and making lunches ahead of time and preparing those meals and having a game plan for the week but it’s say about 50/50 both. So sometimes I’m a little more organized and be able to plan and other times what’s there and we’re all scrambling to figure it out. DG – Ok. Sara? SH – I would say it’s a mix of a lot of things. Sometimes – most of the time – other members of the household are cooking meals but when I have to cook, I mostly cook at Jess’s house because she’s not as obligated – she’s more obligated to get freezer foods and I’m not a fan – I really try because I know processed foods are not good for you – So let’s not do that all the time, but for me it’s hard in general just because I’m almost feel like I don’t have time for anything so meal planning – Like meal planning I feel like in general is a great idea and like everyone wants to do it but thinking that you – having the time versus thinking you don’t have the time and stuff like that mentally is a lot of strain on someone to do it each week. You have to be really scheduled but not at the same time because were in the routine you’d already know how to do it. DG – Ok. Great. I’m going to go back to Miranda. Where do you get your information about food? MB – I do a lot of my own research online. There’s also several podcasts that I enjoy listening to on my way and to work because I drive a long way. So there’s like the model health show – is one that I really like – and then there’s like three or four that I’m listening to right now that all chime in on different topics – everyday I’m getting something a little different and you really try to focus on the ones where they’ve done the research and have the sources to back it up so I can go back and look at it myself later. DG – Ok. Stephanie? SS – I knew you were going to ask me this one…. (Laughing from the group) SS – I don’t do a lot of research on food at this point. Mostly I rely on things that are fairly obvious like fruits, vegetables, like I know those are the healthier choices – but it doesn’t necessarily mean I make those healthier choices – I know processed foods also aren’t great for you. I do get some information from literature I read regarding mental health because mental and physical health are tied together, so a lot of times I’ll read articles that are maybe geared to people in psychology or self-help and that sort of regard that might address eating habits or healthy foods like omega-3 fatty acids stuff like that. So thinks I read and sometimes I’ll look things up – sometimes I do see something a little alarming on Facebook and I do look it up. Like there was this ingredient that was in butane liter fluid that’s in crackers and I looked it up and it was true and it was quite horrifying – so don’t ask me the name of it – it was some unpronounceable thing. (Laughing from the group) SS – Then I also recognize that if I can’t pronounce it, it’s probably not great for me. DG – Great. Great. Ok, here’s a question I’ll just fire it out – anybody can take it here. Do you every feel guilty after eating? AB – Yes. DG – Jess? JB – Yes all the time. Because I know that I shouldn’t be going to Taco Bell – I shouldn’t be eating out all the time as much. I – we have a goal right – it’s that we only go out twice a week and that’s just for the entire week, and we’re not doing so great at it. So every time we go out and spend money on food and we spend money on this bad food for us, I just feel bad about everything – about the money that I’m losing – but mostly about what I’m putting into my body because I know it’s not good for it and I know that regardless of looks – like 10..20 years down the road the food that I’m eating now is not going to reflect on me later – and I’m scared about that. DG – Anybody else? AB – Yes. At night I have a huge sweet tooth after dinner and so I may have been good all day long and then I eat that gigantic cookie and it’s like – what did I just do? – and you can take it back. DG – Now is that a full cookie or a half of cookie? AB – Sometime a half a cookie sometimes it’s the whole cookie sometimes it’s just something sweet. DG – I didn’t know if you significant other had the other half? (Laughing from the group) AB – Sometimes I share – sometimes I don’t. DG – Great…great. Anybody else? SS – I think night time is worst for me or weekends – so when I’m at work I barely have time to go to the bathroom so I don’t eat lots of inappropriate things at work to be perfectly honest with you. But when I get home, Oh Stephanie, you’ve had a hard day – you deserve this treat. Great. And it feels like it’s going to either buy something I don’t need or eat something I don’t need. Quite frankly at this point it would be better to buy something I don’t need – but I also tend to stay home and like you’re going to relax and watch Netflix or something like that and I’m one person so I don’t really cook very often – I might cook on the weekend and make a bunch of lunches for the week if I’m feeling really good. I did that last night but a lot of times it easier to have a bunch of left over pizza or something like that in my refrigerator than it is to go through all the trouble cooking for one person. DG – Ok. AA – I totally agree – I could be good all week long because I’m busy, busy, busy all day but then I just mess up on the weekends and that’s when you feel guilty about it – and I have to go to weight watchers on Monday morning and weight…. (Laughing from the group) DG – Ok. I’m just going to switch a little gear here and it’s not even on my question list but just listening… What is your one evil thing that you eat – I mean the one thing that you grab – maybe in the comfort food or anything – I’ll start off I’ll get you going here and we’ll work our way around the table with this one so think about it. One of my things is – I love frozen chocolate. Hershey kisses with the little almond slice frozen in the freezer. I will be watching a game – a football game or something and I’ll end up with foil all over me. (Laughing from the group) DG – Because I will be in that bag – just reaching in and continuing – It’s ridiculous – I have foil all over me and it’s crazy but that’s – chocolate’s one of my evil foods. Sara? SH – Yes. I love all types of food. So I don’t feel like I have a certain food – in general – when I eat a meal or just when I’m eating in general – and I have like a bag of chips – I’ll just go through the whole thing – I have a problem more with mindlessly grabbing food and