NOW FINISHED: Help create PizzaExpress' Service Charter and have the chance to win £250 of PizzaExpress vouchers

[Carriemumsnet]

You may recall many moons ago we asked for your thoughts on what makes the perfect restaurant/ cafe for mums (here), but we cannily didn't tell you who was asking the questions as we didn't want that information to skew your answers? Well we can now reveal that the company who wanted to garner your collective wisdom was > PizzaExpress and the reason they wanted to know is that they are in the process - in their words - of "creating the PizzaExpress of the future".

The first of their new generation restaurants will be unveiled on Oct 21st in Richmond (that's London not Yorks - sorry Yorkshire folks) and there'll be invites for Mumsnetters to road test it, with a chance to feedback and tell them what you think of the new concept before they start rolling it out elsewhere. Anyone interested in knowing more now, there'll be a blog about it live from Sept 17th here

They're introducing things that have the potential to keep children happy and occupied, like communal kids' drawing tables, and silent, interactive video screens created by the same chaps who did some of the great games at the Tate Modern. And they promise that there'll be room for buggies - one of the top things to come out of the survey It's going to be open all day, starting at 8.45, serving brunch and freshly baked daytime treats. The idea is that Richmond should feel like a bit like a 'living lab', where lots of new ideas are going to be tested out. The ones that work, they'll roll out, the ones that don't, they'll ditch.

One of the major themes that emerged from the initial survey was the difference good service makes to whether you frequent a cafe/ restaurant or not and PizzaExpress now want to create a Mumsnet Service Charter that they can use to help train their staff. Carrie is going to be videoed as part of their training, talking about what it's like to be a mum and what mumsnetters want and expect from good service. The idea being that this should help their waiters understand parents' needs and help them to help us make it through the day (or at least the bit of the day they spend in PE).

So go ahead - tell Pizza Express what three things would make your day (in terms of service). They can't guarantee to incorporate every single suggestion, but hopefully some themes will emerge that they can build into a realistic Service Charter.

We'll kick off:
Someone helping you with your buggy/ double buggy -rather than tutting when you struggle thro the door
Someone offering you something edible - even if it's just bread and water when you first sit down, and just being nice....
Sharp pencils
Good to get that off the MNHQ collective chest , now it's over to you. Everyone who offers suggestions for the Mumsnet /Pizza Express Service Charter on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky winner will receive £250 of Pizza Express vouchers.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

If you are going to do family offers then remember the one parent families please. I really, really hate places that do a child eats free with 2 adults as there's not 2 adults in our family.

Child sized cutlery would be really great - particularly small forks.

Maybe a small portion of non-spicy pitted olives or crudités or something for a starter instead of dough balls which are WAY too filling (tip, ask parents if they prefer green or black olives as lots of kids will eat one or the other but not both). Or the option to have pizza/pasta and salad first and dough balls second? I'm happy for my child to fill up on bread and butter later if she's already eaten some veg and protein.

Children's drinks to be half the size (and price!) of an adult one and served in a plastic glass that isn't full to the brim to allow for a little accidental tipping. Even the best behaved children sometimes find a full glass hard to manage if they are only small.

Don't assume that children don't want ice. My four year old feels like someone's crowned her queen of the world when a waiter asks her if she wants ice and lemon in her drink.

Would be fab to be able order either a half or quarter portion of other pasta dishes or pizzas - this would help with portion sizes for two year olds and ten year olds.

Some kind of fruity pudding would be great. Even fruit salad with a little ice cream would be an advance on what most places offer.

DO NOT BRING CHILDREN'S FOOD LAST! NEVER!! Unless kids are over about 8 or 10, I suppose. They might be better about waiting then. I don't know yet. It is much easier to entertain a full-bellied three year old while I eat my meal than distract a hungry one while my meal goes cold.

And no hot plates, please.

Also, the colouring etc is lovely, but maybe some sheets of plain paper or just ordinary colouring pictures for kids who are too young to read the (very nice) leaflety thing wouldn't go amiss. And could someone sharpen the pencils occasionally? Or just give us a pencil sharpener and a pot to put the shavings in?

Also, I live in Richmond and would love to be a tester!

I love the idea about a children "picking platter" DS would love something like that.

Smaller drinks for kids would be great.

Im a bit about TV screens, my local PE is in a regency era building with orignal features and I think something like that would look very odd!

A sheet of stickers with some paper and pencils would keep DS very happy indeed.

Lareger changing rooms, and someone to ask to warm up bottles/food for babies if you have them with younger children too.

And smaller portions, or small salad and quarter of a pizza for adults!

Plastic cups and straws

Option to get Milk/dough balls for child as soon as we are in the door

No hot plates.

Tables big enough to put more than one highchair around it.

