Page 19 - Foodies Follow Foodies

What’s more, the spike in competition has driven up the
quality of food and sparked innovation in how businesses
cater for families. For example, Bella Italia recently
undertook a partnership with Hasbro to provide board
games for families who ate at their restaurant.
The idea was to encourage the family eating occasion as a
beneficial space to engage in communication and enjoy one
another’s company. Similarly, Frankie and Benny’s
introduced a mobile phone free zone, providing clear boxes
in the middle of the table to also encourage the meaningful
family occasion. Yes, this is a shameless PR stunt, but it
demonstrates that these restaurants are actively catering
for families and putting their needs first.

One business, Thaikhun, took it one step further. It
undertook a significant piece of research
looking into what children wanted when they were eating
out and then put together a bespoke menu off the back of it.
Interestingly, there were a number of challenging touch
points for parents, the biggest of which was the gap
between the family arriving and the food coming, often
leading to children getting distracted and playing up. As
such, they delivered an educational National Geographic
engagement pack as soon as they arrived at the table. More
interestingly, they learnt that younger children were in fact
open to eating anything and not fussy eaters, so they
introduced meal worms and grubs to their children’s
menu – no, seriously!

Yes, I get it. These restaurants aren’t pushing the
boundaries of gastronomy, and they can’t
compete with small local independents when it comes to the
personal touches, but these are part of the UK eating out
eco-system and something that facilitates a much-needed
function for great swathes of families across the country.
That can’t be sniffed at.

Their future is uncertain and almost certainly a second spike
would deal a knock out blow, but there is cause for optimism.
The Government’s Eat Out to Help Out initiative, which kicks
off in August and gives 50% off the bill, up to the value of
£10 per person, between Monday to Wednesday for the
entire month is yet another unprecedented lifeline for the
industry. So, let’s all get behind it, or we might all lose those
trusted, consistent family dining brands when we need them
most.

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