Better kids' meals top trends list

If you think pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers are the only choices offered on children’s menus today, think again. Now you might find dishes adapted from adult menu items with more adventurous flavor profiles than traditional kids’ fare, and more healthful, too, new National Restaurant Association research finds.

Some of the restaurant industry’s hottest trends involve children’s items, according to the NRA’s 2015 What’s Hot culinary forecast. Topping the list: Increasingly sophisticated foods and flavors in kids meals, along with more healthful ingredients, such as whole grains, vegetables, oven-baked items and entrée salads. The survey was conducted with approximately 1,300 professional chef-members from the American Culinary Federation.

Joy Dubost, the NRA’s senior director of nutrition and healthy living, said the restaurant industry is making big strides in providing children with balanced choices. She cited the success of the NRA’s Kids LiveWell nutrition program, which now includes more than 150 brands at approximately 42,000 locations.

“The industry is committed to offering an array of nutritious and delicious options for children,” Dubost said. “That’s a top priority among many chefs and restaurant operators.”

Healthful kids’ meals ranked fourth among the survey’s top 20 food trends. Whole grains in kids’ meals came in 14^th and fruits and vegetables as kids’ side items ranked 19^th. Three-quarters of respondents rated healthful kids’ meals a hot trend. Among the other items ranked as “hot” for 2015: whole grains in kids’ menu items (cited as a hot trend by 68 percent of respondents), fruits and vegetables as kids’ meal side items (cited by 65 percent), and entrée salads as kids’ meals (cited by 61 percent).

“Though pizza, hamburgers and other kids’ menu staples aren’t going anywhere, we are seeing increasingly sophisticated dishes being offered to our youngest diners,” said Annika Stensson, the NRA's senior manager of research communications. “Children are more ‘food-experienced’ than ever before because they see parents satisfying their own more adventurous palates. At every age, we’re seeing an increased willingness to try new things.

“The restaurant industry is starting to commit itself to serving kid customers in the same way they do their adult patrons: by appealing to their taste buds while providing more nutritious options.”

Chefs say 'Recipe Challenge' a great platform for healthful kids' meals

Creating great tasting, healthful meals for kids can be challenging, but more chefs are saying the rewards are great.

The National Restaurant Association is collecting entries for its second annual Kids LiveWell Recipe Challenge. The competition is open to chefs and restaurateurs committed to providing healthful children’s menu items.

Finalists will be announced this spring and the winners will be feted at an awards ceremony during NRA Show 2014 in Chicago in May. Chefs interested in showcasing their healthful kids’ menu options can apply here. Deadline for submissions is Dec. 15.

"We encourage Louisiana Restaurant Association members to get creative a submit a recipe to the challenge. Eating healthy at Louisiana restaurants, regardless of age, is possible and several members participate in the Eat Fit NOLA program with Ochsner to raise awareness of steps they are taking to offer lower calorie meals for their guests," said Wendy Waren, VP of Communications, LRA. 

Created by the NRA in partnership with McCormick for Chefs, the Kids LiveWell Recipe Challenge follows the criteria of the Association’s Kids LiveWell initiative. The program was developed in partnership with nutrition consultant Healthy Dining Inc. To qualify, menu items must consist of 600 or fewer calories and include such ingredients as low-fat dairy, fruits, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains.

The contest involves an “industry-tested, kid-approved” approach. A panel of industry professionals selects finalists in four categories and 30 kid judges choose the winners at a cook-off event at McCormick’s flagship World of Flavors store in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

Keith Esbin, corporate executive chef for Orlando, Fla.-based Boston Lobster Feast Restaurants and a winner of the inaugural Kids LiveWell Recipe Challenge last year, said the contest showcases the potential for good, healthful kids’ meals at restaurants.

“Kids are being exposed to things that are healthy for them and that they are really excited about it,” he said. For operators, he noted, this is “the socially responsible thing to do. Not only that, kids today tend to dictate what and where their families and parents are going to eat. They are open to more healthful suggestions, which gives parents an opportunity to try different things and dine at different restaurants.”

