Some parents won’t admit it, but kids drive over 60% of the average family’s dining decisions. It seems obvious to carefully consider the little ones in all aspects of your restaurant. And yet, it so often falls by the wayside.
At GROW, we strive to be kid-friendly every day. Here are some things we’ve learned and some ideas we’ve implemented along the way to make sure our restaurant is as hospitable to children as it is to adults.
Seating
Make sure you have enough high chairs and booster seats for a busy service. Keep them in an easily accessible and clean area of the dining room. It’s embarrassing to tell a guest they have to wait just so one of their tiniest family members has a place to sit.
Activites
Kids have to be entertained. Having even simple activities is a huge help to parents. Some restaurants have board games or toys for families to use. We commissioned an artist to design a fun, food-focused, color-able kids’ menu for GROW. Along with a few crayons, the young ones are equipped for artistry while they wait for their food.
Quick shout out to Fishcake Design. A random and fortuitous meeting with the owner led to our working together. She did an amazing job translating our vision into the super cute paper menus we have today!
Food
No matter how fancy the restaurant is, no matter the level of chef-y integrity, if you want parents to embrace the food you love to cook, you need to make sure you cook some food that kids love to eat. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be a little creative! Also, structure portions and prices accordingly. You want your mini-patrons to be satisfied but not wasteful, and this is not the place on your menu to make up profit margins.
Service
Kids are people too. It goes a long way when you train your service staff to be extra kind to families with small children. Yes, frustrated tears and joyful screams happen. So too falling crumbs and spilt milk. As long as the child is not doing anything to put themselves or others in danger, let it go with a smile. Guests know when the staff is annoyed by their family. Hospitality is not age specific.
Surprise and Delight
If there’s anything you can do to make the visit extra special, do it. McDonald’s gives a toy with every Happy Meal for a reason. At GROW, we give away fruit and vegetable temporary tattoos from Tater Tats. Remember kids’ names and use them again throughout their experience. Give high fives. Talk directly to the kids (when appropriate). Or go all out, and have a kid-centric party! In year’s past we’ve done a New Year’s Celebration geared towards the under-12 lot. We did a 3-course kid’s ‘prix fixe’ menu, a fake ball drop at ‘midnight’ (actually 7pm), and a wonderfully chaotic final half hour of hundred of balloons, noise makers and dancing.
If you can make the kids at your table happy, you will make loyal customers out of their folks.
