Real menus for children - campaign?

7 euros for a child's main is at the high end for the uk

Really? Most places near me charge around £6 or £7 for a child's menu. I do live in London, though.

I think those prices are very reasonable for three course meals, which is what I was buying. The half portion and price refer to the whole three courses - starter, main and pudding for 7 euros (or 20). The restaurant I am talking about is not especially high end. It's a nice family restaurant which serves decent food made of high quality local ingredients but nothing especially smart or unusual.

fuzzpig, there are many restaurants of the kind I mentioned in France. Equally there are plenty where they offer kids sausage and chips or ham and chips or steak and chips. Having said that, it all comes with salad and is at least cooked well and presented nicely and, as with Carluccio's, it's the same quality of food and presentation as they are offering adults.

Carluccio's don't have it with melon but their prosciutto and mozzarella starter is £5.95.

Their children's menu is £6.50 and includes - breadstick, drink, tub of icecream/fruit salad and choice of pasta and sauce or lasagna/ravioli/breaded chicken and potatoes.

What would you pay for a child's portion of ham and melon, fuzz? At Uffizi in Walthamstow (random!) a starter of prosciutto and melon cost £5.80.

"One restaurant I go to in France will do DD a half portion of any set menu and charge only 7 euros for it where the adults are paying 20 euros."

7 euros for a child's main is at the high end for the uk, and 20 euros is also.

It's up to each restaurant how they balance their profit margins - it's easier to bump the price by including more food (even if it's a main and a drink) in a set price.

Really, a HUGE number if restaurants go out of business in their first five years, margins are tight. People are accustomed to "half price or less" kids' meals and so the quality and choice reflect that. If people would readily pay £2 less for a half portion, then the restaurant's problem would reduce (but still, difficult for many dishes eg chicken breasts, pork chop type where if the meat was halved, the other half might be wasted)

I like the idea. Too often (yes, even in chains, Giraffe I am particularly looking at you), the adult food is tasty and interesting and the children's food is plain and dull or even just plain nasty. I have only one child who could never eat an adult portion, and I object to paying for one when all she wants is something nice to eat which should be available at a child's price in an appropriate size. Loads of places simply won't let you order off the adult menu for a child unless you pay full adult price. As DD is 7 and likely to eat a third of an adult portion, I feel a bit hard done by when that happens. A meal out is a fairly rare treat for us. I want to order my own meal, not what DD wants and share, nor do I want to pay over the odds for something she will eat a third of. There are plenty of easily divisible things on most menus where a child could have a smaller portion. And they seem to manage it in some places. One restaurant I go to in France will do DD a half portion of any set menu and charge only 7 euros for it where the adults are paying 20 euros. I go there as often as I can and DD is v happy with jambon and melon or confit of duck and other delicious things.

Even if you stick to doing a plainer children's menu, it is perfectly possible to make it as high quality as the adult options - look at places like Carluccio's where the pasta they serve children is from a smaller range but indistinguishable in all other respects from the adult options, and where if the child doesn't like what's on offer they will happily offer an alternative at no extra cost (eg DD doesn't like ice cream so gets to choose a small cookie or cake from the shop). Then look at Giraffe where they will give you a nasty over-sweet bland pizza with a soft crust (microwaved, possibly) and think it's OK. Because it's just children.

I do vote with my feet, but I don't think that stops some restaurants from thinking children don't need to be considered or treated well as customers. Too often they think that as long as you chuck a few crayons their way, that's all that matters.

I thought you were back tracking
Would of started this myself after the other thread, but its a good idea and I didn't want to be steeling it!
But seriously I've never seen so much food snobbery in rl as on mn, I feed dc very healthily in comparison to my own diet but my standards are not up there with a regular mn member I cook from scratch and try not to give convenience foods more than once or twice a week but there are mn members who claim they have no shit in their freezer or that the shit is for their dc's guests who don't eat as well as their own kids.
I'm shocked this has got so many people saying whats the point? I see the point and I'm not even a nice MC mner.

Or what Sirzy said. Much more coherently than me, but that is what I meant. :)

I know I said I don't think it's right for a MN backed campaign but I do think it's a good idea.

If it is your campaign you don't have to worry about pleasing/representing all of MN - just focus on what you want to see then get badgering companies about it/giving out your own new kids health awards etc. Why not?

To me it's about the messages it gives to children. Almost an "adults deserve nice things, kids get what they are given and should just like it" which to me doesn't encourage an enjoyment of 'proper' food which I think is important to encourage a healthy relationship with food

(If that makes sense!)

Don't feel like a twat. What we eat is vitally important. What our children eat is vitally important. At every level - health, ecological, economic, socio-political.

I have two children, so I often order one main for them to share.

I think what I would like to see isn't necessarily "No more nuggets", more food that has some sort of affiliation to the adult menu.

Smaller sized pizzas in a pizzeria, a selection of smaller sandwiches and salads in a cafe, burgers and nuggets in a burger bar, whatever the restaurant, it should be able to find something that isn't completely different in style to what is on the adult menu!

It's the fact that it always seems to be the same boring old selection that is the problem - nothing wrong with homemade chicken nuggets in the right setting! Restaurants need to think about the type of adult food they offer, and try and think of things that complement that, and still appeal to young children.

DS had one of those abroad too, jewel - on its side and therefore a fish not a space hopper!

To be honest I was a bit envious of the pizza the girls shared

The chain restaurants are often not too bad though (pizza express, zizzi, Jamie's, cafe rouge etc) - the chain pubs are probably worst.

We are a vegetarian family and if we eat out we tend to go for Italian food. I always order a full sized pizza for my two dd (4 and 6) and ignore the child menu. Never had a problem. And I refuse to order a child menu in somewhere like Pizza Express or Carluccio because I don't care for having to wait around for the desert (unnecessary) or baby cappuccino or whatever.
Enjoyed a meal we had abroad recently where they served a lunchtime size pizza for children (see picture) or anyone else with a small appetite.

I didn't know what a mn campaign was, just though like minded people would sign or paste an email to some of the chain restaurants to demonstrate the demand, if thats over the top then why on earth do the school dinner disgust threads and fussy eater threads fly so high?

I can't see why they don't just have the adult menu with a smaller plate and cheaper price. Easy. It would suit the elderly too. My mother is 92yrs and she is put off by big meals.

I have the only six year old in the world who doesn't like chips (seriously He just won't eat them, never has) I usually find that most places will do half portions of the adult menu, or I order him two adult starters.
Some more options would be nice though.

I agree Nuggets and chips is my lay tea..When I go out I want something extra nice to eat not processed crap..If I wanted to do that I would go to Mcdonalds.

I am also finding at the mo Ds is finding kids portions too small but a adult meal is too big