Catering for Kids Conference, the Marriott Hotel, Slough, Berkshire, 22-23 November 2002

Citation

(2003), "Catering for Kids Conference, the Marriott Hotel, Slough, Berkshire, 22-23 November 2002", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 33 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2003.01733bac.001

Catering for Kids Conference, the Marriott Hotel, Slough, Berkshire, 22-23 November 2002

Catering for Kids Conference, the Marriott Hotel, Slough, Berkshire, 22-23 November 2002

This conference was aimed very much at the caterer producing meals for profit. The audience included those involved in producing school meals as well as the commercial sector.

Presentations were reflective of the fast moving lifestyles and rapidly changing tastes of children and adolescents.

Presentations included the following titles:

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  "Children's' food – market forces and industry responses". This was an overview by the Institute of Grocery Distribution of a survey on children's food and a synopsis of the report was detailed. The children surveyed as part of the report had the same sedentary lifestyles as adults have. They had an increasing amount of technology for bedroom focussed entertainment with 67 per cent of 10-15 year olds having TVs. Indeed, the speaker predicted there would be a desire for bedroom TV dinners for this group. The 13-14 year olds had an average of £14 pocket money, a third of which was spent on food.

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  Family dining and in-store restaurants were shown to be a focus with "Debenhams in store restaurants". Children were offered a self-select meal from a low counter. Adult portions were offered at half price. The stores also offered full information on the nutritional contents of meals.

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  Marketing and promoting to children showed how children were influenced by advertising and peer pressure to prefer brand leader products. They had a major influence on purchases of foods and takeaways for the whole family.

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  A presentation on allergies by a speaker for Allergy Action emphasised that caterers need to be vigilant about allergens in food, particularly nuts.

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  "How is school catering changing and why" was presented by representatives from Sodexo (a commercial catering company) discussing the findings of their report on school meals. This survey was undertaken 18 months after the implementation of the nutritional standards for school lunches. The survey found that 84 per cent of respondents had a drink before school, but worryingly, 8 per cent had nothing, with this rising to 18 per cent in teenagers, with more among girls. On the way to school, many youngsters bought crisps, sweets and chocolate and in the evening 59 per cent of young people have a family meal at the table. The survey was very comprehensive and of interest to nutritionists and caterers alike.

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  "School meals and government initiatives" described the way in which school caterers encouraged children to use the dining facilities by the use of characters and themes.

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  "Casual kids dining at Pizza Hut" described how it addresses family dining and enables children to self select meals.

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  "Catering for kids in the USA" described the production of meals for children. It also mentioned how they used free food products from local crops, such as pears, in school meals.

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  "Menu development for children" dining in the "Whacky Warehouses eating houses" was described. These restaurants are appealing to both children and their parents. In general this menu development process took six months. During this period, sourcing of foods, trialing them with children, were part of the process.