A separate area for those who don't have kids (so yours don't cause embarrassment and attract tuts of disapproval if they get a bit rowdy).

Decent drinks for kids that don't contain junk.

Kids drawing/puzzle packs that change occasionally (if you plan to go more then once a year!!)

okay i used to like PE, but recently the menu has been absolute garbage. sauce with peppers in it? blech. and where is the summer pudding? i had it every time. stop piddling about with the menu, please.

also...

too cold
too echoey
not enough booth seating ime. this is PERFECT for corralling children.
the high chairs aren't as good as you think they are. just get the ikea ones.
the fun packs for kids are too over-designed, some blank paper will be cheaper and more popular. you don't have to win the kids over to PE, it's pizza, your job is done in that respect. just win over the parents.
agree furiously about the black pepper, PLEASE don't let staff put this on at the pass, my kids won't eat spice at all and i want the option of giving them my food too. (assuming theirs hasn't already been done). don't get me started on nando's in this regard, bloody cooling sauce.
no to video screens, please, just more food, faster and cooler (all kids' food on cold plates). bread, water and olives offered immediately. they don't have screens in italian restaurants and yet it works fine.

in summary, i think you were running a better restaurant ten years ago...

Arrrggghhhh, no to cordoning off everyone who has children. I can't stand that.

If your children really can't sit on their chairs and eat a meal at Pizza Express - which amounts to about an hour, tops - then perhaps you should be dining at home until they are more reliable.

I never want to eat in any restaurant, however child-friendly, where its okay for children to get rowdy and run around. Thanks.

A big up to pizza express - they are v child friendly already.

A fab pizza restaurant in Liverpool has breakfast bar seating around the cooking area and a huge pizza oven in the middle. My 2 were entranced watching all the pizzas being made/topped/cooked. Maybe. "viewing bar" ???

Pay the bill up front when ordering like in G B K ?bringing the bill/paying is Almost Always stressful.

No to screens of any description.

Yes Yes Yes bigger tables free of detritus.

No to buggy parking for mahoosive 4x4 trucks. We dont want p e turned into a crèche only. Mixing families with couples etc is one of the nice things.

Cake and fruit options for puddings please

We get chefs hats to colour in at our local in the 'diff.

The single, most important, thing for me is for staff to please bring the bill when asked for it and not 20 minutes later. Waiting for the bill is bad enough when it's just adults - it's murder when you have a small child who has just had enough.

Oh, just seen Aitch's comment above re serving kids' meals on cool plates. Abso-bloody-lutely.

Overall though, I like taking the DDs to Pizza Express. It's one of the more chilled-out places to take them (add in lots of big, comfy sofas & I'll be happy )

My local PE is pretty good. Apart from one nightmarish meal where people were walking out the service was so bad. Bizarrely turned out this was because all the chefs are Muslim and it was Ramadam (this was last year, I knew better than to risk it this year). If you KNOW your staff will be disappearing for 30 minutes at 8pm for religious reasons, get some ruddy cover in. You know it's Ramadam, you know your staff are Muslim, sort it out!

Things that would make it better:

• consistently swift service - they are often good at greeting and seating, bringing menus and taking your order but sometimes leave it too long between courses and it's ruddy hard to catch someone's eye when ds wants a second glass of apple juice.

• greater variety in kids' packs. You have the same ones for about three months and ds doesn't want to do them again and again. It's not exactly hard to do a fresh issue (I work in publishing, I know this is true).

• fresh pasta for kids, not cook-chill processed mush delivered to the restaurant in boxes. yes the pizzas are fresh, but ds likes pasta and tbh I don't see why I should pay £££ for a ready meal I'd get for 1/3 of the price over the road in Sainsbury's. How hard is it to cook some ruddy pasta, fgs?

• the loos are upstairs. Not a problem for ds now but with smaller children having to go up a spiral staircase with open treads is not exactly ideal. Not a lot you can do about that, I guess, but since you are asking...

I've been to pizza express in muswell hill and it's a shocker. Never enough staff and they don't actually seem to clear the tables, serving puds with used main course dishes still on the table, and I know that this isn't a slagging off session, but I would like to suggest the following:

1. Clear the tables once everyone has finished.
2. Somewhere to put the buggiers, and tables with enough space around them to keep the buggy with you if need be, i.e. if there's a sleeping child in one.
3. Enough high chairs 4)help arranging the chairs rather than just being dumped with too many chairs and a high chair.
4. offered something to eat on entry but not given it unless requested,. Sometimes mine scoff bread and frustratingly don't bother with their main
5. Staff LOVELY with the kids, like they are in carluccios (although it would also be nice to know that the staff are being paid properly)
6. a fish tank or something fun for kids to look at
7. nice light clean not to perfumey toilets, like carluccios 8)recycle the coloured pencils rather than just binning them 9)basic ice cream dessert would be just fine and doesn't need to be a sundae
8. pizzas all well and good but in Pizza express the pastas and salads always seem a bit crap. ....................

