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

1. Booster cushions for those too old for high chairs and too small to reach the table properly

2. Children's food on cold plates

3. Better salad on the piccolo menu - a couple of bits of tomato and pepper is not a salad!

I have been to the Pizza Express in Richmond. It is like eating in a creche. What would make my day in terms of service would be to know that the patient staff, cheerful in the face of screaming kids, flying dough balls and indifferent parents, were being paid enough to work in an environment which is largely similar to that of feeding time at the zoo.

Do not bring children's food unless it is cool enough for them to eat.

Breadsticks for children while waiting vg idea.

NO NO NO to seperate children's areas and to video screens my DS would never sit down and eat in those circumstances and I want us all to sit down together.

Our branch doesn't have any pencils/ paper at all - something to play with would help in the wait to be served (I DO bring things for DS, but those little packs of pencils were good)

We tend to go to Pizza Express for family birthdays (so mixed ages) and it's nice, enough like the dreaded Hut to please my kids but restauranty enough to satisfy the adults.

Gripes already mentioned, that I agree with include the restaurants being chilly and very noisy, and the incredibly long waiting times. Last time we went to one (Oxted), we actually decided against a dessert because we'd spent so damn long in there already and we still had to go for the ploy of getting our coats on and heading for the door in order to get the bill!

Suggestions I like... being able to get half size portions of adult meals. That would be fantastic.

Merrylegs I have to agree with that. I often go to lunch in Richmond with friend who has no children (by choice) and it's the one pizza place we've never gone in, because she says it's overwhelmed with small children during the day. TBH if I'm getting the luxury of a relaxing lunch without my three, I'd rather go somewhere child-unfriendly, but I think I have a greater choice in that than the other way around!

My PE at the bullring is great, go there all the time.

Only thing I'd add is could you make a parents room/changing room for babies. ours doesn't have changing facilities even in the ladies.

Already been said but i'll repeat. When I say bill please. I mean bill please now Once DCs are done it's time to get out of there asap.

No screens, no toys, no separate childrens play/colouring area, these are all reasons why I like Pizza Express.

No plastic plates or cutlery but child sized knives etc would be nice.

Love the idea of a brunch menu, I would also like to see a lunch menu with smaller portions than the regular menu.

WRT good service,
I would like to have the choice of colouring stuff or not, I don't go for a meal with my family to spend the whole time doing a wordsearch with DS.
It would be good if they were just offered as in "there will be a 20min wait for food, would you like some colouring things for the children?"

I would like to not be always offered a crap table in a half empty restaurant just because I have children with me.

I would like to be not looked at like a stingy old cow if I ask for a large adult sized drink of fruit juice or similar and two glasses so DC can share it.
One of my pet hates is having to fork out for massive expensive but nice drinks that are too big for them to drink so get wasted.

Not so much service related but a junior menu would be great, DD is 10 and although she will greedily happily eat adult portions, they especially puddings are too much for her but she feels childrens sizes are too small.

Hope PE isn't going to change too much though.

Can't realy add much, particularly as dcs are now older. But quicker service without a doubt. They're very quick to seat you and take your order, but somewhat lacking when it comes to serving your food and bringing the bil.

Oh actually - noise! Loads of restaurants these days (my word I sound old!) have tiled floors, walls, minimalist-type of style. The result of which is an echoey noisy place where you can't hear yourself think. Perhaps some soft furnishings, curtains, or something that absorbs the noise?

I think most people have covered it really but I'd agree to the big fat no to interactive screens - I'd never get my toddler over to eat if she was engrossed, and like other posters, I take her out to eat to learn manners and be sociable.

Toilets (am a bit obsessed!)

• decent sized cubicles that I can take my toddler into without brushing the sides and without literally sitting on the sani bin please
• the inset seats that toddlers can also use would be fab
• toilet roll where you can take a decent amount off, not those piddly sheets that you need half a tree of
• good sized baby changing areas (like John Lewis have) with padded mats and disposable paper to line them with
• plenty of hooks to hang handbags and changebags, it's horrid having to put them on the floor
• nappy bins that are regularly emptied to stop you almost passing out when you open them. And please can they be foot-pedal operated
• all toilets to be cleaned throughout the day, not left to fester

Apart from that I would also like toddler meals brought up first - on a cool plate - so that I can cut it up and check it's not too hot, without getting peeved that my lunch is also rapidly cooling.

Toddler cutlery would be great. I normally bring my own if I know we're going out, but it would be fab for it to be offered as standard.

I also agree with TheProvincialLady that there has to be a limit to the amount of stuff that you can expect restaurants to provide free. Bring your own bibs, wipes and baby food - the cost will always be passed on anyway so they're never really 'free'.

And finally, I also like going to PE without children so would be dismayed to see it becoing too child-centric. Children need to learn to eat out in places that are designed for all ages. Some consideration is great, and things like toilet seats that meet their specific needs, but my DD loves going to 'grown-up' places too. Please strike the right balance PE

TPL - I agree. I expect to have to take wipes, plastic cup, small books/toys with me when I go out to eat with DS. There is no need for the restaurant to provide them.

It is a restaurant, not a playgroup. Some of the suggestions people are making here are bonkers.