eating it more than I am like – Oh My God I have to have chocolate – I love crackers. (Laughing) the whole non benefits but mostly I wouldn’t say I have just one food – I would say I have specific categories of food but like my problem would be overeating the thing I am eating – I choose to eat. DG – Ok. Laura? LF – I can relate to Sara I feel like some of - I have these trigger foods that if I start and eat a little bit of it then I don’t feel like I have a whole lot of control. One food that would be really hard would be – I have a dairy allergy – but they have cashew ice cream and it’s amazing – it was a recent discovery that I found and I can eat the whole thing. (Laughing from the group) LF – Yes it’s amazing. DG – That’s great. That’s great. Thank you. Miranda? MB – Ice cream is my – and it’s hard – I drive by two Dairy Queen’s and like three Baskin Robins on my way home… (Laughing from the group) MB – every single day so I don’t need to stop there – I’m ok I don’t need the ice cream. DG – Ok. AB – I love pizza. Pizza is good stuff and it’s no naughty and I love to dip it in blue cheese dressing and so if we get pizza and we have some pizza then it has to be finished the next night 0 so it’s just evil food – it’s loaded with bad, bad yumminess. (Laughing from the group) DG – Jess? JB – My food is fries. I don’t discriminate against any fry. They are the perfect form of potato. (Laughing from the group) JB – I love them so much. It doesn’t matter I have a problem with fries. I eat them at least once a week. SH – (Laughing) this is like an addiction thing – like Hi my name’s Sara and I have a problem with fries. (Laughing from the group) JB – Yes – I’m addicted to fries. AB – The psychologist…. DG – Stephanie? SS – Well there’s some good chemicals in there – there’s a reason for that. (Laughing from the group) JB – Thank you… SS – So I also love fries – I actually – my thing that I indulge in every single day though is chocolate. There’s no question, even doing weight watchers, I hoard all my points for the end of the day so I can over eat some chocolate. Every single day…. And I can’t just open the candy bar and eat half of it or third of it – no – I should just have the whole thing now since I opened it. (Laughing from the group) SS – But I have essentially quite mostly going to fast food restaurants – every now and then I’ll go, but you know I justify sitting down at restaurants was more acceptable. I may not have meat slime in my taco but it’s probably not good for you right – so I will do fries – I will find some fried potato or tater tots – you know whatever it is because there are only three vegetables I like and they’re all the useless ones – potatoes, corn, and onions. (Laughing from the group) JB – Corn is not useless. DG – Ok. Let’s move on. That one was right off the top of my head and probably one of my best ones. Have any of you considered yourself a yoyo dieter – or have you used that phrase? SH – What’s that…? (Laughing) DG – That’s someone who goes on – who will continue to go up in weight down in weight. AB – Yes me…… SS – Yes. AB – and it’s very depressing – it’s like you have some really good weeks and then you kind of fall off the wagon and with women it happens – and it’s almost mental – but it’s our bodies as well – and it could be water weight – it could be – so I just try to keep it mentally positive track on my diet and know that I’m probably go up a little bit sometimes in the month but if I can just keep on track it’s going to continue to go down. DG – Ok. Anybody else want to…. SS – I didn’t really engage in a lot of diets – I’m trying to eat healthier – I did quit drinking soda in 2010 which was really hard because it was my only source of caffeine…. DG – you and me….. (Laughing from the group) SS – So it’s up there – I miss my cherry coke I’ll be honest – but around that time I started doing some work around my eating habits and I think I’ve dropped 20 points and then I gained it plus some. Two years ago, I guess something like that, I started weight watchers and for a year I could count on one hand the number of days I did not fall off my weight watchers plan – and that was Christmas, Thanksgiving, a birthday, and maybe one other day – for an entire year and I lost 60 pounds. Well I’ve gained half of it back now. They changed the plan one morning when I woke up and ever since – I don’t what the block is – I don’t know what’s different now – but for the last year I haven’t been able to get back on to the track. So I wouldn’t have called myself a yoyo dieter consistently in the past but within the last five to six years, I feel like I’m kind of in that spot because I just didn’t diet in the past. DG – Ok. Anybody else or would…. LF – I have experience with that I feel that I always sought the perfect program for me and what works and what’s effective. Some programs have been effective that I’ve tried – different styles of eating – and trying follow lifestyle ways of eating. Like right now I follow a paleo diet due to food allergies but it’s always just seeking what works and what Amy was saying losing some weight and gaining it back and just that back and forth instead of having it stay consistent. DG – ok. Great. Now I want to show of hands on this one – this question. Have you ever turned to comfort food when you have a bad day or something bad happens in your life? SS – Can I put both hands up? (Laughing from the group) (Everyone in the room put their hand up) DG – As a matter of fact, for the record, I think I saw Gordon the cameraman put his hand up also. Alright. Well that’s – you know – I think everybody’s done that and me included so I just wanted to get an idea on that one. Now you mentioned weight watchers a couple of you. Everybody else can chime in on this one – Have you ever tried a nutritional program such as Weight Watchers, Atkins, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem – what was the result? Anybody want to – Laura have you done that? LF – Sure I have tried weight watchers quite a few different times in the past. After college or grad school so I think in my 30s and then after having my first child and I had success with it and lost what they say your target weight is – I think – and I was able to maintain that and then – I’ve tried paleo diet – I did a south beach diet which I think is similar to Atkin’s quite some time ago and then the body for life program (laughing) So yes I’ve tried several ones. DG – Ok. And wait a minute – wait a minute – you mean you can go to grad school in your 20 or 30s? (Laughing from the group) DG – Anyway….Anybody else? SH – I never tried a diet but I did when I played Lacrosse in high school. Our coach challenged us to do the Whole30 which was basically you cut out dairy, grains, bread, and then like all sugars. And I did that – It’s really rough doing it by yourself. DG – Anybody else? Have you been through…? AB – I’ve done weight watchers for a few years now and I’ve lost weight. I feel like it teaches me how to eat healthier and be more positive eating healthier. I’ve done the Atkin’s – I did it for a while – lost weight – went off of it and gained all back really quick – so I didn’t feel that it was healthy at all. DG – So what stops you from going on that since it worked? AB – The Atkin’s? DG – Or something similar to that? AB – I didn’t like that I was eating so much fat on that one. I didn’t think it was the healthy way to do it and I don’t think I was doing it the healthiest way – I mean – eating just high – lots of cheese lots of meats – it was also quite a yoyo thing when I really finally I gained 30 pounds in two months and it was just like I wasted it. DG – Ok. Anybody else want to join in there? SS – I did weight watchers I guess I’m still doing weight watchers loosely and then I did DG – Weight watchers light you mean…..? (Laughing from the group) SS – I did a compulsive eating course which was very helpful - that’s what I did when decided to quit drinking soda actually. But I have purposefully avoided pretty much all program like the Whole30 or Atkins or any of those things because reality if those are not sustainable and as you mentioned earlier you mentioned evil foods – I actually don’t think that any particular food is evil but there are some foods that I have more difficulty with than others like if you were to put broccoli in front of me I would have no trouble abstaining from eating the broccoli – but if you put chocolate in front of me it’s a whole different story. So you know – I think anything in moderation and almost all diets – and their effective – Atkin’s is effective while you’re on it but it’s generally not sustainable on the long term. One of my colleagues did the Whole30 and he lost quite a bit of weight in a month – fantastic – but odds are he gained the weight back and went back to his old eating habits – right because it’s not something you’re going to keep doing for the rest of your life – Much like when people are early on in recovery from addiction they don’t want to admit that they may never drink again ever for the rest of their life – if feels like a really long time – well if you do the paleo – or not paleo but the Atkin’s diet you might have to accept that you will never have another carb for the rest of your life – and I like carbs so that’s not something I’m going to sign up for a lifestyle change because it doesn’t seem sustainable or realistic. LF – I agree with that - the with the Whole30 while I felt really good on it and did it and those 30 days I found it helpful to identify different patterns and where hunger ques are emotional eating perhaps – I found that helpful but certainly – I recently did it but after the 30 days it’s not sustainable for me. It’s very strict and it has some benefits for 30 days but long term not so much. DG – Ok. Alright. Let’s move on to exercise now. So, Miranda, I’m going to start with you on this one. Since you’re really into this right now, what’s your favorite kind of exercise – what… MB – I don’t know if I have a specific favorite but I am working with a personal trainer three days a week and so he really does a great job of programing a lot of variety in what we are doing so I’m not getting stuck in a rut with this is what I just do and he’s been really good at helping me find some of the exercises that kind of challenge me and so the one that we had the most fun with year is deadlifting, so I’ve hit a personal record of deadlifting 295 lbs. DG – Oh good for you. AB – Wow. MB – So that’s been a lot of fun. DG – Ok… anybody else? So Miranda were you saying cross training things like that style of exercise? MB – Yes. DG – Ok. I just wanted to get that clear. AB – I like to walk when I exercise I want to either go out for a walk – a brisk walk – or at home get one the treadmill – and I know that you need to have more to it – there needs to me more to it, but that’s the thing that I always go to is just go for a nice mile two mile walk on the treadmill. DG – Anybody else have a favorite ex. DG – Anybody else have a favorite exercise in mind that… JB – I like running…. DG – Running? JB – Running on a treadmill – I did it for a little bit and then I quit of course, but (laughing) I know for the time that I was doing it – during it it’s just absolutely awful, but after there like this runners high I guess I experience and it was just really nice to feel that and it felt like I was accomplished and that I did something and I don’t know I just really liked the benefits of running. DG – Ok. LF – I enjoy spinning classes… AB – Wow. LF – Yes. I like the distraction – somebody talking me through it in group classes and accountability works well for me. DG – Good. SS – I like exercise that is more activity based so like I used to love roller skating – roller blading or going with friends roller skating or something like that. I used to also love swimming when I was a kid. Usually when I’m exercising it’s when I’m by myself so I end up on the treadmill or walking or I used to use my We Fit program and also Dance Dance Revolution because it awesome. DG – That was pretty popular. SS – For me, my main concern is like cardio – I’ve always been pretty flexible pretty strong so building muscle hasn’t been something I’ve been concerned about – cardio is something I dislike passionately so my friend made me - she didn’t make me – she can’t make me do anything… (Laughing from the group) SS – We signed up for a 5K and so I trained for that – not to run it but to walk/jog it and I didn’t get the runners high – I mostly felt like vomiting – I did achieve my goal of doing it in under an hour and we thought it was going to be a flat course and it turned out to be a trail run so I was pretty pleased with that - and so I had done – and I used an app actually – later to actually train to do another one called Couch to 5K – I didn’t do that 5K but it was to help prepare for another 5K – I never made through the entire app program, but I made it through a few weeks