Speaker 1: I'm Manny, I'm Noah, and this is no such thing.
Speaker 1: The show where we settle our domb arguments and yours
Speaker 1: by actually doing the research. This week we look into
Speaker 1: a severely underdiscussed form of discrimination upheld by the food industry.
Speaker 2: They can tell me no if the reason is like
Speaker 2: we have to kill one kid, if we can.
Speaker 3: No, There's no no such thing, no such thank such, Thanks.
Speaker 2: Touch, thank touch, thank.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 1: We have a fourth mic with us today. Kate Lindsay,
Speaker 1: internet culture writer and co host of ic y am
Speaker 1: I Slate's Internet culture podcast.
Speaker 5: Slate's Internet culture podcast.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the pod, Kate.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for hiring me. This is a
Speaker 2: dream come true, mostly because of the topic I like.
Speaker 2: No one's ever allowed me to speak on it before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, now's your chance. So this week's topic came from
Speaker 1: a conversation we had when we first launched the podcast
Speaker 1: a few months ago.
Speaker 6: I can tell you what happened. Shall I tell you
Speaker 6: what that?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 2: Two years ago, three years ago, a dune was out.
Speaker 2: I can't say which one, but I know I was
Speaker 2: in a movie theater.
Speaker 6: To see a dune.
Speaker 7: You're watching, Timothy, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was one of those places where you could
Speaker 2: order food by writing out a card and get like
Speaker 2: full meals, like you know, way beyond the whole popcorn thing.
Speaker 2: And so they have a very expansive menu. And I, like,
Speaker 2: Manny grew up as a picky eater, and so there
Speaker 2: are some foods that us picky eaters know just like
Speaker 2: really hit different. And one of those meals is chicken fingers.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And so it was either that the adult menu did
Speaker 2: not have chicken fingers at all, or they had some
Speaker 2: version of it that was like kind of an abomination,
Speaker 2: Like it was like Dorito crusted.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, like not what I wanted.
Speaker 2: But I saw on the kid's menu they had just
Speaker 2: your bog standard chicken tenders and fries, and so I
Speaker 2: wrote my little card kids chicken tenders and fries, and
Speaker 2: they took it. They went off, and then like a
Speaker 2: minute later, someone came back and they kneeled down.
Speaker 6: In front of me. Yeah, they didn't even write it.
Speaker 2: They kneeled down and said, that's like that's from the
Speaker 2: kids menu. We we can't serve you that. And I
Speaker 2: was like okay, and I got something else, but like
Speaker 2: I mean, at that point, the rest of Dune was
Speaker 2: out the window.
Speaker 1: For it was ruined.
Speaker 5: Did you push back at all?
Speaker 2: No, because that's not my personality. The movie was playing right,
Speaker 2: and so it's like, yeah, I didn't want to like
Speaker 2: start it, and like I'm much more of the vibe
Speaker 2: of like I'm just gonna really resent that for years
Speaker 2: and years and then talk about a podcast.
Speaker 6: But it was just like humiliate.
Speaker 2: It was like that's for little kids and you're a
Speaker 2: grown up, and and I just felt so dumb, and
Speaker 2: it just more so started a larger type of crisis
Speaker 2: for me of like why can't I do this? I
Speaker 2: felt very libertarian all of a sudden. I was just
Speaker 2: like I don't understand the reasons. More so, I don't
Speaker 2: understand why it's inconsistent in terms of whether or not
Speaker 2: you're allowed to because there are some places that don't
Speaker 2: care because it's on the menu.
Speaker 6: Other places care.
Speaker 2: But now, because of that experience, I am so scared
Speaker 2: to do it again. And ever since then, it's just
Speaker 2: been it's just been in my brain all the time
Speaker 2: because sometimes either they don't have it on the main menu.
Speaker 2: It's like something really simple that you want that you're
Speaker 2: like perfect, or you know, you just want a kid's portion,
Speaker 2: because sometimes you're not there for a full meal, but
Speaker 2: you want a little something.