Agree about the salad on the piccolo menu, it is ridiculous.

The reason PE aren't always happy to let you have a half portion of their pasta is that their pasta dishes are delivered to their branches (I stop short at calling them restaurants) frozen in the earthernware dishes that they serve them in.

PE pizzas are child sized already.

Can you guess, I'm not a fan?

To add to other comments:

1. Please do not have separate child play area/video screens etc. we go to PE because they DON'T have these things and we want to eat as a family.

1. Larger tables with room for highchair/buggy.

1. Smaller pizzas for smaller appetites (eg create a pizza using the side order size of garloic bread).

1. Cold plates or cooler food.

1. Booster seats for older kids (Spain is great for these)

1. pencils and colouring books for the table.

1. Plastic glasses for kids.

1. Fast service or free bread/breadsticks on the table.

1. properly paid & trained staff who don't get flustered by noise or small toddlers who throw food etc etc and who genuinely want to make it a happy family experience.

10. Room between tables to push a buggy or a buggy 'store'

Btw, love the idea of all day opening with smaller snack type things for mid-morning stop off.

notwavingjustironing - we used to be charged full whack too, but discovered that if we didn't order the kid's menu, just using our pizza base, but instead ordered a margarita on our base, then they just charge for the toppings (and we've done this in 3 or 4 PEs now). In fact the last time my mum took them to our local PE (in Southgate, North London), they didn't even charge for the toppings! We do get them an ice cream (without the cone), which they charge us for separately.

Please appreciate that a parent eating alone with a child may have to leave the table to take said child to the toilet - this does not mean they've finished eating and have left (coats and shopping bags still at the table is a big clue here).

Please don't clear the table while we're gone - even if it looks like the child has finished they might want to eat the crust when they get back.

Oh yes, decent sized toilets. I couldn't get in the one in Pizza Hut last week with my pg belly even if I left the crutches outside!

-Would like to be able to leave the buggy by the table, rather than in a "buggy park" so I can leave the baby in the pushchair if he's asleep.

• some sortof "baby pack" that maybe had chunky crayons and very simple pictures to colour, a small baby wipe pack and a free to take away spoon???
• Lower sink in the toilets for younger kids??

In a similar vein to TeaOneSugar - we understand that all fast food joints want a rapid turnover of tables, but please be less obvious about it. IME PE are dreadful for making you feel that you've overstayed your welcome (which is even worse if you've had to wait an extraordinary length of time to actually get your food).

cold plates for children's food

decent high chairs (the IKEA ones are not expensive!)

snack plate is a great idea for littles - we went to Zizzis when DS was 4.5 months old and he snatched an olive (which DH and I abhor, but it was on the plate...) and some bread from my plate and ate them (his first forays into BLW...) - nowadays he'd love a plate with lots of options on it, and not just bland kiddie options either - proper food, like artichokes, some meats, olives, cheese, nice bread - basically the same as an adult selection but smaller.

clearing the table of breakables for parents is a brilliant idea too!

We rarely eat out since DS arrived but may be tempted back into pizza express to check it out with a toddler!

I haven't been to a PE but some of the things I would like in restaurants generally are:

Child-sized cutlery (V. cheap but makes a huge difference to children)

Booster seats available as well as high chairs

DEF no video screens, for all the reasons already mentioned

Children's food not to be served on hot plates (common sense)

Variety of portion sizes in children's meals. At a pub recently my ds was given a 4oz steak with a mountain of chips the same size as my portion. He ate one bite of steak and two chips (but gobbled all the peas)

Better choice of children's food. Not all children like nuggets and baked beans. Another pub nearby does a mix and match thing where you can have chips/mash/rice/jacket spud with fishfingers/sausage/chicken breast and peas/beans/sweetcorn/carrots

Toilets without hand dryers (my ds is scared of them) and with steps to wash hands (again, v.cheap and makes a big difference)

OK, I am going to be the voice of doom here, but I think making PE more family-friendly by introducing more special stuff for kids is a REALLY BAD IDEA.... sorry

The reason (IMHO) why it is has been so successful is because it has been a nice 'bridge' between crappy 'fast food' type outlets (MacDs, Pizza Hut, TGI etc) and 'proper' restaurant for Mum & Dad.

As soon as you make it TOO kid-friendly and day-glo with screens/ buggy parks/ kids activities etc they will just drive away the people who go for (relatively) quiet, 'semi-proper' meal....

I don't want plastic cups and toys and loads of colouring etc - I want my kids to learn how to behave in a proper restaurant without making it a kids play area...

At the moment you get a nice mix of families AND couples/ even business people etc. This sort of initiative will drive away the latter two groups.

It will just become a buggy/toddler-fest...

Certainly change/improve the service side of things (something to nibble quickly/ bill coming quickly etc) but please don't turn it into a kid's play area with designated buggy park . Isn't that what Pizza Hut is for, at half the price?

I really do agree with fluffy

Some tweaks would be welcome, but please don't go too mad

Many others have said the same as you on the thread fluffy. Including me at the third post in. I really hope PE are listening!

just make the food taste nicer, that would be great.

Childrens menu's that offer different portion sizes would be good, and as lots of others have said more pudding choices for them.