of practicing. DG – Ok. Jess, are there any barriers that keep you from being more active? JB – My schedule definitely – my schedule – balancing a full full-time here at CCC and then working over 20 hours a week on average – I just find it really hard to find time for just exercise and eating healthy – just both of those things. Especially right now in the midst to transferring to a university because I have even more things to think about. But overall I feel like my schedule is just too hectic and I’m only 19 so I don’t feel like I’ve got it all worked out yet but sometime I’ll learn time management. (Laughing from the group) DG – Ok anybody else want to talk about any barriers they have. SS – Mine is motivation. The truth is if I really wanted to do something, I’m going to make time for it but clearly I don’t really want to exercise because I haven’t made time for it in weeks. AB – I’m my own barrier because if I would just go home and put on the shoes and change the close and get on the treadmill and do it – it would be done in 45 minutes and I’d feel great that I’ve accomplished it, but it’s me that’s the barrier. DG – Ok. SH – I feel like I have a getting started barrier because I used to be very physically fit - not very like the best varsity – but I used to be like for like how I am now I used to be very physically fit and like getting back into that and just not being as able cardio, deep breathing, I don’t’ have the best metabolism or like breathing style (laughing) – not breathing style but it’s like it’s not – the more you run the better it gets – so like I used to do a lot of cardio and running and like doing the elliptical – but honestly when I was doing it I was just counting down the time and like - you know like how there’s the calorie count – I wasn’t going like burning, but I was like I can get to the next 100 and then like a minute and like for me it’s like knowing I’m not going to be as good as I was before is kind of like down putting – it’s like uggh you know I’ll start – because I knew if I started today I’d probably have to start by walking and I wouldn’t want to walk, I’d want to be able to jog and it’s like the breathing – and I get anxiety because when I work out with other people I have anxiety about other people watching me and not being as good as those other people even though we’re on different levels of physical exercise I just want to be like – not that I want to be better than them but I don’t want to be how I am – I guess I would say. DG – Ok. Ok… and we’ve kind of touched on this one. If you’re currently on or been on an exercise program before what did it consist of? So your last exercise program that you structured – that you said I’m going to do an exercise program – what did you do? SS – Mine was self-imposed to walking and jogging x number of days a week to train for the 5K. LF – Mine was a group training program where we met with the trainer twice a week and then had assigned workouts another two to three times a week – It’s been quite a while. AB – I feel like the last time I had something structured was when I was trying to get fit for a cruise and I would leave work and I would go over to the fitness center here at the college and I would get on a treadmill and do my workout and that would be my extent of my day – I wouldn’t leave work until I was don’t with my workout so I had like a goal in mind. SS – Home is a black hole like… (Laughing from the group) SS – It’s so bad. DG – Anybody else. SS – I had a routine. I would work on the elliptical for like 24 minutes – but I would go as hard as I could in intervals – like during those time – this minute I would work extra hard and then I’ll rest for a minute. MB – Yes. Doing intervals is really helpful with cardio work in that’s one of the things that my trainer has me doing with – we have like a set day a week that I’m in the gym on my own doing cardio but it’s kind of a prescribed cardio program that he’s given me and it’s you know – I’ll do just four minutes on the rope – on the rope slams and it’s like you go as hard as you can for 20 seconds and then you back off and slow down for 10 seconds and so creating that circuit so you get a little more oomph for your effort. DG – Ok. Great. I’m going off the page again. I’m the type of person that set’s goals and then when I reach that goal I need another goal and what I mean by that I will lose weight and get in the best shape of my life and then I’ve met that goal so then I let that relapse to have that goal again. Have any of you done similar things like that? Do you – maybe my question is why – and it seems to be a consensus that everybody seems to feel good when you’re exercise and eating right – why do we stop? Maybe that’s where I’m going with that – if we feel so good and everything’s going great and your sleeping better and feeling better and your clothes are fitting better and you’re looking better – your skin tones great – why do we stop that? JB – Because we’re lazy. It’s easier to stop – it’s easier to not move – it’s easier to eat bad food – sit on the couch – do nothing – it’s easy to do nothing especially when our lives are so chalk full of things that’s just go go and you just want to stop for a minute – so instead of exercising you choose to stop…at least personally. SS – When my like changes – right – so like in the summer when I was off if when I was training for the 5K I had nothing but time right. I didn’t have to wake up an hour early to go work out, I could go work out whenever I wanted to go work out – and then the day I woke up and all of a sudden weight watchers had changed I was just furious. I didn’t get any notification. I didn’t know idea all of my saved foods said zero points – which was exciting right… (Laughing from the group) SS – Like but I knew that was not accurate. So when something changes either unexpectedly or even a planned change and you don’t take the time to make sure you work it into your schedule, I think that’s probably... DG – Ok. LF – I even find it difficult having those patterns and routines and even when like daylight savings time it’s darker earlier and just to have the energy when I get off of work – with family and doing everything it feels like it’s 8 o’clock when I leave here because it’s so dark so I think just those shifts in regular routine makes it challenging to pick up and continue. DG – Ok. Ok. I’m going to go off the sheet again because Stephanie gave me a good question and her last answer. Let’s just go