How to Cater to Kids (& why it can be very good for business)

For millions of Americans, eating out used to be so simple. They chose a restaurant, put on a nice pair of slacks or a dress, jumped in the car, and sat down for a pleasant adult meal in a relaxing setting. But, as they say, "Kids change everything."

Dining out with children is like going on a vacation with them. The experience is all about them, or to paraphrase another homily, "If the kids ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."

Now, when many adults want to dine out, it usually means bringing the brood in tow. It's not that Mom and Dad don't enjoy an occasional quiet evening with grownups. But when you add the expense of a babysitter, you've just increased the price of an evening out by 25 percent or more. And that assumes your go-to babysitter is available. When you have young kids, you find that a 14-year-old girl, who you pray will not start filling up her weekend dance card with dates until she leaves for college, often holds your social life captive.

. . . children are loyal and easy to please if you give them what they want.

A number of chains and franchisors understand the size and importance of the kids market. Early to jump on the bandwagon include the Chuck E. Cheese's® establishments and McDonald's®. Newer entrants such as Bullwinkle's® and Chick-fil-A® are kid magnets, with elaborate entertainment, ranging from indoor playgrounds to sophisticated mechanized stage shows, cartoons on overhead monitors, and gee-whiz arcades. Some of the new entrants include restaurants that don't have playground equipment, but offer special kids' menus, fun drinkware, and a cool concept. Casual eateries, such as Moe's Southwest Grill®, with its trademark customer greeting has introduced the phrase "Welcome to Moe's!" to the vocabulary of more than a few toddlers in the past year.

Walk into one of these places, and you have to wonder if you really can compete without chutes and ladders (which can impose a fair amount of liability, by the way). Fact is, you sure can. Youngsters drive their family's decision where to eat, but only to a point. Yes, for some kids, fast-casual is the only concept they want to know, and they will prefer slides, arcades and free toys if given a choice. But families want an affordable sit-down meal, and often without a three-ring circus in the background. As long as there is something to hold the kids' attention and a friendly atmosphere, a restaurant can succeed with children, and thus, their parents. As we will discuss, kids are attracted to restaurants for a variety of reasons.

The payoff is that the market for "family-style restaurants" is large. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, families with kids comprise one-third of all households in the country. Additionally, a National Restaurant Association analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data found that households with children accounted for 56.2 percent of all money spent on food away from home in 1994. You can get a piece of the action if you want it, understand it, and target it.