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Background Poor nutrition remains a significant public health concern that is often managed within primary care settings. Meanwhile, to our knowledge, there have been few studies that evaluate the intent of primary care providers to offer nutrition services, nor what type of exchanges they engage in to ensure those programs can be implemented. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 primary care providers and support staff. Grounded theory analysis was utilized to identify themes and to develop a theoretical model of primary care nutrition program implementation. Results Three themes were identified. Patients approached primary care organizations with complex health beliefs, health severity, and barriers to care (theme 1). Providers and support staff responded by providing services that fit into existing organizational constraints, especially constraints related to workflow/time with patient, space and billing (theme 2). Providers see community as a major cue to action among patients but are unsure of the role of primary care (theme 3). Conclusions Provider respondents found that implementing nutrition programs in primary care settings is difficult and that effective interventions for nutrition within health settings are limited without community-based partnerships and programming. Additional research is needed to measure existing community ties and how such ties could improve patient nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]