Are You Kidding?

In the not too distant past, when my wife and I were headed out the door on date night, my boys who were at the time, ages 7,5 and 3 asked where we were going.  ”We’re going on a date  to a restaurant!”  “We want to come too,” they said in unison.  Thinking about it for a second and not wanting to spoil the alone time with my wife, I attempted to convince them that they wouldn’t enjoy this kind of restaurant.   “Well guys, I don’t think you’d like this restaurant. You see it rant doesn’t have a play area like at McDonalds, in fact you might even find it boring.  Mom and dad are going out to eat and all we plan to do is just sit and talk most of the time and not even go near a play area,” I said. “No play area? What kind of a restaurant has no play area (?), they responded”  And with that, we were out the door, free to enjoy a leisurely dinner at a restaurant with no play area.

This story was recently brought to mind when I read an article by Out to Eat With Kids founder and CEO, Jennifer Bilbro titled: Tips on creating a kid-friendly restaurant . In this article Jennifer does a great job of outlining some tips on what restaurants should do to make their restaurants not only kid friendly, but parent and adult friendly as well, including the “must have” for kid friendly restaurants, crayons and teaching kids to be responsible with them.  A.D.D. moment:  Am I the only adult “kid” who often colors with those crayons that are intended for kids?

Red Robin

As an experienced father-diner, I thought I’d expand on the fun aspect of kid friendly restaurant tips with my own ideas.

What unique things does the restaurant provide that engage the kids? 

Once when my family and I were at a Carrabba’s Italian Grill, the waiter noticed that we had three kids dining with us and brought over three lumps of pizza dough and asked them to treat it as if it were clay and mold it into a toy.  One made a car, one an airplane and one a spilled coffee cup. (Not really on that last one but it would remind him of his dad.)  After our boys were finished, the waiter took them off to the kitchen, baked them and then brought them out.  Often after this experience, I drove by that restaurant, I thought about how well they engaged their customers, even the non-paying ones.  Our boys also remembered the experience, and never commented that it was boring because it didn’t have a play area. 

Chick-fil-A is masters of being kid friendly.  Their iconic cow exudes fun every day as does their family-friendly atmosphere.  In addition to this, they are masters of local area marketing events where they sponsor school events, concerts and kid oriented community events.   Their annual Cow Appreciation Day, is an opportunity for kids and adults to get a little wacky and dress up as a cow for a free Chick-fil-A meal.  This is also a great way for them to build on tradition.

In my opinion, no restaurant provides a more kid-friendly restaurant than McDonalds.  They are the originator of the Happy Meal,  the aforementioned play area and even though he is semi-retired, Ronald McDonald and  his side kicks, Mayor McCheese, Hamburglar and Grimace.

What are your favorite kid-friendly restaurants and what have they done to not only win your kids over but adults as well?