Speaker 8: You would think that you are giving an establishment X
Speaker 8: amount of money. Yes, you just get something from their kitchen,
Speaker 8: no matter you know what, however they label it, you can.
Speaker 6: Believe I've thought about every which way.
Speaker 2: I really try to make sense of this, because it's like, okay,
Speaker 2: maybe it's less expensive, but I could show up in
Speaker 2: order just an appetizer that's allowed.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and so it's.
Speaker 6: Not like a price thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I.
Speaker 6: Want to give you my business.
Speaker 2: And because I think, to me, the reason, I can't
Speaker 2: figure out what the reason would be other than someone
Speaker 2: who's like, well that's all grown up, and I don't
Speaker 2: I don't understand, right, right, just give me a little
Speaker 2: bit less Like at a certain point, I'd be like, okay,
Speaker 2: can I pay for the adult verd?
Speaker 6: You give me the kid? I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's just it's there, it's available. I don't have to
Speaker 2: order anything, but I want to order this.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It just feels like an infringement of some right, But
Speaker 2: I haven't really been able to nail down which one
Speaker 2: and make a real kid.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they are not answering me when I email them.
Speaker 1: I feel for you deeply.
Speaker 8: I'm somewhat of a kid's menu connoisseur, so to speak,
Speaker 8: like like I go I'll go to Thankfully the coffee
Speaker 8: shops aren't saying no to me. But I'll buy a coffee,
Speaker 8: iced coffee or whatever, and I'm just like, can you
Speaker 8: just fill it up halfway?
Speaker 6: Right right?
Speaker 8: I don't want to drink this whole thing. And I
Speaker 8: know it's crazy because I'm paying for the whole thing.
Speaker 1: I never drink it.
Speaker 7: A small coffee filled that half.
Speaker 5: I'll just feel like, you know, I've done this.
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm not going to drink it, give it
Speaker 1: to someone else.
Speaker 6: I've done this. I've done this with wine.
Speaker 2: I've been like, can I just get like a half
Speaker 2: glass I should take? Can I get a kid's size?
Speaker 8: And I'm not asking to pay less? I'm not so yeah,
Speaker 8: because I'll put it in the fridge or whatever and
Speaker 8: I won't drink it. I'll just sit there for days
Speaker 8: and I have to toss it.
Speaker 1: Your coffee mm hm oh what that kids menu stuff?
Speaker 2: Do you get there?
Speaker 3: Kids?
Speaker 1: Men order from the kids menu?
Speaker 3: Ever?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I do, I would, and I do. It's separate
Speaker 8: from wanting the kids item, it's what it speaks to
Speaker 8: what Kate wants. Yeah, it's like this portion, I just
Speaker 8: want a smaller amount. And so for at Chipotle, for example,
Speaker 8: I'll get the kids menu tray and it's just like
Speaker 8: a tinier portion size of their regular item and it
Speaker 8: costs less for this. But yeah, at at fast food places,
Speaker 8: this portion size, the kids size is filling me up
Speaker 8: and it's cheaper.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And if it's something just have different things. And
Speaker 2: I don't like the insinuation that my palette should be
Speaker 2: more evolved and offering it to me, they're like, no,
Speaker 2: you don't get this because it'll always have like Caesidia
Speaker 2: mac and cheese, chicken tenders, like all the hits, quite frankly.
Speaker 2: And then they're relegated to the kids menu and if
Speaker 2: you get an adult one, they've fucked with it in
Speaker 2: some way. They've like they've added something to like make
Speaker 2: it more evolved. Yeah, and it's like I don't want that.
Speaker 2: I want like you got me all excited I saw
Speaker 2: them on the menu. No, I can't get it.
Speaker 1: Devin, do you ever want to do this kid's menu stuff?
Speaker 6: The only time?
Speaker 4: No, I need to go.
Speaker 7: The only time I have thought about doing it, but
Speaker 7: I'm too embarrassed to do it. Is at an ice
Speaker 7: cream place.
Speaker 6: Oh, I will tell you right now.