around the room real quickly – when do you feel – and all you have to say the one word – when do you feel is the best time to exercise? Morning or night? SS – Morning JB – Night AB – Morning MB – Night LF – Morning SS – Morning DG – Isn’t that interesting? It’s about split. SS – I get it – I would say… AB – But I don’t exercise in the morning that’s the problem. (Laughing from the group) AB – I get it in my head because that’s when I should be because then I got it over with. SS – I’m likely to have the most energy in the morning but I’m not getting up early to do it because I value sleep more and I wish I could do it at night but I can tell you what happens when I get home and it’s not good. (Laughing from the group) SS – Like I’m exhausted at the end of my day and I’m not – I have no energy to do – like to clean my sink let alone go work out right – like that’s not going to happen. DG – Ok. That was interesting and I had a feeling that’s how that was going to go. It was kind of split down the middle. I think you can take a survey of five hundred people and that might be split down the middle of that question. SH – That’s not really an option for most people. (Computer screen turns on to the Eat Healthy and Exercise Facebook) DG – Alright so let’s turn out attention to this site and this site is put out by a company – a local company who also is looking at a food cart plaza – so we see this Facebook site – Eat Healthy and Exercise – Ok – So I’m going to ask a few questions about his site. First of all – just a general question and we’ll go to whoever wants to volunteer an answer – What social media sites would you use to get information about eating healthy and exercising? SS – I wouldn’t use social media to get information about healthy eating or exercising because almost all the time that the stuff we see on Facebook is inaccurate, however, if a friend recommended a site to me then I would consider going to it, but I wouldn’t ever go onto Facebook and search “Healthy Eating” because I wouldn’t trust the information. MB – No I wouldn’t… JB - I agree with that. MB – No I wouldn’t do that either. There are a few that I do follow on social media, but they’re the ones that I’ve heard through – either through a friend or through the podcasts that I’ve already been listening to and know. SS – Or maybe you find an article on a Facebook page that may seem reputable. MB – Yes. SS – But I would not search Facebook. MB – No. DG – Ok, now I’m going to….Oh go ahead do we have someone else… JB – Sorry… DG – Go ahead – go ahead… JB – I was just going to add real quick that I think that Pinterest is a good place to find exercise routines though. SS – Yes that’s true. AB – And I love going there. MB – I have a massive Pinterest account where there are lots and lots of stuff on there. (Laughing from the group) AB – I go there for healthy recipes. JB – Yes that too. DG – Ok, I’m going to ask you a question about this website. If you’re looking at this website titled “Eat Healthy and Exercise” what do you think of this logo for this site? SS – I dislike… (Laughing from the group) SS – I dislike the measurement because to me healthy isn’t about your size, it’s about your physical activity level and physical wellness – and so that – the measuring particularly around an apple which represents maybe perhaps obese people – I’m just like no that’s not good. DG – Ok. SS – Not good. DG – Excellent, anybody else. JB – I agree. SH – I like that… I didn’t think about that until you said that. SS – The colors are nice – the contrast in colors is nice I’ll give um that. DG – I don’t think the author thought about that either when they put that on there. SS – Probably not. DG – How about the main picture of the fruits and vegetables? Are those ok or… SS – It’s pretty. JB – It’s a little low quality. SS – The colors are nice. SH – I like the colors but it’s a little pixilated – that’s all I’m going to say. DG – But what about the content? AB – The content is great. MB – I like the content. DG – Ok. JB – Looks delicious. DG – But you’d like a sharper picture you are saying. SH – I would – yes. SS – I mean a part of me is like when I see that I think I know I should eat more fruits and vegetables – thanks for reminding me. (Laughing from the group) SS – I think when people talk about healthy eating that’s what they’re talking about. You need to eat more fruits and vegetables. AB – Yes. SS – And I think it’s a little more complex than that, but I do like the colors as a graphic representation. Yes. DG – Ok. I hope you all had a chance to go through this a little bit at least. I’m going to show you a couple of videos on here and a couple of the articles and get your opinion of them. First, what would a picture like this say to you? What does it mean to you – does it mean anything to you? SS – It just makes me angry. LF – Same. MB – Yes. I saw that and I said seriously that’s no. SS – As a fat person, I’m going to tell you that everyone assumes that all we do is sit around and eat bon bons on our couch. DG – Or chocolate with the slices of almonds…. (Laughing from the group) SS – Right – So it really plays into that and it’s just kind of offensive and I also have this friend that’s quite over weight. She eats lettuce like it’s going out of style and that is not the image that people have of people that are overweight – right? So for me it falls under a lot of stereotypes so it irritates me. DG – Ok. LF – It’s offensive. AB – There could be a lot of meanings in this picture because I see this black and white striped couch and it reminds me that I’m in jail in my body here. I’m just prisoned. SS – And then if you not exercising and eating right you must be an enormous potato on a couch. DG – Couch potato…Ok so there are multiple meanings by this – there are multiple messages within this… SS – I’ve known very thin people who are very unhealthy so it’s not… DG – And their couch potatoes too. Ok great. Going through we’re going to watch this – “The Ten Poisonest Foods That We All Love to Eat”. Let’s see what we – hopefully we have some volume here. (Video playing) DG – Ok. LF – Crackers? DG – Any thoughts on that. Does that - does seeing that frighten you or scare you? Did you just chuckle that off and...? AB – It just makes me what to laugh. It’s just so extreme. I just rolled my eyes on a lot of those. MB – Those are all sensationalized. SS – There were a couple of things in there that I didn’t really think about but it’s like probably true. But most – like I’m not going to go and eat castor oil – just going to put that out there. AB – Or rhubarb leaves… SS – Pounds of rhubarb leaves… (Laughing) LF – Right yes. SS – And I certainly don’t believe the one about kidney beans. DG – So having this on a site like this and coming across it would it make you think at all after seeing it about any of those points? SS – It just makes me think buzz feed and I don’t take buzz feed particularly seriously. Does it have some good information? Yes, but when it’s mixed in with something like castor oil or even the chili powder – it has less credibility to me. DG – Ok. MB – And the tone that he’s using too, it’s like the tone kind of and some of his choices of words make me not want to take it seriously and look at it like – are you serious because I don’t think you are. DG – Like it’s a spoof or something like that. MB – Yes…yes. DG – Ok. Anybody have any more thoughts on this? Ok, we’re going to move on. You see this picture. Is it disgusting? Does it have any kind of scare tactic for you or your children or anybody you know or? SS – I’m sure that’s the intent to scare people, but it just makes me feel sad. AB – It just makes me feel really sad that for the child and it makes me mad that the parents allowing them – they’re not taking their children’s health seriously. SH – I a lot of the time it’s not even the parent it’s more like what information is put out there as far as healthy because some people legitimately believe that McDonalds is healthy – they have salads – and there just not a lot of good information out there especially with anything that’s fast food they try to convey a very sense of family and home so a lot of people feel at home when they’re at McDonalds or somewhere that’s fast food. SS – The truth is health is really a privilege of the wealthy to be honest because that might be all the family can afford but… MB – And if you can feed six people on ten dollars a meal then that’s what you are going to do. SS – Right that’s survival. And there could be other underlying medical issues along with that child that’s causing his obesity too, but we’re given the assumption here that it’s only because he’s eating McDonalds all the time so there’s a lot more information that I would want to know before passing to much judgement but it does make me sad for his health and his future. DG – Would you be likely to read this article coming across this if you were… JB – No. SS – Nope. DG – You would not read the article? SS – No because it’s sensationalizing it and I don’t think that’s helpful. DG – Ok. SS – And it’s also from treehugger.com and I would want to know – ok what the heck does treehugger.com know about childhood obesity? DG – There you go. Ok, I’m going to show you another video and we’ll talk about it when it’s done. (Video playing) DG – Ok. I’ve got two angles I want to attach on this ad. First of all what are your overall thoughts of an ad like that? JB – It’s ridiculous. SS – I read the fine print and it says one to two pounds a week so I’m not really sure how you’re going to lose five pounds in your first week – so… JB – How did you read that? SS – Well it wasn’t this one. It was the one previously. JB – Oh (laughing) AB – There trying to go want to do this because of the celebrity on this. DG – And that was going to be my second question. AB - And it doesn’t get me – I mean as soon as Opera started doing this new thing with Weight Watchers I just – it just instantly just turned me off of her. SS – Yes. AB – So I think that’s what they’re trying to do like we’re famous and you can do this too. DG – Right…right…oh go ahead. SS – And that was one was geared to men right? So guys who appreciate football stars might be more interested because it’s Dan Marino. I think he played football right? LG – Yes. SS – So I mean it’s geared toward men and we think about the things it said like the guy said can I mention sex life?... well ok you’re clearly trying to… DG – Well the women’s side of this is Mari Osmund doing a commercial for Nutrisystem… AB – Year after year after year…. SS – Who she is pretty much irrelevant. DG – Right. (Laughing from the group) DG – So anyway to get into the – stay on the camera right? It’s kind of like me. (Laughing) Anyway – so the bottom line of this would a celebrity ever talk you into getting on a dieting program like this? MB – No. SS – They could talk me out of it. DG – Interesting. AB – Yes, I mean I’ve done Weight Watchers for years but once Opera started sponsoring this new thing going on I just – I don’t read any of her articles – I don’t - It’s like I’m not going to do this because of you. I’m going to do this of me. SS – Right. She has done Weight Watchers before I believe and like nothing has worked for Opera for the long term. MB – Right. SS – So to me I’m like – oh cool – now you’re telling me that the one I’m doing now is probably not going to work either…awesome. DG – Ok. We come up on another just poster – a little promotion poster out of New York City and I’ll just read it for the – “Portions have grown so has type 2 diabetes which can lead to amputations. Cut your portions. Cut your risk.” What do you see there? Does that have a scare tactic there? Would that affect you seeing that and would you be concerned? Anyone? AB – It makes me think of McDonalds and Burger King and all those places that try to upsell you for supersize drink and supersize French fries and it kind of makes you think maybe I don’t want that coke at all. DG – Ok. How about this poster? Who can relate to this poster right here? SH – I couldn’t tell you how many Monday’s it would be. DG – “How many Monday’s have been and gone since you said I’ll start next week? Take action start today.” Does that kind of give you a little boost thinking you should take that under consideration? SS – And the truth is it shouldn’t even be I’ll start today – I’ll start right now. AB – Right now. SS – Because even if I ate a hamburger I could still chose in this moment to not eat the fries that go with it – right like every moment is another opportunity. DG – Ok. AB – Jess will eat them. (Laughing from the group) JB – No…I did this today…. SS – She literally did that today. JB – I did this today – I had a hamburger and I didn’t get fires today. SH – I was like you don’t need the fries, you had the Taco Bell last night. (Laughing from the group) JB – You know what… DG – So anybody else have a thought on this? AB – Well I mean it kind of goes back to where I started