Kids Menus: Junior Achievements

Moves toward more variety, good-for-you foods, organics and ethnic influences are changing kids menus.

By Aaron Baar, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions, 2/1/2008

Burger King’s Apple Fries are served in french-fry packaging to improve their kid appeal.

St. Paul (Minn.) Public Schools has added “choice bars” to provide more options.

When it comes to kids menus, the word of the day is "choice."

Amid growing concerns about childhood obesity, saturated fats, food additives and other issues, foodservice is revamping its child-targeted menus. Although many of the changes revolve around stepping away from fried foods and foods containing artificial trans fats and toward offering more fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains, operators also realize that part of the secret to appealing to kids’ palates is providing a wider array of options.

"Chains have looked at the fact that not all kids are the same," says Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Chicago-based research firm Technomic Inc. "You’re starting to see more sophistication and more options."

Often that means allowing children or their parents to customize previously predetermined meals. Many quick-service restaurants (QSRs) no longer limit kids’ options to chicken tenders, fries and a soft drink; kids and parents can substitute fruit, milk or 100%-juice drinks as a more-healthful option.

Responsibility and Responses

"Parents are looking for different choices when it comes to kids meals," says John Schaufelberger, senior vice president for marketing and innovation at Miami-based Burger King. "We felt it was important to address that here at Burger King." According to Technomic’s "Understanding Kids’ Menu Report 2007," 90% of parents say that the availability of a kids menu is an important factor in their choice of a QSR.

Last year, Burger King said it was developing and would roll out new options for kids, including chicken tenders that are broiled (although fried tenders will remain on the menu); organic, unsweetened applesauce and low-fat milk. Also coming this year are BK Apple Fries, nonfried red-apple slices cut to look like french fries and served in the chain’s fries packaging to increase their kid appeal.

Consumers’ heightened health-consciousness continues to be felt most acutely at primary and secondary schools. R&I’s Obesity in America Study found that 85.4% of adults believe that schools have "a great deal" of responsibility to ensure that nutritious foods are served, compared with 28.6% who say that restaurants have the same level of nutrition responsibility.

School foodservice has responded: The Alexandria, Va.-based School Nutrition Association’s State of School Nutrition 2007 report finds that most schools now offer fat-free or low-fat milk (97%), fresh fruits and vegetables (96%), salad bars or packaged salads (88%), and yogurt or yogurt drinks (81%).

St. Paul (Minn.) Public Schools’ self-operated foodservice department is among those building more choices into meal programs. It has revamped its entrée system to create a system of "choice bars" (such as a salad bar or a stir-fry bar) to give students additional options, says Jean Ronnei, director of nutrition and commercial services for the district. "That’s been one of our key focuses over the past year," Ronnei says. "It gives them a variety of things to take."

Developing more-healthful menus for kids isn’t simply an "if you cook it, they will eat it" proposition. Often—particularly in cases where parents aren’t around to monitor their children’s decisions—better-for-you menu items need to be sold to kids through appealing presentation or nutrition-education programs. Rye Brook, N.Y.-based Chartwells School Dining Services, which serves more than 500 school districts across the country, developed a "Balanced Choices" program (available to participating districts) that emphasizes nutrition education, physical activity and menu diversity.

In-school signage promotes all three aspects of the program and identifies appropriate food within the program with a "Balanced Choices" logo. Chartwells also offers in-classroom and take-home programs (including recipes) designed to encourage healthy, balanced eating and portion control.

"Our challenge is to get [kids] to think about a meal as more than an entrée," says Margie Saidel, Chartwells School Dining Services’ director of nutrition. "We have gotten used to very large portion sizes. That’s not what they need to be looking for in a meal choice."

Eating with Eyes

How restaurants, especially QSRs, market nutrition to kids is carefully scrutinized as well. Burger King has pledged that television advertising targeted to children will promote kids meals that contain no more than 560 calories and no more than 30% of calories from fat, 10% of calories from saturated fat and 10% of calories from added sugars. That commitment will go into effect no later than Dec. 31, 2008.

For the past three years, Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s has linked its kids-menu options to a healthier lifestyle that includes outside exercise. Last May, as part of its promotional tie-in with Paramount Pictures’ and DreamWorks’ "Shrek the Third," the company launched its largest healthy-eating marketing initiative, which featured—among other elements—an online game that encouraged kids to participate in dance contests and other activities.

Children, like adults, can be influenced by packaging, and many chains have worked to increase items’ presentation appeal. When McDonald’s switched its milk containers from traditional cartons to plastic bottles, the chain reportedly saw milk sales double. Burger King’s Schaufelberger says BK Apple Fries’ packaging has been a factor in the product’s test-market success. "[Kids] like the idea of having food that’s fun and that’s interesting to them," he says.

An engaging presentation also is a key element of The Walt Disney Co.’s Well-Balanced Food Initiative, one highlight of which is the offering of more-healthful kids-meal options at Disney theme parks. Meals are served on Mickey Mouse-shaped plates (with the ears serving as spaces for healthful sides), and juices come with a color-changing straw, says Mary Niven, vice president of food and beverage for Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif.

"Kids are no different than adults; they eat with their eyes first." Niven says. "We spent a lot of time thinking about this. How do you use that Disney difference to focus on the parts that are fun?"

Taste, Looks and Quality

Schools haven’t overlooked the power of presentation either. Chartwells, for example, is helping its participating schools move away from a look defined by aluminum steam trays and toward a "more retail look," with the goal of making food look more presentable and appealing. "We use utensils and vessels so you can see the variety and textures of the food," Saidel says. "The better the food looks, the more interesting it is to children."

According to Saidel, there are three things to consider when developing a kids menu: fun, freshness and familiarity. Packaging and purchasing can take care of the first two factors, but the third—familiarity—can’t be neglected. Borrowing the sampling tactic used in supermarkets and some restaurants, Chartwells has taken to offering free "nibbles" of new and unfamiliar foods before offering them as a regular menu item.

"Food sampling is becoming more and more important," she says. "Kids don’t want to try things they haven’t seen before."

And like major restaurant chains, schools and other institutions are asking for customer (i.e., kid) feedback when it comes to menu items. "We’re big believers in surveys and taste-testing and sampling," says St. Paul School District’s Ronnei.

Better-for-you options are unlikely to completely replace fried chicken tenders, hot dogs and pizza on kids’ lists of favorite foods. But operators are finding that children will eat healthful options and that it is cost-effective to offer more variety. When Disney tested its new kids-meal program (which features fruit or carrots rather than french fries as the default side dish) at Disney World in Orlando, 77% of parents stuck with the more-healthful option, even though fries are available at no additional cost. "Kids were eating healthier because of what was given to them," Niven says. Also, menus that depict a meal being served with healthier sides help counter for kids the image of the parent as the "bad guy."

Similarly, St. Paul Public Schools last year offered kids a choice between fries and baked-potato wedges in a pilot program that also included point-of-sale nutrition information. Nearly 40% of kids opted for the potato wedges over the fries, Ronnei says. "They know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it," she says. "Kids are savvy. It’s got to taste good. It’s got to look good, and it’s got to be high-quality."