Some trends in the foodservice business are hard to pick up on, and some trends hit you right in the face. An obvious trend going on is the push for healthier kids’ meals. Under pressure from parents and consumers, the largest fast food chain recently retooled their popular kids’ meal by cutting the portion size of fries in half, adding a side of fruit and vowing to reduce sodium in all menu items by 15%. They are certainly not alone as other QSR’s have taken similar actions with their kids’ menus. This trend doesn’t stop at the fast food restaurant either. New USDA regulations for school lunches come effective in the 2012-2013 school year. Changes include a serving of fruit and a serving of vegetable will be in the school lunches this year, only fat-free or low-fat milk will be available, calories will be managed based on age to ensure proper portion sizes and we will see less saturated fat, trans fats, sugar and sodium on the kids’ lunch plates.
American families eat out 4-5 times a week and parents are expecting the meals that they order for their children to be as healthy and nutritious as the meals they prepare at home. Traditional kids selections such as deep fried chicken fingers and buttery mac-n-cheese washed down with a sugary soda are not what parents are hoping to order at a restaurant. Below is a link to an informative article explaining how you can modify your children’s menu to make it healthier thereby making it easier for parents to choose your restaurant to feed their family.
http://restaurants.about.com/od/menu/a/Healthy_kids_menu.htm