one of the first questions, I mean, one of my jokes when we go into Weight Watchers and I know I’ve been bad that weekend is that we can start fresh today, but I totally agree with Stephanie – you know – I can have a hamburger right now, but I can say alright I was bad and I really wanted that but I’m going to go home and get one the treadmill. LF – I struggle with all or nothing thing. DG – Ok I’m going to show you one more thing. This was a controversy between television star Dr. Oz and the government and the FDA the Food and Drug Administration over apple juice and I don’t know if you had a chance to read this. Dr. Oz and his audience all say that the apple juice that you and your family drink may contain arsenic, a poisonous metal known to cause concern and potential IQ problems. The FDA fights against that saying that’s malarkey. What do you think of a person on television creating an uproar? Would you fall into that also if you were watching TV and say Opera or Dr. Oz or Dr. Phil…? SS – He is Opera… DG – Yes. Hilarious show. SS – I have written him off completely because he sensationalizes things and I don’t actually believe that he has the knowledge he needs to make these claims and he makes all these grandiose claims that he can’t be lived up to, so I refuse to watch – and I certainly don’t watch Dr. Phil. So these are spawn of Opera and I don’t support…I mean I like Opera – I think she does great things, but she sensationalizes these particular these particular people and now they are their own mini celebrities and I think at that point you’re not doing good work at least what I’ve seen from Dr. Phil is he’s not doing good work and I don’t think Dr. Oz is doing good work anymore either. MB – It’s all very one sided like he doesn’t necessarily point out the other side of that and he’s not open to hearing about the other side of it and the truth is that yes there’s a lot of elements and molecules out there in the world that there fine and there neutral in their natural state and it’s when we alter it and we do other things to it is when it gets it’s negative connotation and that is absolutely where the FDAs coming from and their right. SS – And there might be plenty of great reasons to not drink apple juice or provide apple juice to children, I don’t think that’s their reason right? It’s probably not terribly nutritional quite frankly because of the sugar. SH – I would say the sugar’s worse than… SS – There’s plenty to read against apple juice and this is not the one that I would choose especially since I don’t think it’s probably factually correct – I can’t imagine he has any actual evidence from you know unbiased lab reports to indicate it’s true – So I wouldn’t even click on it to fine out because I’d just roll my eyes and say it’s Dr. Oz here you go again. DG – But how does that headline affect you? The FDA is no match for Dr. Oz’s info war, meaning he’s persuaded a lot of people… SS – Millions of people. LF – Yes. SS – It makes me sad. MB – Yes I mean I don’t necessarily agree with the FDA and everything they push out and their not… LF – Their not infallible. MB – Right their people too. It’s a committee of people that are making decisions trying to help guide our nation and they can’t be accurate 100% of the time either but…yes. DG – OK so we’ll wrap this up by looking at this Facebook page as a whole. You mentioned something about the logo on the side and the sharpness of the picture but overall what else can be done to this Facebook page to make it where you might want to read some of these things. What would you put on there to…? SS – What I would change – I don’t know that I would put on – there are some articles on there that you have to click and it takes you to a separate page which you can actually read it in depth. I don’t want to do that, so I’d want it to be more brief with a link that say’s to find out more go here. DG – Ok. SS – I don’t want to get sucked into read more and then taken to another… MB – Right. SS - page so I didn’t like that so the ones that were shorter that I could kind of read and if I wanted to find out more I could click on it – that I liked. DG – Ok. SH – I would like more credible sources. DG – Credible sources… SS – And not treehugger.com MB – And I want a more positive outlook – I thought a lot of what was posted there was really hitting in on the negative and the scare tactics and let’s scare you into being healthy and I don’t agree that that’s the best path because we all have fears and we’re all living in fears every day and we don’t need one more thing pushing our fears into our face. SS – Yes we might emotionally eat. MB – Exactly. SS – And not exercise as much. DG – Amy did you have something? AB – I think you could make it more fun with maybe some exercise links or healthy recipes things that go in a different route where it’s more positive – more positive. SS – Some – one of my friends was doing like an exercise challenge where you put in money and then each week you would see who the winner was and then there was a giant grand prize in the end so you even just having suggestions for creative ways to do a healthy recipe challenge with your friends or a healthy exercise challenge or something like that to make it more appealing. And one of the things to talk in education is it if you “gamify” your curriculum – make it more like a video or game or something like that – students are more likely to buy into it and so you can probably “gamify” some of the content here to make it – get more people to buy in and try it. LF – Yes. DG – Great. Ok let’s wrap this up. Does anybody have anything else to say about this Facebook page? Or anything they’d like to see in it? I know we’ve talked about it a little right here but… SS – I’d really like to see acknowledgement or emphasis that healthy isn’t about being overweight or like at weight – like healthy is true in all different kind of sizes and weights. Most of the things they have on here that are – there mostly designed to be fair based or showing fat people and I’m like that’s great but let’s see a little more balance here about that. DG – Ok. SS – That just being thin doesn’t mean you’re healthy. Someone might looks at Jess here and say she looks like she’s an appropriate weight – she must be healthy and then Jess might say look at all the Taco Bell and fries I eat and…. (Laughing from the group) JB – Taco Bell… AB – I think that the log could change. I like the fruits and vegetables – I mean – it puts you in a healthy frame of mind but the measuring tape it kind of makes you go – uggh – so I think a more positive picture could be a logo and just making the site more positive – more positive outlook on being healthy and how to get healthy and how to eat healthy. SS – It’s not about being perfect right it’s about doing better than you did yesterday. MB – Yes. LF – I always enjoy a motivational links or how to train for a 5K or you know steps to do so or you know… MB – Yes. DG – Ok. Excellent. Ok I just want to thank you. You’ve been great. This focus group information will be carried on and this page will be improved by your input and I want to thank you for your hours of time – goes by fast doesn’t it. Well and thanks for your time and you’re the greatest. So once again sorry there’s no compensation for it but just think you did something good for others that will come across this page. So thank you very much. (Thank you from the group)

