What Makes a Workplace Wellness Program Work? Start With the People
Workplace wellness programs can look good on paper. The harder part is making them work in practice.
For dining programs, that means moving beyond labels like “healthy” or “better-for-you” and understanding what wellness actually looks like for the people being served. It means creating food employees want to eat, giving them meaningful choices and building a program that can evolve with their needs.
At CPS Energy in San Antonio, Texas, that approach has helped American Dining Creations build wellness into the dining experience for more than 3,000 employees across the company’s headquarters and two off-site locations.
Since 2018, ADC has worked with CPS Energy to make wellness a practical part of its foodservice program. Today, 65% of menu offerings are considered better-for-you choices, spanning everything from the headquarters salad bar to snacks for employees working in the field.
But the number is only part of the story.
Wellness Starts With Listening
For CPS Energy, the conversation about wellness has never been simply about putting healthier items on a menu.
The client wanted a program that reflected what its employees actually wanted and needed, says Charity Cummings, District Manager, Dining Services for American Dining Creations.
“We ask, ‘What does better-for-you look like to you?’” Cummings says. “Our job is to mirror their desires, not the other way around.”
That distinction matters.
A wellness program designed without considering the people it serves can quickly become a collection of well-intentioned offerings that employees simply pass by. The goal at CPS Energy has been to make better choices accessible without making them feel prescribed.
That requires understanding the workplace, the local food culture and the preferences of the people who use the dining program every day.
Bring Wellness Into the Menu Development Process
One of the most important developments in the CPS Energy program was bringing American Dining Creations’ Registered Dietitian and Director of Wellness and Nutrition, Peyton Cain, directly into the menu development process.
For Deborah James, General Manager of Dining Services at CPS Energy, that collaboration changed the way the team approached wellness.
“When Peyton came on board, that was the game winner; that was a match made in heaven,” James says.
Cain works closely with the culinary team on cycle menus, reviewing selections and offering feedback on everything from vegetable choices to preparation methods.
The approach is not about replacing the foods employees know and enjoy. It is about finding ways to make those foods work within a broader wellness strategy.
San Antonio’s food culture is a good example.
“San Antonio is used to a certain type of food,” James says. “Like tacos…How can we make it healthy? How can we make a menu that’s elevated but not too fancy?”
That thinking can turn a familiar favorite into a better-for-you option without losing what makes it appealing.
One example is a taco offering topped with pineapple, black beans and shredded cabbage, served with fresh corn.
The culinary team also works closely with local vendors, creating opportunities to incorporate fresh ingredients while keeping the menu grounded in what employees want to eat.
“Peyton is hands-on with the cycle menus,” James says. “Every time we create one, she’ll give feedback and ask the chef which veggies they’re using.”
Make the Better Choice an Easy Choice
A successful wellness program also needs to make participation worthwhile.
At CPS Energy, employees receive a 30% discount when they choose a better-for-you menu item. The incentive makes the healthier option more accessible while also giving the dining team a way to measure engagement with the program.
That creates an important feedback loop: employees have a financial reason to try the options, while the dining team can see which offerings are resonating.
“We were able to be nimble and create a program in direct alignment to their goals,” Cummings says. “It’s more of an approach to making better choices as employees.”
That last point is central to the program.
Wellness is not about removing choice. It is about expanding it.
Employees can still order a cheeseburger from the grill if that is what they want. The difference is that a better-for-you option is available, appealing and accessible alongside it.
“They know they have a choice,” James says. “Even though it’s a great wellness program, they can still go to the grill and get a cheeseburger if they want one.”
That balance has helped the program gain employee acceptance.
“I don’t have disgruntled people getting upset,” James says. “What makes healthy food good is the taste, and we do a very good job with seasoning.”
Taste Still Drives Participation
Perhaps the most important lesson from the CPS Energy program is that wellness does not eliminate the fundamentals of good foodservice.
Food has to taste good.
A chicken breast with rice becomes more appealing when the rice is built with housemade chicken stock. A hydration station becomes more engaging when water is infused with flavors such as coconut, hibiscus, mango and pineapple.
These details may seem small, but they are important to how employees experience wellness.
The goal is not to make a dining program feel like a health intervention. It is to make better choices feel like part of a good dining experience.
That requires culinary expertise, nutrition expertise and an understanding of the customer—and, most importantly, collaboration among all three.
Measure What Matters
For any workplace wellness initiative, success ultimately comes down to more than the number of healthy items on a menu.
At CPS Energy, participation is one of the key measures.
“The biggest driver to measure success is participation,” Cummings says. “We’re successful if the employees get discounts; that makes the subsidy heavier, but it also shows improvement in wellness, and that’s how we identify that this is working.”
That is an important shift in perspective.
A wellness program should not simply be measured by what is offered. It should be measured by what employees choose.
At CPS Energy, the result is a dining program in which 65% of menu offerings are now better-for-you choices, but the larger achievement is the foundation behind that number: a program built around employee preferences, culinary quality, nutrition expertise and ongoing measurement.
For employers looking to make workplace wellness more than a stated goal, the lesson is straightforward.
Listen to employees. Bring nutrition expertise into the culinary process. Make better choices accessible. Keep the food appealing. And measure participation to understand what is actually working.
That is how wellness becomes part of the workplace dining experience—not simply a label on the menu.
Looking to create a workplace dining program that supports your employees and your wellness goals? Contact American Dining Creations to learn more.