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Research Outline

Prepared for Jan-Eric A. | Delivered October 9, 2019

Kids Influence on Family Dining

Goals

To determine, using statistics and data (if available), how much influence kids have on where (what restaurants) families choose to dine to help build a case supporting the idea that kids are key influencers in family dining decisions who should be considered when restaurants develop menus, create/offer promotions, and create their overall dining experience.

Early Findings

  • According to QSR, 36% of U.S. parents of children under 18 say their kids enjoy international food.
  • Nearly half (47%) of parents today say their kids have more of a say in family decisions than they did when they were kids.
  • According to Y-Pulse’s 2018 kids dining study, 91% of kids said they like the choices on regular menus more than the ones on the kids' menu. Additionally, 87% of kids prefer to go to restaurants that allow them to customize their meals. These preferences have caused some restaurants to offer smaller portions of adult menu items as choices on the kids menu either in place of or in addition to traditional kids' offerings.
  • In 2018, millennials with children bought food at restaurants 5% more frequently than they did in 2017 but the majority,46%, of millennial families bought takeout and brought it home while another 30% ate inside restaurants and the rest ate in their cars or other locations.
  • Although kids are not directly names a major influencers in family dining choices, restaurant behavior suggests that they are. To draw in families, especially millennial familes, many restaurants are creating menu options and environments that are both child-friendly and attractive to parents and their children. Some practices restaurants are adopting to attract families with kids are to create kids menus that are as eclectic as the adult menus. Gone are menus filled with chicken tenders, pizza, and mac -n -cheese. Restaurants are also making kids menus more engaging and entertaining.
Summary of Our Early Findings
Our inital research indicates that there is a lot of information available discussing how parents, peers and social media influence kids food and restaurant dining choices, but not much that discusses how kids influence there parents'