There is such high demand for the Helping Plate – the 'intelligent plate' that helps children eat more vegetables – that vegetable producer HAK has decided to scale up production for the third time in a month.
HAK ordered the development of the Helping Plate to help address the structural problem of children not eating enough vegetables. In practice, children on average eat a mere 73 grams of vegetables a day, while health guidelines prescribe a daily consumption of between 100 and 150 grams.
Immediately after its introduction on the 14th of January, there was a rush on the plate in the online store of De Bijenkorf. The first batch of plates sold out within three days, and the second batch flew off the shelves as well. The producer from Giessen now expects to sell 20.000 to 30.000 units this year. Nicole Freid, HAK's director of Marketing and Innovation, comments: 'The demand is much higher than we had anticipated. Parents clearly appreciate the clever combination of size, shape, colour and the underlying nudging techniques that subtly persuade their children to eat more vegetables.' Meanwhile, HAK has delivered the first units of the new order to De Bijenkorf and the plates are once again available in the department store's web shop.
International recognition
Over the past month, HAK has received hundreds of positive responses, questions and requests from consumers, researchers and public health organisations, even abroad (from Europe as well as from North and South America). The plate also received acclaim from thousands of followers of food influencers who shared The Helping Plate widely and generously on social media. According to Freid, this illustrates how the problem is universally recognized outside of the Netherlands as well. "For us, all these predominantly positive responses are an encouragement to keep investing in The Helping Plate. We're continuing to explore how we can further scale up the production and availability, so we can maximise the reach and impact of the plate. In addition, we want to conduct long-term testing and validation of the effectiveness of the Helping Plate.'
About the Helping Plate
The Helping Plate was designed by industrial designers Waarmakers Studio from Amsterdam, based on an idea of DBB Unlimited. Royal Goedewaagen produces the plate in the Netherlands. Visit http://www.hak.nl/hethelpendebord or watch the video on the Helping Plate's creation here.
Read more: HAK develops 'intelligent vegetable plate' for children