Fruits and vegetables | WELL Standard

#25424 - Am I exempt from Part 2 if the cafeteria within our project does not serve food?

If the cafeteria is meant as a space to consume meals but does not provide or sell any food, this requirement would not need to be met due to lack of scope.

#25396 - If a project does not sell or provide food and beverages on a daily basis, which Nourishment features are applicable and will contribute to the project's scorecard?

If a project does not sell or provide food and beverages on a daily basis, it is considered in compliance with the Nourishment precondition features 38-40 (and 43-44 when designated as preconditions) and is considered not having achieved optimization features 47 and 49 (and 43-44 when designated as optimizations). To demonstrate compliance, projects should simply add a note to explain their lack of daily food and beverage offerings within the 'Notes' column of the project checklist.

Note that all Nourishment optimizations will still appear on the project scorecard and contribute to the denominator when calculating scoring.

#25395 - The project has food delivered twice a week to the building, and the occupants consume the food throughout the week. As project owners, is this classified as providing food on a daily basis?

Yes, foods and beverages are considered to be provided on a daily basis if they are available to occupants each day. This is irrespective of the frequency of delivery.

#25338 - For Feature 38 Part 2, do the fruit and vegetable offerings have to be 100% fruit/vegetable or can the be a product containing fruit/vegetables? E.g. Strawberries versus strawberry yogurt.

Fruit and vegetable options need to be 100% fruit/vegetable products, meaning that a fruit-flavored yogurt would not comply. Products that contain minimal amounts of fruits/vegetables do not constitute a serving and fruits/vegetables should be the main item.

Any fruit or 100% fruit juice counts as part of the Fruit Group. Fruits may be fresh, canned, frozen, or dried, and may be whole, cut-up, or pureed.

Any vegetable or 100% vegetable juice counts as a member of the Vegetable Group. Vegetables may be raw or cooked; fresh, frozen, canned, or dried/dehydrated; and may be whole, cut-up, or mashed.

#25339 - How would a Core and Shell project meet Part 1 of this feature?

All food and beverage offerings provided on a daily basis to building occupants by the owner must meet the requirements - at a minimum, these offerings must be available to all building staff in order to pursue this Feature. Food and beverage providers leasing space as a tenant of the building are excluded from these requirements.

#25340 - How would a Core and Shell project meet Part 2 of this feature?

All cafeterias, if present, provided by the owner must meet the requirements. Food and beverage providers leasing space as a tenant of the building are excluded from these requirements.

#24745 - If my project only provides food through vending machines, do I still have to provide fruits and/or vegetables?

Yes, fresh fruits and vegetables can be provided through an additional vendor or provided within the vending machines (e.g., dried fruit, non-fried vegetable chips). Please note that all foods must also comply with Feature 39.

#24487 - In a Core and Shell project with both office tenants and retail/restaurant tenants who will be serving food within their respective spaces, will these tenants need to comply with the Nourishment feature requirements?

No, the Nourishment requirements are only applicable to food provided by the project owner or provided by a vendor who is under contract with the project owner, which for a Core and Shell project the project owner is the building developer. Tenants within the building do not need to meet these requirements.

If the tenant decided to pursue the New and Existing Interiors or the Retail Pilot certification, then the Nourishment feature requirements would be applicable.

#24488 - My project is not located in the United States. How does the WELL Building Standard address the nourishment category for countries that not include the United States with different cultural meal practices?

IWBI recognizes the various cultural differences in meal practices and therefore recommends the project to submit an Alternative Adherence Path (AAP) to confirm the project meets the feature intent for the Nourishment concept. In addition, please review the already accepted AAP's for each nourishment feature.

#24489 - Please further describe the types of food programs that would be considered "sold or provided on a daily basis on the premises by (or under contract with) the project owner."

This includes all foods and beverages supplied by the project owner, or by a vendor under contract with the owner, including items sold or provided in the cafeteria, in vending machines, at a coffee bar and items available to occupants in the kitchen/pantry area.

#24490 - In my project, the kitchen where food is prepared is located in an existing building outside of my project boundary, however the eating area where food is served is located within the project area. Are the WELL Nourishment concept requirements applicable for the project?

Yes, if the food served in the eating area is provided daily under the direction of the owner, all of the Nourishment preconditions need to be met by the project regardless of where the food is prepared.

If no food is sold or served within the eating area or break area, most of the Nourishment precondition features would be considered out of scope. However, features 41 and 45 may still be applicable to the project.

#24491 - The project has catering for special events but not on a daily basis. Do the WELL Nourishment features apply to this catering?

No, if food is not catered on a daily basis, most of the Nourishment features are considered out of scope. However, Features 41 and 45 may be applicable to the project.