CHICAGO — It appears that today's kids are no longer won over by a toy nestled between their chicken nuggets and fries, or with the kids' menu, according to The NPD Group, a leading market research company. Though kids' meals with toys and kids' menus continue to be the most popular options for children younger than 13, both offerings have experienced sharp declines.
NPD's Consumer Reports on Eating Share Trends (CREST), which tracks consumer usage of commercial foodservice, has found that kids' meal ordering had shifted for the year ending December 2008. The report found that among children under 13, orders for meals that included a toy were down 11 percent and orders from childrens menus were down 4 percent, compared to a 2 percent decline in combo meals and 9 percent increase in 99-cent value menu orders.
"Just as adults have moved to greater use of deals and value menus, there continues to be a shift in the way kids are ordering at restaurants or, in many cases, how their parents are ordering for them," said Bonnie Riggs, restaurant industry analyst at NPD. "What has gained in popularity is the use of value menus for kids' meals and snacks."
Contributing to the decline is that fewer kids are eating out. NPD finds that traffic for parties with children declined 5 percent in the quarter ending February 2009, compared to the same quarter last year, after more than three years of positive growth.
Both quick-service restaurants and full-service restaurants experienced traffic losses. In both cases, losses were heaviest with kids under 6 years old.
When kids under 12 do visit restaurants, pizza is by far the most popular fast food for children, according to NPD CREST data. On the flip side, fries and chicken nuggets also are popular, but beginning to fall out of favor. Up and coming items include hamburgers, tacos and pasta for older kids, with fruit and ice cream gaining in popularity for younger kids.
