America’s Next Great Restaurant takes on kids
Allison has been recording America’s Next Great Restaurant on NBC, and I’ve been passively watching. But last night’s episode had me hooked as the contestants took on the most feared and vocally critical customers – kids.
Some of the comments from the restauranteurs when they found out they were doing kids food were just awesome.
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“I’m thinking ‘oh crap’. This is going to be an uphill task for me, because kids are notoriously difficult to cook for, and American parents are overly cautious with the flavors they expose their kids to…” –Indian Food guy “It’s hard to balance the kid entree because kids are very picky about what they eat. It’s gotta be familiar and yet different at the same time.” –Organic girl “What can we do that’s good and healthy at the same time? I was thinking like a waffle sandwich?” –Soul Food guy “Kids can be some of the toughest critics there are. If you ask kids a question, they’re going to give it to you whether you like it or not.” –Saucy Balls guy |
For these competitors, the idea of a challenge surrounding kids and food was easily the toughest one to date. Kids are a necessary evil in their world. The unrelenting customer that you will never satisfy, but simply must placate in order to get access to their parents’ dollars. Even in a primetime restaurant show, everyone seemed more eager just to check the kid box and move on to their core business. Grilled cheese sandwich? Check. Chicken nuggets and fries? Check. Mac and cheese? Check. Slap “Kids Menu” on the top, couple it with a four-pack of crayons, and call it a day. To the contestants credit, they were more creative than the typical American eating establishment, but they hardly embraced kids as a core customer. And these guys only had to come up with ONE entree that fit within their cuisine for a captive audience! (When a family chooses a restaurant, it’s usually already pre-determined that the cuisine is amenable to all palates.)
Try writing a menu for tens of thousands of kids a day across almost 200 schools – with all of the nutritional considerations, allergen sensitivities, and food preferences, and an age range spanning Pre-Kto 8th grade and up. Make sure it’s popular yet progressive, and make sure you know where your ingredients are coming from and prioritize local sourcing and organics as much as possible. Oh! I almost forgot – price. Make sure you don’t price it too cheap, or you’ll only be able to use cheap ingredients. But don’t price it too high, or it will be less accessible to parents on a regular basis. Yup, you’re in our world now, baby. This isn’t some “food challenge” to us. This is what we live and breath every day. It’s why we get up in the morning. Do we get it right every time? Nope. Is it really hard? You bet. We’re not naive enough to think we’ll be able to craft the perfect lunch for every kid out there, but we’re sure as heck going to do our best, and we’re going to make darn sure that our best is better than anything else out there. No one can make everyone happy, but we strive to come as close to it as possible. Back to the show.
Listening to what the chef judges had to say was pretty interesting as well.
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“It’s about giving them a choice.” –Lorena Garcia “I think kids these days want food that their parents are eating.” –Bobby Flay “Something that I hate to see is when we serve the kids all the unhealthy stuff just to shut them up and keep em happy. I kinda think it’s our responsibility to not just give ’em a hot dog. It’s gotta be something a little bit healthier.” –Curtis Stone |
Lorena – spot on and couldn’t agree with you more. Choice is what makes the difference between dictating how kids should eat (and won’t when you’re not looking), and giving them the opportunity to make good choices on their own.
Bobby – You’re right in some respects, but not entirely. The kids who want food their parents are eating are usually the ones who have grown up eating the same things as their parents. But even then, sometimes a little adaptation is necessary. Case in point – toning down the spices on the Indian curry in the show to appeal to a wider audience. Slight deviation on your point here, but you’re still the man. Mesa Grill and Bolo rank up there with two of my favorite culinary experiences in New York, and Bar Americain is no slouch either.
Curtis – AMEN. Truer words have never been spoken. When you resort to the “just shut them up and keep them happy” approach, you’re not only ignoring their needs as growing human beings, but you’re basically saying “I give up – I no longer have the energy to reason with you or educate you on why it’s important to fuel our bodies properly.” Don’t give up. It’s not McDonald’s verus raw food. We’re not talking french fries vs kale chips (though both are delicious). The battle for the way our kids eat will be fought and won in the middle.
And can someone please tell me why the two strongest voices of reason I heard around reforming food for American kids are a Brit and an Aussie? I mean, well done fellas – you get it and you get the problems, but let’s get some prominent American chefs talking about this in prime time!
