Research from the Out to Lunch campaign from the Soil Association and Organix reveals that Britain’s leading restaurants and pubs are giving children across the UK a raw deal. Children’s menus continue to be dominated by the usual suspects, like nuggets, burgers and sausages, few fruit or vegetables, and not even the provision of children’s cutlery.
Which begs the question: will parents continue to support such establishments as they become increasingly aware of the inferior food they are receiving?
Time to improve standards and make changes
Out to Lunch is calling for the restaurant industry to improve standards and make changes to their children’s menus. The investigation shows 66% of parents think the food provision for children in restaurants is not good enough.
21 popular high street restaurants and pubs were surveyed looking at what’s on the menu for children over a three month period, and revealing that:
- 12 out of the 21 restaurants and pubs have children’s menus dominated by nuggets, burgers and sausages
- Eight out of 21 chains don’t include vegetables or salad in the majority of their children’s main meals
- 10 don’t include a portion of fruit in any of their children’s puddings
- Only 11 out of 21 chains were willing to tell if their food was freshly cooked and where it comes from. Of the 11, only 4 were making and cooking the majority of their children’s food in the kitchen: Jamie’s Italian, Wagamama, Carluccios and Café Rouge
- Only one chain (Jamie’s Italian) could reliably tell parents where its meat came from
- Only 1 offers children’s cutlery as standard
- No restaurants have signage welcoming breastfeeding on their premises
- Only 2 chains offer a children’s drinks menu free from added sugar and sweeteners
League Table of 21 popular high street restaurants and pubs
In line with the research, Out to Lunch has today issued a league table (see below) ranking the 21 restaurants and pubs to show the industry and consumers what chains are offering children.
Jamie’s Italian, Wagamama and Wetherspoon’s have come out on top of the league table, while Burger King, KFC and Prezzo scored the least points. Although average meal price varied from restaurant to restaurant, this did not determine where chains came in the rankings.
High street restaurants are not meeting basic standards
Joanna Lewis, Head of Policy at the Soil Association comments:
“Our investigation reveals that most high street restaurants are not even meeting the most basic standards families should expect when they eat out. Most are still churning out children’s menus dominated by the usual suspects – burgers, nuggets and pizzas – turning the table into a battlefield for any parents wanting their child to eat well.
“With 1 in 3 children now overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school, it’s time for these popular chains to use their influence in a positive way.
“Restaurants need to raise the bar and listen to parents who are saying they want fresh food not ready meals for their children, and the same kind of variety you’d expect as an adult. In the wake of horsegate, it also rings alarm bells that only one restaurant knows where its meat comes from.”
Call for action by Out to Lunch
The Out to Lunch campaign is calling on all high street restaurants and pubs to:
- Offer all young diners the choice of a children’s portion of adult meals
- Serve freshly prepared food, not ready meals
- Offer free water to families on arrival
- Offer children’s cutlery as standard
- Make breastfeeding mums feel welcome
Restaurants and pubs need to improve – or lose business
Anna Rosier, Managing Director at Organix says: “Four out of 10 parents (40%) told us they eat out once a fortnight or more with their families. If restaurants and pubs want to ensure business stays strong and see customers return, they need to start improving what they’re serving to children.
“We want families – parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles – to help get behind our campaign to see change. Restaurants will only start improving if we start being more vocal about what we’re seeing and vote with our feet.”
Families can back the campaign
Out to Lunch is asking families to carry out four simple steps to back the campaign:
- To tell restaurants what they think. The Out to Lunch downloadable Campaign Pack includes a review slip to make is easy for families to leave it behind on the table.
- To be vocal and share feedback with family and friends.
- To vote with their feet. If a restaurant is not up to scratch, don’t go back.
- To support by wearing the ‘I support Out to Lunch’ badge on their Facebook and Twitter profiles.
“With the summer holidays upon us, families will be enjoying eating out more often and we want to see thousands of reviews being left behind this summer, not only in chain restaurants, but independents too. If we create enough noise, together we can help make change happen,” continues Anna.
Jamie Oliver’s perspective
Jamie Oliver, founder of Jamie’s Italian which came first in the league table said, “Since the first Jamie’s Italian opened we’ve always kept things kid-friendly with our funky viewfinder menus and super-tasty food, so to come top of the table is a fantastic achievement, and more importantly, confirmation that we’re doing things right.
“We believe that the quality of the kids’ food should to be right up there on the same level as the main menu, and I truly believe that we have a brilliant offering that both kids love and parents can trust.
“Over the years, I’ve learnt that if you give kids a bit of ownership over their food, they’ll really embrace it, so that’s exactly what we’ve done with our “shake me” salads. Every dish on the kid’s menu comes with one and it counts as one of a child’s five a day. I’ve seen parents completely amazed that their kids are eating salad, and that’s down to the fact that they’ve been involved and had fun putting it together.”
Support and advice for restaurants
Restaurants can find out how they size up, and get support and advice on the small steps, and bigger steps, they need to make by downloading the Out to Lunch toolkit.
The Out to Lunch league table of 21 chain restaurant and pubs
- Jamie’s Italian
- Wagamama
- Wetherspoons
- Carluccios
- Harvester
- ASK Italian
- Café Rouge
- Frankie & Benny’s
- Strada
- Nandos
- McDonalds
- Hungry Horse
- Giraffe
- Beefeater
- Pizza Express
- Pizza Hut
- Zizzi
- Brewers Fayre
- Prezzo
- KFC
- Burger King
Soil Association
The Soil Association is the UK’s leading charity campaigning for healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use: good food should be available to everyone, as a right not a privilege.
The Association campaigns for change, and makes it happen – every day 800,000 meals are served to its Food for Life Catering Mark standards every week day, in workplaces, restaurants, hospitals and schools. The Catering Mark is a unique way for restaurants and caterers to gain the recognition they deserve for serving great fresh, locally healthy, ethically sourced food.
For more information about the Soil Association click here
Organix
Created in 1992, Organix exists to give children the best start in life, by giving parents better, more nutritious choices for their children. Campaigning for healthy choices for children at every stage of their development is at the heart of everything Organix does and that’s why the Out to Lunch campaign is so important to the company.
Organix foods are developed by real people in their kitchen, using nothing but the best natural organic ingredients, so parents can rest assured there’s nothing in the foods to stop them being food as it should be, just as parents would make at home. That means nothing artificial, just ingredients full of goodness – giving babies and children great food foundations for life.
For more information about Organix click here
For a more detailed insight into the Out to Lunch league table click here