A Mobile Application to Improve Procurement and Distribution of Healthful Foods & Beverages in Baltimore City

Adult consumer purchasing of healthy promoted foods and beverages will be captured by the adult impact questionnaire (AIQ) which will be conducted at baseline and post-treatment. Customers will be requested to report how often they purchased specific healthy promoted foods and beverages in the past 7 days, and where these foods were purchased. A score called the "Healthy Food Purchasing Score" will be calculated and have a possible score value ranging from 0-38 points. Higher score better. We will subtract the pre score from the baseline score to calculate change in purchasing of healthy foods by consumers.

Adult customer consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods is captured by the semi-quantitative Block Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) for the entire consumer sample. This validated questionnaire contains questions regarding the frequency and amount of consumption of over 50 commonly consumed foods. The Block FFQ has been validated for use in low income African American urban populations. Investigators will calculate a Healthy Eating Index (scoring ranging from 0-100) using the consumed food frequencies and portion sizes reported on the FFQ. Higher score better. The investigators will assess change in the consumption of healthy foods by subtracting the pre HEI score from the post HEI score.

Data collection will include a Supplier Fixed and Variable Costs spreadsheet completed by the store owners which will provide information for the cost-benefit analysis of the treatment for each sector of the Baltimore food system participating in the BUD study. Respondents will be asked to estimate changes in these operating costs from before use of the app to the present. The team will compute savings in operating costs and the unit of measurement will be U.S $. It will consider the fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs will include item costs that will not change with the level of activity (rent of space; interest in long-term loans;). Variable costs will include item costs that change with level of activity (labor expenses; material expenses, transportation costs, utilities).

The Supplier Fixed and Variable Costs spreadsheet completed by the store owners will provide information for the cost-benefit analysis of using the BUD app for each participating sector of the Baltimore food system. The quantity and price of acquisition will be observed and used to compute the total savings. The unit of measurement will be US dollars.

The Supplier Fixed and Variable Costs spreadsheet completed by the store owners using the BUD app will provide information for estimated changes in total financial expenses. This data collection will include the financial costs of acquiring and implementing the BUD application. It will consider the fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs will include item costs that will not change with the level of activity (rent of space; cost items that need to be paid even if the producer close). Variable costs will include item costs that change with level of activity (labor expenses; material expenses, transportation costs, utilities). The unit of measurement will be U.S $ monthly, with adjustment (e.g., by total products).

Prices of healthy promoted foods and beverages will be collected 5x, as well as of a subset of less healthy alternatives. The SIQ and process evaluation instruments will capture the price of each product during each visit, based on corner store owner report. Most corner stores do not label individual foods with the price, nor are shelves labeled. The investigators have successfully collected pricing information using this method for previous studies in Baltimore corner stores. The investigators will examine changes in prices from the point the food is sold at the store, until the end of the intervention. A change score will be calculated by subtracting the pre price from the post price of each healthy food. The investigators will use this information to compare prices of these healthier foods with those of unhealthy alternatives to help ensure acceptability to customers.

Store-owner satisfaction with the BUD app was collected at two time points: pre-intervention (baseline) and post-intervention. Corner store owners using the BUD app were asked to rate their agreement with multiple statements related to app usability, perceived benefit, operational feasibility, and competitive advantage. Each item used a 5-point Likert response scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree), the total composite score ranges from 3-15 with higher scores better, indicating greater satisfaction. A composite satisfaction score was calculated at each time point, and change was computed as the post-intervention score minus the baseline score.

During intervention delivery, the investigators will assess multiple process evaluation metrics. These will be recorded via in-person data collection, or through the BUD app itself. The first process measures is reach which is measured by the # intervention store owners who actively participate in trial ( # who access BUD app at least once).

During intervention delivery, the investigators will assess multiple process evaluation metrics. These will be recorded via in-person data collection, or through the BUD app itself. The second process measure is dose delivered which includes trainings completed by JHU team, promotional materials posted, and subsidies provided.

During intervention delivery, the investigators will assess multiple process evaluation metrics. These will be recorded via in-person data collection, or through the BUD app itself. The third process measure is fidelity which includes amount of subsidy dollars provided.

During intervention delivery, the investigators will assess multiple process evaluation metrics. These will be recorded via in-person data collection, or through the BUD app itself. The third process measure is fidelity which includes number of store owners actively using the BUD app.

During intervention delivery, the investigators will assess multiple process evaluation metrics. These will be recorded via in-person data collection, or through the BUD app itself. The third process measure is fidelity which includes number of times (sessions) store owners use the BUD app.