Esbin, whose chicken Parmesan with spaghetti squash won last year in the category for independent restaurants or companies with fewer than 20 units, said the item was featured as a kids’ menu option at four of the company’s restaurants.

“Some of our adult customers ordered the dish, too,” he said. “We went through about 50 of them a month at each of the units, which is pretty good when you consider that this [concept] is an all-you-can-eat, buffet-style restaurant with 150 different offerings. Most people don’t come here to eat just one item, so to have them [choose] this one thing [represents] a pretty good performance.”

Jennifer Brower, regional executive chef for Compass Group’s Chartwells School Dining Services, said winning last year’s Kids Recipe Challenge in the managed-foodservice category made her feel like a celebrity.

“We got some really great PR out of this, and a lot of my schools have been running the recipe,” said Brower, who represents the Great Lakes region. “The whole experience has really put some new air in the tires. People may not realize this, but school systems hire a lot of chefs, and more than anything they have to learn all the rules and regulations we have to follow. You have to find ways to make it work.”

Brower, who won for her Chix-N-Cheddar Snappy Jalapeño Wrap, said she is most proud that Chartwells submitted the recipe into the company’s national database and more than 180 schools in her area are now using the recipe in their schools.

“I really wanted to make something I knew my grandchildren would like,” she said. “When you create recipes, you have to find ways to make them healthy and great tasting. People think the food [at contract companies] is cookie-cutter-like, but it’s not. We always make sure the food tastes great.”

Brower said that after she won last year’s Challenge, Chartwells sent her to several schools to sign autographs. Those schools used the recipe on their menus for the day.

“I got to talk with the kids, and that was really fun,” she said. “I got to be a celebrity for a few days. With all the cooking shows on TV today, the kids … look at chefs as rock stars and want to be one, too. I say, ride the ride.”

Kids LiveWell important for restaurants of all sizes

About two years ago, Ype Von Hengst began to notice an uptick in orders of healthful children’s meals at his Silver Diner restaurants. Previously, one in 10 children’s orders was for healthful options; today healthful items represent four of 10 children’s meal orders.

“This is a trend that’s here to stay,” says Von Hengst, chef and founder of the 16-location company based in Rockville, Md. “Even if you have one little diner, one little deli, one little restaurant, you have to give mom and dad options to give their kids healthy food.”

Silver Diner is among the smaller restaurant companies participating in Kids LiveWell, the National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) new initiative to promote healthful children’s options.

Kids LiveWell showcases restaurants that offer children’s menu items that meet nutrition criteria. Participating companies appear on the NRA’s website at www.restaurant.org/kidslivewell, and consumers can search the companies and their offerings at www.healthydiningfinder.com.

The NRA launched the initiative last July with Healthy Dining, a California-based nutrition-analysis company. At the launch, more than 15,000 restaurant locations were represented; since then, several thousand more outlets are in the pipeline to join the initiative.

Kids LiveWell recognizes the importance of giving parents and children more healthful options and information so they can make choices that are right for their families.

Silver Diner’s Von Hengst says the Kids LiveWell initiative appealed to him because he feels a moral obligation to offer healthful options for children and adults, which is why his restaurants have been offering nutritious food for 21 years.

To qualify for Kids LiveWell, restaurants must offer full children’s meals that include an entrée, side and beverage for no more than 600 calories. Meals must consist of nutrient-rich food, including two servings of fruit, vegetables, whole grain, lean protein and/or low-fat dairy. They also must limit sodium, fat and sugar.

Participating restaurants must offer at least one other side dish that follows similar criteria. They also must provide nutrition information about the meal and promote the items so they are easily identifiable.

The nutrition criteria for Kids LiveWell meals is based on scientific recommendations from the 2010 USDA Dietary Guidelines, the Institute of Medicine, government guidance for school nutrition and other leading health organizations.

Learn more about Kids LiveWell and how restaurants can get involved at restaurant.org/kidslivewell.