Speaker 2: An ice cream place is, in my experience, the only
Speaker 2: safe place to do it. They will give you kids,
Speaker 2: no question asked that they don't go do you have
Speaker 2: the kid waiting outside? Yeah, they will just give it
Speaker 2: to you, And right they don't. They don't give it
Speaker 2: to me and then come back and whisper. And actually
Speaker 2: they allow that they understand. But I find that anywhere
Speaker 2: where it's like a sit down restaurant, they will not
Speaker 2: do it, even though I can see right there that
Speaker 2: they have the ability to. And so to me, it's
Speaker 2: like it's the lack of understanding why because it seems
Speaker 2: to be based I can't figure out in what way
Speaker 2: it would be a business reason, and so it seems
Speaker 2: to be on principle, and I don't like that. Again,
Speaker 2: in a libertarian sense, I don't know why they get
Speaker 2: to say that about what I eat.
Speaker 7: If you've felt like you need a reasoning on why
Speaker 7: would you feel better about them telling you now?
Speaker 1: Or I guess it depends what the reason.
Speaker 6: They can tell me.
Speaker 2: No, if the reason is like we have to kill
Speaker 2: one kid if we get like if it's that, then
Speaker 2: like sure, okay, I.
Speaker 6: Won't get it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll consider it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like every time we give a kid's menu item
Speaker 2: to an adult, we have to kill one kid.
Speaker 1: I'd be like, all right, I'm amazing.
Speaker 7: It's a cost things in because they're usually cheaper and
Speaker 7: they just want to force you to order something that's
Speaker 7: more expensive.
Speaker 8: Yeah, because you're the adult.
Speaker 6: But that brings me back to like I could just
Speaker 6: get an appetize them.
Speaker 2: They're not coming over like you need to get a
Speaker 2: made advertizer.
Speaker 8: Yeah, but I will say, just to play Devil's advocates
Speaker 8: to the thing, I literally just said sorry, if you
Speaker 8: get just an appetizer. They some some places are certainly
Speaker 8: annoyed that you're if you.
Speaker 1: Go to a let's say, sit down restaurant and you
Speaker 1: just order French fries.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a capitalism thing because if people
Speaker 2: realize they don't if I if they let me do it, it's.
Speaker 6: The news is going to spread.
Speaker 2: And then and like big big Food wants us to
Speaker 2: think that we have to order a huge portion and
Speaker 2: that's our only option, and there's we can't get anything cheaper.
Speaker 2: We have to do the most expensive thing and maybe
Speaker 2: OURFK is right.
Speaker 6: You guys back to that episode.
Speaker 5: No, it's people are already mad about us our case.
Speaker 2: Listen, listen, I don't care someone's behind all this about
Speaker 2: us needing to get like huge portions and absolutely no compromise,
Speaker 2: even if like you have the ability and I have
Speaker 2: the money and the palette for it. I think we've
Speaker 2: established a certain price and portion size that if people
Speaker 2: were to realize they could scale back that.
Speaker 6: Restaurants are scared. They're scared of me, and they're scared
Speaker 6: of what I have to say.
Speaker 1: Scared. So I'm not a kids men you guy typically,
Speaker 1: but you know, in preparation for this this past week,
Speaker 1: and I did go to a mall. Oh wow, I
Speaker 1: went to a an ally a popular family restaurant chain
Speaker 1: by myself, saddled up to the bar with the mission
Speaker 1: of ordering off the kids menu.
Speaker 5: I'll reveal the results of this later, but it was
Speaker 5: quite an experience.
Speaker 6: Yeah, for now a man alone.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll say this. I wasn't the only one, believe
Speaker 1: it or not, but after the break, I go behind
Speaker 1: the scenes of the kids menu industrial complex to find
Speaker 1: out how the youth monopolized the small portion chicken tender market.
Speaker 1: All right, so we're back. I talked to a few
Speaker 1: people during that ad break. One is an anonymous server
Speaker 1: at an undisclosed dining movie theater chain which may or
Speaker 1: may not have been the one that showed Dune those
Speaker 1: years ago.