This process contains revisions that have been made to the Eat Healthy and Exercise Facebook page element, following the Eat Healthy and Exercise focus group. We felt that several of the changes suggested were valid ideas and we ended up using them in our revisions. However, after thorough discussion among the owners, some of the other ideas brought up were not used due to the fact that the Facebook page hosts believed that the changes wouldn’t enhance the page. The focus group began by asking the women various questions about their eating and exercise habits. This was to get a good idea of what they looked for when in the market for a diet or exercise program. This was followed up by showing them the Facebook page and getting some great responses about the elements of the page. The following is a chronological based assessment of the focus group results: 1) The first thing brought up was the fact that the majority of the women felt like they couldn’t trust a social media site, when looking for information about healthy eating or exercising. The sites they do visit have been suggested to them through friends. The hosts of the website took this idea very seriously and realize that the best marketing is by “word of mouth” and they want to improve the site to reflect this. 2) One member of the group mentioned Pinterest as a good site to find information about exercising and a few of the other members agreed. One even mentioned how she loves the site. The hosts are seriously considering adopting a new Pinterest site, in addition to the Facebook page. 3) A member of the group vehemently disliked the logo on the Facebook page. “I dislike the measurement because to me healthy isn’t about your size, it’s about your physical activity level and physical wellness.” We couldn’t agree more and we have changed the logo to a bright, happy, set of dumbbells made of fruits. 4) The main picture on the page was questioned because of the quality of the photo. They mentioned it looked “pixilated”. The hosts agree and this has been addressed and changed to a sharper image. 5) After showing the photo from the Facebook page with a potato resting on a couch, the group grew infuriated. They did not like the idea that all overweight people ever do is sit around and watch television, etc. The hosts understand this and will discontinue photos such as this on the site. 6) The poison foods video also drew some criticism; some mentioning that it seemed sensationalized. They actually thought it was funny at times. The hosts are going to stay away from spoof journalism such as this on the site. 7) The group was shown a photo of an extremely overweight child, eating at McDonald’s. One member mentioned the author of the photo and she stated that the name didn’t sound reputable enough to take seriously. The hosts will watch out for this type of author when posting their work in the future. 8) The Nutrisystem ad was shown next with football legend Dan Marino as the spokesman. The group was unanimous in their opinion that celebrity advertising does nothing to enhance their opinion of a product. The hosts agree and will use regular, everyday people, more often on their page. 9) The group liked the poster about “How many Mondays have been and gone sense you said I’ll start next week?” The hosts agree and will continue to use this type of message in the future. 10) The Dr. Oz versus the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) video was shown next and was quickly shot down by the group. They felt the story to be one-sided and wanted more information from the FDA. They were concerned that he would rile up his audience to take his side and felt this was harmful. The hosts liked the discussion about this and plan on posting more stories such as this one. 11) Overall, the group wanted to see a Facebook page that had more positive ideas about eating healthy and exercising, and the hosts think that is a wonderful idea and will move on in that direction by adding more motivational stories and links to the page.

Both of these project elements were vastly improved by the use of these focus groups. As of today, all of the changeable ideas for Cartropolis have been implemented. What we now see is an even better webpage, Facebook page, and Twitter page. The images are sharper, more recognizable with a food site and are more likely to get positive reviews by both customers and prospective customers. The ideas that were suggested about the working elements within the website were of great value and will be much more user friendly from here on out.

As far as the Eat Healthy and Exercise Facebook page is concerned, the group pointed out many ideas that will make the page a more positive experience. The hosts learned that scare tactics and negative articles will not bring the page the audience numbers that they are looking for. In conclusion, focus groups can be an invaluable asset to any business or organization. You can send out all of the surveys that you want, but being able to sit down with your target audience and find out what they are feeling, deep inside, about your product or service will only enhance your reputation and your organization as a whole.

The following links will take you to the project elements:

Cartropolis

Website: http://dgreen14.wixsite.com/cartropolis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cartropolis-551220948393089/?ref=nf Twitter: https://twitter.com/cartropolis

Eat Healthy and Exercise Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Eat-Healthy-and-Exercise-1670398036544782/