Consumers Seek Right Balance of Healthy Options, Guilty Pleasures

New research finds that consumers are more likely to choose healthier options if they can also have the right balance of food that is tasty but not nutritious. Kelly Haws, associate professor at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management, says that most people are satisfied from "vice-virtue bundles" that combine nutritious and not-so-nutritious foods. For most people, Haws says the perfect vice-virtue bundle is made up of a small to medium portion of vice. Vice-virtue bundles could be the answer for many in the food service industry who are actively seeking out healthy food options that consumers will voluntarily choose, according to Haws.