Speaker 4: I am a server at a i'd say popular dining
Speaker 4: movie theater. So the kids menu stuff is pretty standard fair.
Speaker 4: You've got like tots, chicken fingers, burger pizza, and almost
Speaker 4: call it like snack bar concession type food, nothing too crazy.
Speaker 4: At a certain point in the evening it becomes adult only.
Speaker 4: They want to be, and I think they are successfully
Speaker 4: a place where you can go get a drink, watch
Speaker 4: you know, a cultured movie you're going to not see
Speaker 4: like a bunch of families or a bunch of kids.
Speaker 4: It's something a little bit more elevated, a little bit
Speaker 4: more adult for the interestrections ages twelve and under. And
Speaker 4: then we stop serving it around APM. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 4: that like the POS system that's used, that'll like when
Speaker 4: it's actually like eighty six, it'll just stop. Like you
Speaker 4: I literally couldn't put it in if I wanted to.
Speaker 4: One part is it's to discourage people from bringing their kids,
Speaker 4: and that helps to do that if we say, like, hey,
Speaker 4: the menu is just adult food, don't bring your kid
Speaker 4: because there's not going to be that sort of food available.
Speaker 4: But the other is that the standard menu offerings are
Speaker 4: one I would think say better, want to push you
Speaker 4: to those ones that where more time and thought and
Speaker 4: care has been put into those menu options. Just for
Speaker 4: the nature of them being more popular and more consumed
Speaker 4: by adults. It's also actually more profitable for the theater.
Speaker 4: That's the other reason is that it's it's not they
Speaker 4: just don't make as much money on the kids food
Speaker 4: as they do on the standard adult food.
Speaker 1: Some role play. Sure, it's five pm, I'm going to
Speaker 1: catch sinners solo. I want the kids tots. I write
Speaker 1: that down on the thing. You come by to pick
Speaker 1: it up. Yeah, how does this go? I might recommend
Speaker 1: something during the greed. If they're like, oh, I want
Speaker 1: the kids burger, I'd be like, oh, well, we could
Speaker 1: we have this adult burger. You know, it's got X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z. It's a little bit nicer, it's a
Speaker 1: little bit more elevated, and might try and push them
Speaker 1: towards that. But if they're you know, writing on the card,
Speaker 1: it's what they want. It's before we've liked the policy,
Speaker 1: then I don't have a problem with it.
Speaker 4: But if you're going to make a really crazy sting
Speaker 4: about it, and you know, i'd probably got the manager
Speaker 4: is something if you're being really rude or completely unreasonable.
Speaker 4: From a business perspective, the policy makes sense from like
Speaker 4: a personal perspective, like now you should you know, whatever
Speaker 4: you want, it's fine, no moral judgment. If you are
Speaker 4: five year old and you want, I know, that's totally
Speaker 4: there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 2: It seems like it's very like employee to employee. And
Speaker 2: by the way, I know working there sucks, so like, uh,
Speaker 2: I it's you know, I know, I know it's not
Speaker 2: their fault.
Speaker 6: I know it's like it's someone else's.
Speaker 2: But I would say the delivery of my rejection was
Speaker 2: not like, hey, it was it was it was delivered.
Speaker 6: Like a personal problem. It was yeah.
Speaker 2: I think if they had said, like, we don't serve
Speaker 2: it right now, that would be fine, But it was
Speaker 2: like you can't, you can't have it.
Speaker 5: I didn't like if there was a kid next to you,
Speaker 5: they could have maybe right.
Speaker 2: Right, that's the thing, and so I would I would
Speaker 2: have been seeing with him, like it doesn't work, Like
Speaker 2: who am I to lose my mind? But the thing
Speaker 2: it was making me think about, weirdly is the changes
Speaker 2: people want. It it comes to like phones and social
Speaker 2: media and tech and like kids on phones.
Speaker 6: But like the thing that would be better.
Speaker 2: For the people is the thing that's less profitable for
Speaker 2: the companies, which is like basically to scale back, Like
Speaker 2: we're in like and there's a real need to scale
Speaker 2: back and they're never going to do it.
