Background: Food decision-making processes interact with family and community environments to shape families' thinking (i.e., their constructed reality) about food, eating, health, and well-being as discussed by Gillespie and Gillespie (J Fam Consum Sci 99(2):22-28 2007).
Purpose: To understand the processes and impetuses for changing family food and eating routines and policies and to develop a framework for the family food decision-making system (FFDS).
Methods: Interviews and observations with parents and change agents were used to generate grounded theory in the form of propositions which provided the basis for the FFDS framework.
Results: The propositions elucidate the processes of and influences on family food decision-making systems. The framework illustrates the family food decision-making system and processes of changing family food and eating routines and policies.
Conclusion: The FDMS framework begins to address the complexity of food decision-making to guide intervention planning and further research.