Child's Play
Beverage programs for kids present opportunities to amuse young guests, market to adults
By Margaret Sheridan, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 9/1/2004
When Bin 36 opened two years ago in Lincolnshire, Ill., a Chicago suburb, General Manager David Schneider tailored a children’s beverage program to fit the location.
“Our business here is driven by families,’’ he says, in contrast to the original Bin 36 in central Chicago, which draws after-work crowds and couples with flights, tastings and food-and-wine pairing menus.
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For Schneider, Bin 36’s beverage program for kids provides entertainment for young guests while marketing to their parents. Since children rarely dine out unattended, that meal or snack away from home presents an opportunity to serve and pamper grown-ups. Special beverage menus for kids keep them happy and busy with eye-grabbing graphics and colorful concoctions while giving adults a little downtime.
The 100-seat Lincolnshire location has fewer appetizer and bar-food options than the downtown unit, but offers the same kid-sized menu portions and wine program for adults. To cultivate a youth-friendly environment, Schneider introduced flights of milks and juices at the suburban store. Flights consist of four 3-ounce portions of milk or juice served in lidded plastic cups. Priced at $3.50, flights are served with a paper placemat and crayons. “It keeps kids entertained,’’ says Schneider, “and parents love that. The artwork and cups can be taken home.”
Food costs are insignificant, he says, adding that the promotion serves existing juices used for cooking and as cocktail mixers (orange, grapefruit, pineapple and cranberry). In addition to whole milk, milk flights feature vanilla, strawberry and chocolate varieties.
Sales peak on Sunday when the restaurant promotes “kids eat free’’ night for guests 12 and under. As many as 10 flights are sold versus three or four daily during midweek. The promotion earned the restaurant coverage in local media, and praise from parents. “They say their kids ask to come to Bin 36 because it’s fun,’’ says Schneider.
Captive Audience
Eric Loyall’s challenge at the Cincinnati Zoo is to capture
the thirst and appetites of up to 1.3 million visitors a year.
The district manager for Gaithersburg, Md.-based Sodexho USA,
Corporate Services, says he has 17 “points of service” at
the zoo, from cafes and cafeteria to kiosks that look like jungle
huts, igloos or beach cabanas. Among the 75 beverage options
for kids are the basics (sodas, milks, juices and sport drinks)
plus shakes, slushes and crushed ice concoctions.
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“Any drink with wild colors gets sales,’’ he says. Attention-getters include hot-pink-colored cotton-candy shakes and crushed-ice-based slushes and snow cones. One frozen slush-like drink is made from a base that’s churned in a beverage machine. Poured in alternating layers of red and blue, the fruit-flavored mixture gets its fluffy texture from carbonation. To show off the drink’s dramatic colors, the mixture is layered in clear plastic 16-ounce cups; it sells for $2.50.
“That drink is a head-turner. Kids see the layers of color and want one,’’ he says. Despite the initial cost of equipment, the drink is profitable, with product costs of 13% with wastage.
Entertainment on the Menu
Tom Simms founded Mimi’s Cafe in 1978 for personal reasons:
He wanted a place where he and his wife could take their two
youngsters. The first unit, in Anaheim, Calif., became a role
model for the chain’s 81 stores. It’s family-friendly
with highchairs, changing tables in men’s and women’s
restrooms, extra napkins, servers who like waiting on kids, and
gold pins that are awarded to young diners for academic achievement.
All-inclusive pricing at the Tustin, Calif.-based chain includes beverages and second helpings. Choices go beyond four types of milk and a variety of juices to include caffeine-free hibiscus iced tea, mimosas (orange juice with soda water) and blends such as strawberry lemonade.
As do adults, kids consume first with their eyes—only more so, says Howard Baldini, vice president of food and beverage. At Mimi’s, beverages are served in spill-proof, souvenir containers decorated with animal and cartoon characters. Over the past 12 years, sales of kids meals and drinks have doubled, according to Baldini.
When it comes to young guests, the entertainment factor can’t be underestimated. Artwork, games and puzzles are updated every six months. Kids learn fast and get bored faster, says Baldini.
Banana-Berry Drink
Market Street Grill, Salt Lake City
Yield: 2 servings
| Banana, peeled, cut in chunks | 1 |
| Milk | 1 cup |
| Strawberry yogurt | 1/2 cup |
| Ice cubes | 4 |
| Strawberries | 2 |
- Place banana, milk, yogurt and ice cubes in blender; cover with lid. Blend about 30 seconds or until smooth. Pour into 2 glasses.
- Make shallow cuts in tops of strawberries; place strawberry on rim of each glass.
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