Speaker 6: So now that this.
Speaker 2: Feels like the same problem where like we've gone so
Speaker 2: big and like that's what we're known for, and now
Speaker 2: people are coming up against you, like actually I don't think.
Speaker 2: I don't think I want to eat this much. But
Speaker 2: now it's like, you know the business reason. I'm glad
Speaker 2: to hear he personally has no problem with it, because
Speaker 2: I do personally have a problem.
Speaker 1: With the movie feat. The thing's complicated because obviously you
Speaker 1: don't need to get any It's it's tricky to use
Speaker 1: this as example because they obviously want money from the
Speaker 1: food too, that's part of their model. But like you
Speaker 1: can easily go to one of these places all the time,
Speaker 1: and not have any food. It's not their primary function obviously,
Speaker 1: so it's interesting that even they have kind of these restrictions.
Speaker 2: And I appreciate the effort that he was saying about,
Speaker 2: you know, discouraging kids from coming, because every kid, every
Speaker 2: kid except for the one I eventually will have, is
Speaker 2: the worst thing in the world. So like, I do
Speaker 2: appreciate that, But it's like what draws me, Isn't that
Speaker 2: it's for children draws me to right, that it's the
Speaker 2: smaller and so I'm like so like like, yeah, it's
Speaker 2: like call it something Colone else.
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like the mini bite size like munchkins.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't remember. That's the service perspective. Now our
Speaker 1: deep throat pointed is something very important. Just follow the
Speaker 1: money touched upon earlier. So next up, I spoke with
Speaker 1: Laurie Rakozzi. She's an associate principle at TECH covering the
Speaker 1: restaurant operator in food service industry. She's gonna help a
Speaker 1: zoom out a bit and how the numbers actually crunch out.
Speaker 1: So first up, I wanted to know if kids menus
Speaker 1: have always been around.
Speaker 3: They really kind of started popping up around prohibition. There
Speaker 3: was maybe some incidences where there were kids menus before that,
Speaker 3: but in Prohibition, operators were looking for a way to
Speaker 3: make up for those lost profits, and so they decided
Speaker 3: they might open their restaurants more to families and children
Speaker 3: and women, and so that also started popping up back
Speaker 3: then at places like the Water for Storia, Marshall Fields
Speaker 3: here at a kid's menu, So it was just some
Speaker 3: some way to really get more restaurant traffic from a
Speaker 3: wider audience.
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea on what those menus would
Speaker 1: have looked like back then.
Speaker 3: Prohibition arrow and the kids' menus first started popping up.
Speaker 3: They were typically mirrord what the adults reading to smaller portions,
Speaker 3: so you might have seen a very sophisticated menu at
Speaker 3: the time. You might have seen like pork chops or
Speaker 3: layup chops and chicken, and it just served in smaller pieces.
Speaker 5: And today we see a parallel.
Speaker 1: So restaurants use kids menus as a marketing tool to
Speaker 1: bring in families and boosting their check averages. Last year
Speaker 1: there was a seven point one percent year over year
Speaker 1: growth in kids' menus, so more restaurants are offering more
Speaker 1: kids menu items. So here's where it gets tricky, like
Speaker 1: our anonymous server said, and Laurie confirmed that these items
Speaker 1: are often lost leaders. There's gonna be a tough pill
Speaker 1: to swallow.
Speaker 3: So even though they may be actually you know, lost
Speaker 3: leaders in a way to have a kid's menu, they
Speaker 3: may be you know, at margin or maybe even be unprofitable,
Speaker 3: they're actually bringing in They're relying on parents to come
Speaker 3: in and then spend that money, or research shows it
Speaker 3: tends to be either at margin or you know just
Speaker 3: you know, slightly under just assuming the kids aren't coming
Speaker 3: in on their own buying kids meals, there are going
Speaker 3: to be parents there, and so they're willing to take
Speaker 3: that risk because the parents the adult meals are going
Speaker 3: to subsidize, you know, whatever losses they're on the kid's side.
