Restaurants are facing, whether at quick-serve restaurants or traditional sit-down family establishments, the challenge of updating their kids’ menus to reflect the growing demand among parents for healthier food for their children.
Parents are becoming increasingly aware of their children’s health and are considering new factors when deciding where to take their kids out to eat. To stay competitive in today’s changing market and to be more responsible in what they serve children, restaurant owners face the challenge of providing healthier menu options geared toward children.
Traditionally, kids’ menus have offered simple yet unhealthy food loaded with sugar and salt that children have come to expect. Grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken fingers, pizza and hamburgers, served with French fries and soda, are usually on most kids’ menus, with no healthy alternatives available.
However, this lack of nutritional balance has led to growing health problems among children. Unhealthy eating has led to a childhood obesity epidemic, which can lead to the very early onset of diabetes. In addition, the bad eating habits and the health problems we face as children often follow us into adulthood.
Recognising the problem of unhealthy eating among our children is the first step in resolving the issue. Over the past several years, child health has gotten much media exposure, educating parents about what they should and should not be feeding their children. Fast, unhealthy food has traditionally been the cheapest and most convenient. However, as the market has begun recognising parents’ demand for healthy food options, restaurants have changed their kids’ menus accordingly.
Any restaurant owner knows that appealing to families is vital for their business. The following are some tips on attracting families with children during increased child health awareness.
1) Offer healthy options to traditional kids’ meals
Finding healthy food that children will like is indeed a challenge. Kids see going to a restaurant as a treat and will not bring food they do not like. However, making a meal more balanced does not have to mean taking the fun out of it or making it less tasty. One common practice is to offer traditional main dishes, such as hamburgers or hot dogs, but to serve them with healthier side dishes and drinks. Instead of French fries and soft drinks, offer vegetables, salad, milk, or natural fruit juice. For dishes including pasta or rice, restaurateurs can offer whole grain varieties, and the kids will likely not notice the difference. Low-sodium and low-fat meats and cheeses can also be substituted without distracting kids’ enjoyment.
2) Advertise a commitment to kids’ health
Many parents now choose restaurants to take their children to based on health and taste. To remain successful, a restaurant’s advertising focus must shift accordingly. Restaurant owners can include healthy food in their more extensive advertising campaigns, marketing themselves as child-friendly establishments. Some restaurateurs have introduced new healthy kids’ menus by offering kids eat-free programs or reduced-price healthy kids’ menus. Such measures may be necessary to get clientele to try something new and different.
Restaurateurs can also target parents who have children with food allergies in their advertising. Millions of children suffer from food allergies, and offering special allergy menus can attract new patrons. In addition, websites often compile lists of healthy or allergy-friendly restaurants, which will serve as further free advertising.
3) Create a comfortable environment for children
Parents wishing to do the right thing and introduce their children to a healthy diet will find the transition challenging. Kids who have grown up eating unhealthy foods will be very resistant to a change in their diets. In addition, television advertisements for unhealthy foods loaded with sugar and salt, which are mainly geared toward children, make it even more difficult for parents to make their kids eat right. Restaurateurs can help parents transition their kids to healthy food by offering the food in a friendly and fun environment that kids love. Offering comfortable restaurant booth seating, entertainment, such as colouring books, and fun themes for menu items can help change kids association with healthy foods from bland and tasteless to fun and exciting.
Food for Kids Has Changed
Here is the same issue seen from a parent’s point of view.
This blog was inspired by a recent summer holiday experience at a 5-star beach resort with my wife, my 5-year-old and my 2-year-old.
Just two very simple questions:
- As professional hoteliers and restaurateurs, how can we not cater for the needs of children, now knowing what the dangers and long-term effects are of unhealthy eating?
- How can so-called professionals serve pizza, chicken nuggets, and a list of deep-fried food to children and assume this is acceptable, whilst food concepts, menus and our understanding of nutrition have evolved so far over the past years?
As a parent, a child’s nutritional needs are obviously a priority, and it’s easy to forget about this with our busy schedules and time-poor lifestyles. However, the food children eat in their early years can influence their dietary habits later in life, so it’s essential to instil good habits and a healthy relationship with food from an early age. And as hospitality professionals, we should know this better than most.
Now, before you jump down my throat with: “Kids won’t eat healthy boring food” and “Parents won’t pay those extra prices for organic foods”………. Hold on. A) you don’t have to make healthy food boring. B) It does not have to cost more; if it does, you will be surprised how many people would be willing to pay for this. Just try it.
What we are seeing in hotels are a lot of fried foods, high-sugar beverages, and very few vegetables offered to children when dining out with their parents. Indeed, parents and kids often want a treat when they’re eating out as a family, but that doesn’t mean unhealthy items should be dominating children’s menus. And treats can still be healthy.
Children who are overweight or obese face a greater risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure as they grow older. As a group of professionals, we should be committed to being leaders in responsible eating. Children are our future. Children develop a natural preference for the foods they enjoy, so the challenge is ensuring that their choices at a young age will shape their food preferences into adulthood.
By turning the traditional kid’s menu on its head and offering healthier choices and less of deep-fried options, chefs, restaurateurs, and hoteliers will be investing in their future customers.
If you would like support with refreshing your menu offering, explore our restaurant concept and menu development services or contact our London team.
