Articles

Culinary Trends - Kids on the Menu

For restaurants, kids are big business. This means understanding their unique needs--their appetites, their food interests, their nutritional needs, their opinions--as well as the relationship they have with their parents at the dining table.

Kids' menus are an important part of communicating with children at the restaurant, and while fat claims and nutritional claims on the kids' menu are only a small share of all menu items, change may be in the wind. Fruits and vegetables have made some gains, and healthful kids' menu innovation abounds.

Movement toward more healthful kids' options can only serve to reassure parents, who serve as menu guardians for their youngest children, but play a role in guiding kids' choices toward health all the way through adolescence. But ultimately, with the power to help shape what kids eat, restaurant operators are in the drivers' seat, suggesting that the promise of kids' health on the menu can go hand in hand with customer satisfaction.

To read the full Culinary Trends newsletter, click here.