Speaker 3: So it's really economic and business strategy for why adults
Speaker 3: can't order from kids meals. I mean, kids mills are
Speaker 3: typically priced either at margin or maybe even at a loss,
Speaker 3: and so if adults are allowed to order from the
Speaker 3: kids menu, that's going to be the loss of profits there.
Speaker 3: So a lot of times the kids adult menus are
Speaker 3: really subsidizing the kids' menus, So you're letting an adult
Speaker 3: order would really risk profitability and risk losing money in the.
Speaker 1: Restaurant, so they're unprofitable. So while the restaurants offer the
Speaker 1: items for the restaurant to survive, they need parents to
Speaker 1: be ordering some parent food too. And they're very lucky
Speaker 1: that ten year olds don't usually go to restaurants by themselves.
Speaker 8: Okay, so basically all right, they're offering the kids menu
Speaker 8: knowing that it's not making money to a like be
Speaker 8: nicer to the community or whatever. Offer the stuff for kids,
Speaker 8: but be because the adults are coming.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it brings like if you have you've got two kids,
Speaker 1: and you're either going to not go to the restaurant
Speaker 1: or go yeah you know so, and then that means
Speaker 1: you need to order some real food otherwise it's a
Speaker 1: total wash for them.
Speaker 8: What happens when I bring my kid and we're both
Speaker 8: getting kids the doors.
Speaker 2: The real reason to have a kid, I'm realizing is
Speaker 2: that now finally I can like have there there.
Speaker 6: You can't say no to me anymore. I'm not giving
Speaker 6: them anything.
Speaker 1: Yeah for me?
Speaker 2: Yeah No, I see this all the time with like
Speaker 2: family bloggers and stuff that they'll make dinner and the
Speaker 2: momble you should just eat whatever she's fed the kid,
Speaker 2: I'm like, sounds perfect, Like it's gonna be chicken fingers
Speaker 2: like all that, all the things should I love. And finally,
Speaker 2: no one get mad at me for it, because there's
Speaker 2: a child right there with yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I dove a bit into the restaurant profit margins to
Speaker 1: see how slim these margins actually are. This is dat
Speaker 1: from the NRA, the National Restaurant Association, to be clear. So,
Speaker 1: the most significant costs for a restaurant are food and labor,
Speaker 1: so those each account for about thirty three cents of
Speaker 1: every sales dollar, and then the other costs like expenses, utilities, admin,
Speaker 1: processing fees, everything else. It was about twenty nine percent
Speaker 1: of sales, so that leaves about five percent or five
Speaker 1: cents of every dollar of wiggle room. Basically wow, especially
Speaker 1: in our post COVID era inflation economy, et cetera. The
Speaker 1: NRA estimates double digit percentage increases for restaurant input costs,
Speaker 1: including thirty five percent jumps in food and labor costs,
Speaker 1: since twenty nineteen. So just to break even to keep
Speaker 1: up with the market, a restaurant would have to raise
Speaker 1: prices almost twenty four percent, and that goes up to
Speaker 1: thirty percent if they want to maintain that five percent
Speaker 1: profit margin. So not a lot of room to play
Speaker 1: with here.
Speaker 8: And we're seeing kind of the effect of this, Like
Speaker 8: there's so many like really good restaurants around us that
Speaker 8: have been closing. But what confuses me is that those
Speaker 8: places are always busy, and so I was like, why
Speaker 8: are these places closing down if they get a lot
Speaker 8: of customers? And I think they you know, they can't
Speaker 8: raise their prices because people won't go there, but then
Speaker 8: they also can't like afford the rent or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the kids menus are lost leaders. They bring
Speaker 1: in customers, They build brand loyalty. You can think about
Speaker 1: places you went as a kid that you might like still,
Speaker 1: So it's still worth it on some level just to
Speaker 1: build that sort of community around the restaurant before we
Speaker 1: go on, does you know hearing the flight of the
Speaker 1: restaurant industry at all?
Speaker 5: And it's okay if not, No, it doesn't.
