Creating A Kid-Friendly Catering Menu For Your Restaurant: Four Fun Menu Additions To Consider
Children's birthday parties represent a great opportunity for restaurants to expand their catering menus and increase sales. Finding kid-friendly menu options is one key to making catering for children's parties successful. Use the following options to make your restaurant's party room and catering delivery services more appealing to parents looking to throw a fun party for their little ones.
Hot Dog And Hamburger Bar
Letting kids create their own meals brings a bit of fun to lunch or dinner at a birthday party. Create a buffet setup that includes a selection of condiments and toppings kids can add to their hot dogs and hamburgers. Be sure to include a few fun options kids can get really creative with, such as peanut butter and jelly, sliced pineapple or pretzels. Serve the foods up in old-fashioned diner-style baskets for an added bit of fun, and include a side dish area with French fries, macaroni and cheese, cole slaw and potato chips to complete the meal.
Cookies And Milk Trays
At an adult birthday event, you might have passed hors d'ouvres and champagne, but at a child's party, you can create the same atmosphere with trays of freshly backed cookies and small glasses of milk. Have your servers dressed to impress and ready to pass out these treats to all your tiniest guests after dinner.
Birthday Bento Boxes
For parents who want a picnic-style party, birthday bento boxes offer a great way to serve kids a healthy meal in a park setting. Pack colorful lunch boxes with fresh fruit, sandwiches, juice boxes and sliced vegetables. You can also create small dessert boxes that include a mini cookie or cupcake, candy and a party hat. These portable boxes are also a great option to market to parents who want to have a party for their children at school.
Candy Buffets
Instead of having parents create goody bags for each tiny guest, consider building a candy buffet the children can use to build their own goody bags. Offer parents a menu of sweets they can choose from, such as peanut butter cups, mini chocolate bars, suckers, peppermint sticks and licorice. Arrange the buffet options in bowls and jars, and be sure to include colorful bags or boxes as part of your buffet offering. Your servers can seal each of the bags or boxes after they are filled so the treats get home safely. You can also include a few non-edible treats, such as crayons or coloring books, to add an extra layer of fun to this end-of-the-party activity.
Be sure to offer a separate catering menu for children's birthday parties to really demonstrate that you are dedicated to creating delicious meals and fun party experiences for your youngest customers. If you offer up a private dining room in your restaurant for parties, consider adding room decoration packages to your catering menu. For delivery catering services, offer parents the option to have the food and buffet areas set up and taken down for each party. With these customized touches, you can help your restaurant's catering business expand to include fun and fabulous children's birthday parties.
If you're looking for more catering ideas, consider visiting various restaurants, like The Great Wall Restaurant, and gathering ideas to implement in your own business.