Becoming a child-friendly restaurant: what parents really look for

A family going out to eat rarely chooses based on the menu. They choose based on one question: can we sit here for two hours without it becoming a battle. Whoever answers that question with yes gets the table.

That's good news, because the answer depends only a small amount on your kitchen.

What parents really judge

• Is there something to do while waiting, and does it still work after ten minutes?
• Can the children's food arrive before the parents' food?
• Is there room for a pram without half the venue needing to move aside?
• Is the reaction relaxed if something gets knocked over?
• Are there other families, or are you the only one among couples who clearly wanted quiet?

The most important question a parent asks isn't 'is it tasty' but 'will this be relaxed or not'.

The kids' menu is the least important part

Almost every venue has one, and it's nearly the same everywhere. So it doesn't set you apart. What does stand out: a smaller portion of something from the regular menu, or the option to share. Parents appreciate it when their child doesn't automatically end up with the fish fingers.

Entertainment that keeps working

Colouring sheets keep a child occupied for five to ten minutes. After that they start over, or they get bored. What works longer is something with variety built in.

Table games via a QR code have two advantages here. There's nothing to lose or tidy away, and a child can play several rounds in a row without it staying the same. Games like memory, spot the difference and puzzles are short enough for the waiting time. See the overview.

What's needed per age group

Child-friendly isn't one category but a range. What works for a three-year-old bores a nine-year-old within a minute.

• Up to about four: a parent's attention is the only thing that really works. What you can offer is a proper high chair and food that arrives quickly.
• Four to seven: colouring, sticking, and short games that don't involve reading. Memory and spot-the-difference fall into this group.
• Seven to eleven: this is the age where a child can start entertaining themselves. Puzzles, quizzes and games against a brother or sister hold their attention longest.
• Eleven and older: they want to be treated like the rest of the table. A game the whole family joins in works better than something just for children.

Most venues aim at the four-to-seven age group, while the group above that stays the longest and stands out the most when things go wrong.

Timing in the kitchen

This is the adjustment that makes the biggest difference and costs nothing. Let the children's food go out ten minutes before the parents'. Children eat faster and finish sooner; if everyone starts at the same time, the children are done while the parents are halfway through, and that's when the restlessness begins.

What you don't need to do

A play corner is the solution people think of most often and that works out least often. It costs space you need on a busy evening, it has to be kept clean, and it draws children away from the table right when the food arrives. Only do it if you genuinely have the space to spare.

What your staff need to know

This is the part that gets skipped most often, and it matters more than the layout. Three things that make the difference between a relaxed family table and a tense one:

• Address the child, not just the parent. A child who's allowed to order themselves sits differently at the table than a child who's talked about.
• Respond to spilled food before the parent apologises. Whoever shows up with a cloth themselves removes the awkwardness. Whoever waits to be asked confirms it.
• Don't ask if everything's to their liking the moment a child is crying. Come back two minutes later.

None of these three cost money or time. All they cost is someone having said it once.

The moments where it goes wrong

When a family visit goes wrong, it's almost always at one of these three points:

1. On arrival, when it turns out there's no high chair or the table is too cramped. The tone is set immediately.
2. Twenty minutes after ordering, when the food hasn't arrived yet and the children have nothing to do. This is the longest and heaviest moment.
3. After the main course, when the parents still want coffee and the children are done. Here a venue loses the extra order it would otherwise have had.

Points two and three are both waiting time, and both can be solved with something a child can do on their own.

Show it before they walk in

Parents check your Google profile before booking. Make sure there's a photo showing a family at the table, and state explicitly in the description that children are welcome and what's available for them. That brings in more bookings than any change to the venue itself.

More on how this plays out for a restaurant can be found on the restaurant page; what it costs is at the prices.