What items would you like to see on a child friendly cafe menu?

[EatingCalamari]

Asking for a friend who is revamping the menu for her child friendly cafe.

What items would you like to see on offer for your children?

TIA

I’d agree with this. It’s pressuring and usually wasteful for everyone to get their own plate but helpful, especially with younger kids for everyone to be able to dig in. A cold mezze platter and a hot drink is usually perfect. Also veggie sushi. Another thing would be small mugs of homemade soup and dunking bread, or small portion ramen, which are great for boosting hydration as well which can be an issue when you’re out for the day.

Scrambled egg or omelette. Great for weaning babies.
Carrot/cucumber/pepper sticks in little pots.
Plain margharita pizza
Little portions of cheese and crackers
Fruit - bananas, cut up melon, apples, satsumas.
Fish fingers. They're relatively healthy "beige" and most kids like them.
Cheesy tomato pasta (not spaghetti (shudder!)).
Milk - my DC often wants this instead of juice.

A good selection of treats. Hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows, iced cookies, gingerbread men, sprinkle cake or cupcakes, ice cream. A trip out to a cafe is an event for most children imo, so lots of parents will be happy to let their children have a little treat.

Something without dairy due to allergies.

ham sandwich with cucumber/carrot/pepper batons
omelettes
half jacket potato

smaller portions of adult menu would also go down well

bonus points for a sponge cake that's dairy free.

Sandwich platter with crisps, cucumber, carrot sticks, fruit, yoghurt. School lunch box on a plate.
French toast / eggs bread. With beans or berries.
Good quality mini portions spag bol, burger, fish fingers
Low or no sugar muffins / loaf cakes
Grilled cheese sandwiches

My dream is to open a cafe

Definitely smaller portions of the adult menu.

Lunchbox meals - sandwich, fruit, two snacks and a drink etc.

Crayons and a colouring/activity sheet normally go down well with my five year old as well. Or incorporate it into the lunchbox meal by buying ones that have spot the difference/wordsearch etc. printed on the side. But then that eliminates children that aren't ordering a lunchbox meal. It keeps him quiet and stops asking to watch something on our phone whilst he waits for his meal (which we don't allow when eating out).

Agree with the tapas/picky bits idea as well. You could have different prices for a different amount of items. Like £3 for 5 items, £4 for 7 items, £5 for 10 items etc. to allow for different sized appetites.

@Ready4ActionRyderSir Unfortunately three year old would then declare that I had broken his sandwich 😅

The best cafe I ate at when kids were younger offered Heinz baked beans and Heinz tomato soup. I could have kissed them.

not to much food but child sized plates, cups and cutlery would be brilliant!

A "treat" drink like a milkshake that isn't the size of their head and about 2000 calories. Just make a kid appropriate one... please 🙏

Honestly I would love to see somewhere offer 1/2 portions or smaller portions of everything on the main adult menu.
i don’t get if things are cooked from fresh why nobody ever offers this. Get so fed up of same things on menu all the time for kids

I get fed up with only beige being on kids menus. They love fish fingers/battered fish but never eat sausage and chips etc.

Stuff mine have loved - tomato pasta, build themselves wraps with grilled fish/chicken, sweetcorn, cheese and veg sticks. Platter plates so veg sticks, ham, homous or similar to dip in etc. Toasties and american pancakes with fruit.

Adult stuff available in half portions

Sandwiches a wider variety than just ham, cheese. Think about adding veg in there. I’ve only got a 2yr old but children’s menus are awful. It’s always Burger & Chips, Tomata Pasta, Fish and Chips. Less chips and crisps please. Think of the salt content.

Full size but plainer sandwiches for older kids. Mine are 11&14 and still sometimes opt for the lunch box type thing but the 2 triangles of sandwich aren’t enough. So proper 2 slices of bread with fillings. Maybe two versions for toddlers and then older who like more. One of my kids likes a cup of tea. I always have to get her an extra as her lunch box usually comes with a carton. Oh and cartons of a decent size, many places sell tiny ones that are done in two mouthfuls for older kids.

Interestingly mine won’t entertain tomato based pasta so options on pasta with tomato or cheese sauce or plain with grated cheese one some have said. Pesto can be dodgy for pine nut allergies. We found this out the hard way. Sorry to say though if we are aiming for a hot meal then chicken nuggets are usually a must but some places sell really tasty ones (possibly the ones from Costco). We went on a Friday for dinner once before the theatre and my autistic teen always has fish on a Friday and nowhere had any type of kids fish on their menu. Decent fish fingers/goujons or even a tuna pasta would have worked. Even a tune and cheese toastie would have worked.

I’ve one who loves a jacket potato and one who won’t touch them. One hates chips unless they’re proper chip shop ones. They love corn on the cob though. Not blooming peas though!! One loves mash, the other doesn’t. Both love little new potatoes with butter on.

Its hard with kids though as there are the strict healthy only families then those who go out for treats and then those with kids who have sensory issues around food and only eat beige things. Then don’t forget all the allergies or religious requirements or those choosing to eat plant based diets only.

It’s probably a minefield running a food place these days.

My kids favourite cafe does omelettes, pancakes (with maple syrup and bacon), waffles and mini English breakfasts (yes, not exactly healthy I know so it's a school holiday treat rather than regular place we go!)

Proper food, as in everything made fresh, in slightly smaller portions than adults get. I hate the tendency in pubs to offer a children's menu full of crap.

Smaller portions of every adult meal. Children eat better if the adults are eating the same thing

Don’t understand the issue people have with fish fingers and sausages yet are fine with pasta and bread
Could easily do home made fishfingers or goujons and serve quality high meat content sausages

Small versions of adult meals and don't call them kids meals, not all adults want stonking great plates of food either.

Decent vegan and/or dairy free options including cakes, desserts and ice creams. There's a cafe near me that does this and word has got round and it is always heaving, partly because it's the only place for miles around where kids with dairy allegies can eat out and have decent treats.

Small portions of proper food not just nuggets, fish fingers and chips.

Plain omelette
Eggy bread
Mini toad in the hole
Sausage and mash
Sausage sandwich
Hummus and carrot sticks, cucumber etc
Plain pasta with sauce to side
Hot dogs

This is mainly what my little fussy one will eat currently

Ham and cheese toastie

Also proper puds in small sizes. Fruit crumble and custard, jam sponge, rice pudding. Stodge for sure but much better than the kinds of sugary ephemeral biscuits that give kids a sugar rush but otherwise contribute nothing. Homemade crumble and custard is the food of the gods, especially when you are tired, cold or frazzled.

A cafe in our town did a picky bits plate that DS loved - ham, cheese, breadsticks, veg sticks, fruit, homous. I didn’t even like the adult food but he chose this place every time for the picky bits.

This!
A cafe near us is brilliant, no kids menu as such but anybody can order their food in different sizes so your toddler and your nan can both get a tiny plate of what everybody else is eating.
I wish more places do that instead of children's menus.

Same as what's on the adult menu, but smaller portions.