Anthony likes helping people reach their true potential. Being the victim of his own fears and insecurities in his own business, he has decided to help others create more opportunities.
Kids friendly restaurants are so hard to find that parents are scared of bringing their children along to eat out. They don’t know if they’re going to misbehave or get bored. They don’t know if they will be able to enjoy their own meal. And above all, a mother is extremely concerned about the way other people will look at her kids. Yet there are simple solutions you can offer as a restaurant owner to put parents at ease and help them enjoy a delightful experience.
Parents are a very picky crowd when it comes to restaurants. They are far more likely to go to a restaurant that their children love. That means you have a way to stand out from your competition by making your restaurant kids friendly.
Kids friendly restaurants provide a great experience for the kids
The first thing to realise is that children don’t really enjoy sitting around waiting for something to happen. While adults can appreciate a meal that becomes lengthy because it’s a rare chance in their week to slow down, kids prefer to see food brought out fast.
Since your cooks are not superheroes, it’s always a good idea to have some occupation for children while they wait for their food. Some kids friendly restaurants have a disposable paper menu with colouring games and inexpensive crayons. If you don’t want to go the extra mile and offer video games, it’s usually an affordable solution to put the child’s attention on something.
While children won’t look for sophisticated food, making an effort on presentation can still influence the child in a positive way. Kids will even eat vegetables if they’re displayed nicely.
Kids friendly restaurants provide a great experience for parents
Parents will focus on their children for most of the meal. The last thing your staff should do is to ignore the kids and only talk to the parents. If your staff show some extra attention to the children, parents will be delighted.
Increasingly, parents are paying attention to the quality of the food that their offspring eat. Too many restaurants resort to frozen food when it comes to children’s menu. Most parents will taste from their plate so it’s not a risk worth taking. If you stick to fresh, quality foods, even for children, however, they will almost always notice it and sing your praises later.
The same is true for the options you provide. Most kids friendly restaurants will offer nuggets and chips. Nowadays, most parents will like having healthier options like sweet potatoes and fish, which children tend to enjoy just as much.
Kids friendly restaurants provide a great experience for everybody else
When making your restaurant kids friendly, it’s fair to say that you will attract more parents. This can be a problem for your other clients though. The last thing you want is for kids to disturb your regular customers.
For this, it’s important that kids are not kept waiting. They will almost certainly finish their meal before their parents, especially if you bring out food fast for them. Having ways to keep children busy and not running around your restaurant is a must.
A simple solution can be to have a kids’ corner with toys and even a TV with CBeebies on. You can put pillows there, and make sure to place parents close to it. The trick is to set the sound of the TV so low that kids have to be silent to be able to hear it…
This is a great example, by Plan 9 Alehouse, of how you can advertise your family restaurant status on social media.
Yes, we even have a kids corner! That’s cuz we’re a family restaurant & brewery. Always have been, & always will be… Bring the kids… pic.twitter.com/6gm6yW51Fr
— Plan 9 Alehouse (@Plan9Alehouse) February 25, 2017
Wrap-up
Besides the obvious elements, like the high chair and plastic cutlery, going out of your ways to make a child’s experience as enjoyable as an adult’s is a sensible long term investment. Few restaurants go the extra mile for children. Parents will almost invariably notice those who do and talk about them.
References
http://www.plan9alehouse.com/
https://twitter.com/Plan9Alehouse/status/835285686018191360
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