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15 Ideas to Make Your Restaurant More Family-Friendly

Do you consider your restaurant as family-friendly? More importantly, do your customers feel the same?

Restaurants that promote themselves as family-friendly can bolster their claim by coming up with creative ways to make it more comfortable for parents to bring their kids. Restaurants need more than a couple of highchairs and a discounted kid's menu to be thought of as truly family-friendly by most parents.

But it's not just parents you need to convince. It's the kids that oftentimes dictate the restaurant of choice. What better "word of mouth" promoter can you have than kid's clamoring to eat at your restaurant?

Why is it so many kids want to eat at Chick-fil-A? Could it be because they have a "toddler zone" in the play area for kids 3 years or younger? Or, could it be the disposable placemats for children that stick to the table?

Parents recognize Chick-fil-A because they are creative in finding ways to make parents more comfortable when bringing the kids. They feel welcome.

If you'd like to make your restaurant more inviting for families, consider implementing some of these kid-friendly ideas.

1. Hire a balloon twister or caricature artist to work designated family nights.
2. Place changing tables in EVERY restroom.
3. Provide colorful placemats or coloring books and crayons.
4. Keep a stock of table or board games to occupy kids at the table. Consider offering prizes for completion.
5. Add a secure playroom or sandbox for toddlers.
6. Conduct regularly scheduled brainstorming sessions with your staff to come up with new and unique ideas to entertain families.
7. Educate and train your staff on how to have family-friendly attitudes and procedures to promote better guest experiences for families.
8. Turn kid's meal bags into puppets.
9. Offer order-ahead option to reduce wait time for food preparation.
10. Keep plenty of highchairs (with wheels) and booster seats. Consider decorating them with bright colors or animal shapes.
11. Create a basic, but colorful kid menu with pictures or cartoons to help them choose their own meal.
12. Hand out disposable bibs with your logo printed on them.
13. Provide give-away prizes or toys for kids to take home.
14. Offer child-size cups with lids on them.
15. Most importantly - have patience.