Easy ways to ‘kid’dify your cuisine

When it comes to satisfying your customers, the hardest ones to please are the littlest. No, we’re not talking about hobbits! It’s the other kind of 3-4-foot-high people… kids.

They can be unpredictable and unsure about what they want to eat, which why getting them to love your food will be one of top reasons their parents will choose to come back to your café.

As a café owner, keeping these mini gastronomes happy (and happily eating) can be hard to do, but achievable. These five tips will help:

Kids love choice. And choosing their own mix of foods can be an adventure in itself. Options can be scrambled or poached eggs with a pesto, or fresh avocado and tomato, or bacon, topped with tomato or Hollandaise sauce.

Sometimes, it is not the food, but how it’s presented. Make your menu fun. Add excitement by theming them according to the latest movie or seasonal festival.

A simple change in name will make it more fun. Like this:

• Jumbled eggs – scrambled eggs with tomato sauce
• Breakfast Burglar – a mini bun with a ham, cheese, tomato and mayonnaise
• Frozen French Toast – French toast with fresh berries and a sprinkling of snow (icing sugar).

Most parents will admit that kids are one of the biggest reasons why food goes to waste. Picky about taste, texture and how hungry they are – it is difficult to anticipate how much food a kid will eat. We recommend that you offer two portion sizes – regular and small and let the parents choose which one is best.

It’s a fact that kids love what’s on their parents’ plate more than what they’ve ordered. Turn this to your advantage by serving kid-sized versions of adult meals.

For example, one egg instead of two, one slice of toast and a choice of toppings such Hollandaise or Mayo.

Kids are the most impatient people and notoriously bad at waiting. And the longer they wait, the harder it is on their parents. So make it a point to serve them first. This way, the kids are kept occupied, while the parents wait for their food.

Changing the way you do a few simple things will not only mean you satisfy your littlest customers, it will mean you earn the loyalty of the ones who bring them, their parents.