Oh, and more vegetarian food. It's bizarre that an 'Italian' (ish) restaurant often has only one or two veggie pizzas or pasta dishes. Especially LOTS more veggie risottos, please. Mushroom doesn't count, btw. (I accept it would for most people but I don't like mushrooms.)

noooooooooo to a fish tank, poor fish would be traumatised by children jumping up and down and knocking on the glass!

Changing area in both mens and ladies.

When I ask for tap water for kids to drink - it's fab when it arrives with slice of lemon, ice and straws - stops them asking for other more exciting (and unhealthy) drinks.

Not just ice cream for childrens' puddings.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it already,but one of my bugbears is food coming out on plates that are way too hot to be put in front of a toddler or younger child. I know it will mean food cools off quicker, but that wouldn't be a bed thing either!

Definitely the ability to order a half and quarter portion of anything on the menu, I really hate the concept of kids menus. The idea above of a tapas style plate with loads of different bits to try is a brilliant one, I would definitely order that for DS.
I also agree about the highchairs, I really hate the wooden ones that seem to be in hundreds of restaurants, when they are smallish, they just slide about all over the place in those and the strap is woefully inadequate. DS still has trouble staying upright in it and not slipping now and he is 9 months old. I can never understand why more places don't buy the cheap ikea ones, they are much more supportive, easy to clean and so cheap!
Just mentioned this to DH and he says more space for buggies.
Oh, and I'm another one who hates the video idea.

I love Pizza Express. The one locally is one of the best child friendly restaurants I've found.

So, my three things would be:

• Good highchairs. The ones you get in some places, that take three bloody hours to sort out, are not helpful. Simple to use, clean, and easy to move, and preferably with a tray on.

• Complimentary bread sticks on tables. Have had these at other restaurants, and they have been fab to keep DS munching before his food has actually arrived.

• Swift, friendly service. I must admit I have always received this at Pizza Express restaurants, but it is one of the major things that keeps bringing us back!

free bibs when you forget one

bread on arrival

decent high chairs with toys that can be attached for young children then removed when food arrives

The point about somewhere to put the buggies is so that they don't clutter up the restaurant. It's reallt difficult in a smallish restaurant if someone has not other option than to put the pushchair next to the table. Better to have them all in one area out of the way IMO.

Our nearest PE has a huge under-the-stairs- area which is perfect, the staff will offer to carry the pushchair upstairs if needed without even a hint (brilliant).

Doors that actually can fit a buggy through... My local Pizza express can't!

Loos on the same floor (again, my local PE doesn't have this)

Plastic cups (that look like adult cups / glasses)

Booster seats (my 2 YO is too big for a high chair, but not mature enough for an adult chair)

Somewhere to park a big buggy (mine has nowhere to leave it)

And, for the LOVE OF GOD: DO NOT BRING PIZZA TO THE TABLE WHEN IT IS ROASTING HOT... PLEASE let it cool down first. my kids do not know how to wait once they seee the pizza!!

We go to PE a lot. An awful lot, ever since the boys were about 4 and 6. They are now 8 and 10 and eat from the adult menu.

Please don't kiddify it to the extent that it feels like a soft-play area. I like to go there with just grown-ups as well.

So :

A big no to screens and toys. It's important for children to learn to behave in a restaurant. I am fine with paper and pencils though, and generally still come armed with our own anyway.

Bigger tables definitely.

Yes to something to eat when you arrive. Breadsticks and olives say.

And yes yes yes be quicker about the bill. I hate having to catch the waiter's eye as he or she zips about the restaurant looking everywhere but at us.

Oh and DS1 (10) would like the orange juice not to be so thick and full of bits.

Hate the video screen idea. Would have huge fight to get ds (4) to stay at table/come back over to eat when food arrives. A table with bricks/playdough/even a small train track or cars would be ideal.

Train staff that "warming" a baby's bottle does not mean snatching it away without asking, plunging it into a metal jug of boiling water for about 10 minutes and then bringing it back at nuclear temp and useless, all while my friends baby is yelling head off for milk. Yes Edinburgh, that is your studenty surly waiters i mean.

No tall glass drinks for kids. No ice unless requested for kids. (ds immediately tries to stick his hand in to get the ice out and usually ends in a capsize unless i can grab the glass first.)

Breadsticks nice touch for immediate play/eat.

Staff who speak to kids old enough to understand - talking over their heads is rude IMO and doesn't help them learn to behave/order/interact socially.

Lots of napkins in case of spillage.

Swift with the bill is essential!