A recent survey of restaurant customers in the United States showed that households with younger kids are much more likely to seek out restaurants with kid-friendly menus and many of those consumers are looking for healthier food items on the menu for their families.
According to Restaurant DemandTracker, Denny's ranks number 1 in terms of the most people thinking it has a kid-friendly menu (60%) , followed by IHOP (51%), Steak n' Shake (45%), Applebee's (43%), and Big Boy (42%).
The casual and family-dining restaurant brands that score best in terms of offering at least some "healthy food choices" among consumers with children under age 18 are Bonefish Grill (43%), and Applebee's, Mimi's Café and Olive Garden tied with 40% each.
Families with children under age 18 spend over $60 per week on restaurants compared to average spending among all restaurant goers of $50 per week, so families represent a key target segment for most restaurant segments.
"Families with kids have many criteria to satisfy when they choose a restaurant," said David Decker, President, Consumer Edge Insight. "Those that are looking for a casual or family-dining restaurant that is both kid-friendly and offers healthier menu items should consider going to Applebee's. Applebee's joining the Kids LiveWell program earlier this year may be contributing to this perception."
Households with younger children are especially likely to value a kid-friendly menu and slightly more likely to value healthy menu choices than households with older children. Among households with kids under age 12, 39% of them say that a kid-friendly menu is always important when choosing a restaurant, and another 36% say that it is important most of the time, Restaurant DemandTracker said in a statement.
Among these households with young children, 25% of them say a restaurant having a menu that includes some healthy food choices is always important, and another 37% say it is important most of the time. Parents of kids who are age 12-17 also look for kid-friendly menus much of the time-24% say it's important all of the time and another 27% say most of the time-and healthy food options, with 22% saying that is always important and 38% saying that's important most of the time.
