Are you one of those skeptics who equate taking children to restaurants with taking them to Europe - in other words, don't?
If that's your view, be advised that not only is this attitude no longer universal, it may be decidedly unfashionable. Dining out with children is actually becoming a 1990s trend. The dual-income baby boomers who postponed childbearing to pursue careers have finally become parents and have begun to develop new lifestyles. They have the means to dine out frequently, and although some continue to go the baby-sitter route, others have found baby-sitters increasingly hard to find, afford, or tolerate. So they have opted to take their children with them.
Many restaurants are responding with promotions, high chairs, special menus, and, most importantly, open minds. "Adding a children's menu was a necessary reaction to marketplace realities," says Vivian Deuschl of the nationwide Ritz-Carlton hotel chain. Washington's Ritz houses the deluxe Jockey Club restaurant, which has instituted a children's menu alongside its regular French fare.
Deuschl says the response has been good. "In fact," she says, "We've had adults ask if they could order from the children's menu. Our clientele tends to be a little older and better established, but their children are young." She explains that parents who are busy with their careers often don't have much time to spend with their children. And since Mom and Dad "want that time to be quality time," says Deuschl, "on weekends they take the kids out to dinner. I feel we are grooming the 'power diners' of the future.
Hanging out Welcome Signs
That pretty much sums up the restaurant sentiment across the nation, and National Restaurant Association (NRA) statistics back it up. According to a study conducted by the association, the number of restaurant meals served to youngsters under six jumped 36 percent between 1982 and 1988, compared with those served to adults, which were up only 15 percent.
"An increasing number of families with small children are going out to eat and taking the kids with them," notes NRA president Harris "Bud" Rusitzky. He points out that restaurants are responding with meal promotions, special menus, games, and toys designed to make eating out a pleasurable experience for both kids and their parents.
Although 83 percent of children's dining during those years was at fast-food places like McDonald's and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, that's not the whole story. The study indicated that table-service restaurants like the Jockey Club are orienting themselves toward families with children.
In fact, kids under six posted a 28 percent increase in visits to upscale restaurants during the years studied. The Percentage is pretty impressive, especially when compared to a 6 percent decrease in adult traffic during the same time period.
Restaurateurs, some of whom are looking at too many empty tables these days, are responding to the surge in youthful dining in different ways:
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