Opening a cafe

[dadslife]

I'm soon to open a cafe, exciting.

Anyway, I've taken my little girl into enough cafes to know that the food for kids is all too often fish fingers and chips. Just wondering what people like to see on the menu for their kids. thanks

Think you might need cookery lessons Lily!!!

I went to stab cafe the other day where you choose a main (not much choice but enough) of a large HM pizza slice, quiche or jacket potato and filling and then a choice of salads.....the more salad you chose, the more it cost.

I had quiche, 2 salads and a Diet Coke for £6. It was lovely.

Went to Cafe Nero this afternoon and couldn't eat as I'm doing SW and there were no healthy options.

Stab cafe? Sounds dangerous

Gosh, you're just full of fun when it comes to eating out eh, LilySnape
Terribly unhealthy pizza and curry, with fatty spaghetti bol.

Yes spag bol and chilli can be some of the healthiest things children eat. You can add red, yellow and green peppers, courgettes and mushrooms as well as tomatoes onions and garlic with lean minced beef, and in the chilli kidney beans. Only a really bad spag bol is swimming in fat with boiled onions!
But having had very fussy eaters in the past, I used to feel so grateful at the cafes that did little cardboard lunch boxes to fill with five things and you could choose from selections of cheese or ham sandwiches on wholemeal, carrot sticks, grapes, mini sausages, jellies, yoghurt etc which meant that DC could guarantee choosing a range of food they'd eat. You could do that and then just offer half portions of adult menu food.

Jacket potatoes with plenty of choice of fillings. You can offer half portion for children under 10. We fancied a jacket potato for lunch in town the other day and couldn't find anywhere! It was all gourmet burgers, bbq, pizza etc.

I echo PP with half-sized portions of adult meals.

Or a build-your-own picnic: choice of sandwich, veg sticks, grapes/apples, juice box. Maybe offer humus or peanut butter for vegan DC?

My spag Bol has no salt in and is mince is drained of fat before making sauce - sauce from scratch from tomatoes, purée, herbs and onions. I also add mushrooms, peppers, courgettes, carrots, lentils etc to mine.
Lasagne is the same and served with salad or more veg.
Chilli has lots of veg and mixed beans in
Jacket spuds can be served with anything, our favourite is tuna and salad.
Pizza if made from scratch is essentially a cheese and tomatoe sandwich but assembled differently and cooked. Would you say a cheese and tomatoe sandwich is unhealthy???!!!!
Chicken Korma is made with korma paste, coconut cream and chicken and veg our house. Yes higher in fat than a salad but don't forget kids need much more fat than is anyway.

Most children would eat these foods so turnover would be good meaning less waste
On the other hand a big pan of quinoa and hand reared Brussels sprouts will be sat there all week and have to be them thrown away!

And India is jam packed full of fat people don't you know after all they eat curry for breakfast lunch and dinner!!!!!

lily kids need fat in their diets! Spag Bol, curry, lasagne in our house are devoured and full of vegetables; grated carrot, courgette, peppers, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes. I fail to see how that could be classed as unhealthy.

Back to the original OP, I think toddler sized meals would be an excellent idea. DS2 can never eat all of a kids meals as I think they are generally sized to feed say a 7/12 year old.

Small portion of soup and a roll
Pizzas made on a pitta bread or a wrap
Small jacket potato with various fillings

Just asked DS - he said he'd like quesadillas with choice of filling, toasties (choice), salmon, fishfingers, vegetable fingers or pizza slice. With corn on the cob, broccoli, cauliflower, sweetcorn, peas etc.

Or poppadums with dips, onions, chutney & lime pickle

Nachos
Veg sticks/tortillas and dips
Fruity bits and sweet dips

DS says Fish and chips
DD says rice!!

They are not very adventurous eaters.

Yes to smaller portions.
Also maybe things like porridge and fruit toast available all day.

Considering im a bodybuilder and nutrionalist i think i know what im talking about thanks. Its amazing what people try convince themselves is healthy

Oh fountain of nutritional knowledge, please tell us uneducated people what's wrong with a proper homemade chili done with lean mince (fat drained away after browning), plenty of vegetables and pulses then served with rice.

'nutrionalist '

Yeah, I'm the Pope.

I doubt many toddlers will be entering the next round of the IFBBs. And even body builders eat some fats, sugars, carbs etc. DH is a bodybuilder. I get this all time.

Considering im a bodybuilder and nutrionalist i think i know what im talking about thanks. Its amazing what people try convince themselves is healthy
Obviously not a cook of any sort though........

Does 'nutritionalist' really exist? What a load of bollocks you spout. There are nutritionists, which if you actually happened to be one, you'd have put. Mealtimes must be bleak at yours.

boiled eggs and toast

Doesn't the title of nutritionist mean fuck all?
It's not protected so anyone can claim to be one.

Yes children need fats Omega fats found naturally in foods not grease and oils found in foods your all mentioning no wonder there is an obesity crisis in this nation

She's not even a nutritionist, thedrop, she's a nutritionalist.
Hope the OP does open and becomes a successful restauranalist.

Think it's more likely to be the spaghetti Bol swimming in grease of the 'nutritionalist' that is more to blame for any obesity crisis.

What do you feed your kids lily?