Hot Trends in Kids’ Menus

By Rieva Lesonsky

Any restaurant owner whose location is family-oriented knows one of the key ways to get more diners in the door is by catering to kids. These days, children make (or influence) many of the family’s buying decisions—and when it comes to food, as any parent can tell you, these tiny, picky eaters are usually the deciding factor in where to dine out.

So how can your restaurant attract more kids (and hence families)? In a recent issue of QSR Magazine, food and beverage expert Marc Halperin offered a look at some of the top trends in kids’ menus—and suggestions for making your restaurant’s offerings fit the bill.

Halperin’s top suggestion, not surprisingly, is to “make it healthy.” Kids may not have to know it’s healthy, but parents do care. In a 2009 survey of parents by research company Technomic, 40 percent said they would have a negative perception of a restaurant that didn’t offer healthy options for children’s meals. With healthy dining being a big trend in restaurants in general (think organic, locally grown, small plates, etc.), it should be simple to extend this same kind of thinking to what you provide for the kids.

Second, Halperin says, make it sophisticated. Today’s kids, especially in urban areas like Los Angeles and New York, are exposed to all kinds of tastes. No longer limited to chicken nuggets and fries, many of them have grown up eating a range of foods. Adding ethnic foods—or variations of ethnic foods—to your menu will attract more sophisticated parents who regularly expose their kids to tapas, sushi and Indian food.

“Make it fun, interactive, and customizable” is Halperin’s last suggestion. Again, this is in line with what’s happening in restaurant dining overall, as the rage for customizable upscale burgers shows. Just like their larger counterparts, kids want to choose their flavors, toppings and sauces. Options that let them put their own meals together—say, by putting their own toppings on tacos—not only keep them occupied but give them a sense of ownership so they’ll want to come back again and again to the place where they get to have things their way.

There’s an old saying in the advertising community that if you get customers early, you’ll have them for life. Kids are creatures of habit, and once you’ve gotten them hooked on your restaurant, you’re likely to have customers at least for the life of their childhood.

Photo Courtesy: Karen Axelton

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Marketing, Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.