Speaker 2: Here's what that makes me think about the play of
Speaker 2: the restaurant industry. I don't I feel bad about that,
Speaker 2: you know, in general, of course, I don't feel bad
Speaker 2: about my role in that. Wanting to order from the
Speaker 2: kids menu, because it makes me think a little bit
Speaker 2: about tipping, which I'm generally very I'm very pro tipping,
Speaker 2: but the tipping discourse, you know, people should be getting
Speaker 2: paid a living wage, and it is such a like
Speaker 2: twisted move that they've somehow outsourced the responsibility to that
Speaker 2: onto the people. And so this feeling, this feels exactly
Speaker 2: the same, feels kind of similar in the sense it's
Speaker 2: like the restaurant industry is crumbling.
Speaker 6: Things are really expensive.
Speaker 2: If you if they let you order from the kids menu,
Speaker 2: they're not going to make enough money. But you know,
Speaker 2: that framing is that I'm the one inflicting this downfall
Speaker 2: on them by this by wanting to have less food
Speaker 2: at less price, when really the problem is the many
Speaker 2: societal things at the top, right, and like you know,
Speaker 2: and and people wouldn't you know if housing costs were
Speaker 2: less than people could work for, Like it's all it's
Speaker 2: I didn't even realize how connected this is to just
Speaker 2: all the structural problems in the world.
Speaker 6: But then it's easy.
Speaker 2: It's just the same type of like coverts switch around,
Speaker 2: where ITA's like my inability to get like smaller portions
Speaker 2: at a appropriate price is a symptom of a bunch
Speaker 2: of higher problems in society, but that when you go
Speaker 2: asking why can't I do this, you know that the
Speaker 2: answer is, oh, because you need to support restaurants. As
Speaker 2: if I had any part in sort of all the
Speaker 2: things that changed, including starting a pandemic, I had no
Speaker 2: role in that. I've always wondered, Yeah, yeah, yeah, and yes,
Speaker 2: how do you feel like gain a function research?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 2: And so it's just like like sure, I understand that
Speaker 2: in this specific scenario, if we're looking at this layer
Speaker 2: of it all, like yes, if I were to do
Speaker 2: that and insist upon it, they wouldn't make money.
Speaker 6: But I actually have nothing to do with that situation.
Speaker 1: Well, you're a proponent of smaller portions, so you you
Speaker 1: would you would be, in theory, be happy with, you know,
Speaker 1: an adult burger. But let's say it's a six ounce
Speaker 1: burger instead of an.
Speaker 5: Eight ounce, right right?
Speaker 6: Like yeah, Like so, I mean I.
Speaker 1: Don't know if that saves the money.
Speaker 6: I don't know what would happen.
Speaker 2: To society if, yeah, if the portions just suddenly got smaller.
Speaker 2: But I think I, yeah, I would be It's also
Speaker 2: like never, it really is not about the price. It
Speaker 2: is about what it is, how it's smaller, and it's
Speaker 2: sometimes it's just a bit more straightforward, and that's what
Speaker 2: I want.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, So we've learned about why kids menus
Speaker 1: are restricted to kids. Let's talk solutions after the break.
Speaker 1: So we're back. So we're gonna talk about potential solutions
Speaker 1: to the kid menu conundrum. But first a bit about
Speaker 1: my own experience at the mall. All right, I'm outside
Speaker 1: the restaurant. I'm about to go in, trying to get
Speaker 1: a seat at the bar and see how the kid's
Speaker 1: mini thing goes. So I walk in. You know, some
Speaker 1: great music's playing by a Jelly roll or someone trump Sure,
Speaker 1: Benz Boom.
Speaker 5: It's yeah, it's like, I go up, get seated.
Speaker 1: Immediately, it's pretty empty, a few couples in there, some
Speaker 1: another guy at the bar chilling. They don't give me
Speaker 1: the kids menu. To give me the.
Speaker 9: Regular about that, because it's a big Well do you
Speaker 9: remember when you were at the age where they stopped
Speaker 9: giving you the kids man, that was a big that
Speaker 9: was like, oh, I'm an.
Speaker 1: Adult, like a.
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, I kind of didn't like because that was
Speaker 7: fun to do it as a kid.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I wish they had more of.
Speaker 6: Those at least of the episode is like, and I
Speaker 6: should be able to draw.
Speaker 1: On that can't cost them. Yeah, so anyway, so I'm
Speaker 1: looking at I don't they don't give it to me.
Speaker 1: But then I'm just like, all right, So lady standing there,
Speaker 1: I'm just like, oh, well, can I just have a
Speaker 1: kid's burger? And then is there any way I can
Speaker 1: just get like a kid's size cheeseburger, And without any hesitation,
Speaker 1: she goes sure and puts it in. What I was shocked?
Speaker 7: Wow?
Speaker 6: What?
Speaker 1: And I hadn't ordered anything else, Like it's not like
Speaker 1: I got like I got to be here afterwards.
Speaker 6: But you have a kids burger and one beer. It's
Speaker 6: a time that kids could feasibly be there.
Speaker 1: It was like noon.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so maybe that that that could be part of it,
Speaker 6: you know, And.
Speaker 1: Maybe because they weren't busy, you know, but I was.
Speaker 1: I was because I wanted to go buy myself for
Speaker 1: that reason, to be the most challenging.
Speaker 6: To be the most version of the its like, you.
Speaker 5: Know, if I was with other people, okay, not everyone's
Speaker 5: going to get the kids to think.
Speaker 6: You know, and you two go, how was it like
Speaker 6: size wise.
Speaker 1: And I mean it's the size of it. So it
Speaker 1: was I took a picture. Was small. I mean the
Speaker 1: burger was definitely smaller than usual, and like not as
Speaker 1: many acoutreman.
Speaker 6: You know, not as elevated, not elevated really at all.
Speaker 1: Patty cheese, lettuce, tomato. I don't think there was onion
Speaker 1: any all the hits. Yeah, and then good portion of
Speaker 1: French fries. Sure, pretty excellent and more than I would
Speaker 1: think for a kid's Like, it didn't feel like they
Speaker 1: give me a kids portion of the fries.
Speaker 7: It's a grown as man order.
Speaker 1: And yeah, this guy's gonna get we gotta film give
Speaker 1: regular exactly.
Speaker 8: It sounds like what the inside source at the movie
Speaker 8: theater was saying, where it does kind of depend on
Speaker 8: who the employees at the time. This woman just sounded
Speaker 8: like she didn't give a ship.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So so I mean I think that's another you know
Speaker 1: question here is the inconsistency.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because I mean, you know, you say, you know,
Speaker 5: you're not.
Speaker 1: Someone who's gonna throw a fit about this, obviously, but yeah,
Speaker 1: and like or like you're at a restaurant now you
Speaker 1: don't want to ask, And part of that is because
Speaker 1: you have no idea, what reaction, what's gonna happen? Let's
Speaker 1: talk about solutions. So I had some ideas that I'm
Speaker 1: curious how you guys feel, so like some of them
Speaker 1: we've already kind of touched on. So like you would be,
Speaker 1: would you be happy to order a kid's meal but
Speaker 1: pay a surcharge for being an adult? So say it's
Speaker 1: it's normally ten dollars, you have to pay four dollars
Speaker 1: extra for a lot.
Speaker 8: Four is a lot. It was two dollars the cost
Speaker 8: of the But here's the thing. Yes, I would be
Speaker 8: okay with it. It's not my ideal situation.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I would.
Speaker 2: I would do it though if I they just but
Speaker 2: if I saw it, they would need to say it
Speaker 2: on the thing because it's always like for twelve or under,
Speaker 2: and then there's another bit of fine print.
Speaker 1: Like plus plus four for adult.
Speaker 8: Yeah if if the kids men, you plus the surcharge
Speaker 8: is still cheaper than the adult item.
Speaker 1: You're in fine.
Speaker 6: Yes, yes, okay, that's.
Speaker 8: Because I want less food, but I also want to
Speaker 8: pay the a fair price for it, right, what.
Speaker 1: About just paying for a half portion? That's my golden standard.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I just want half of the thing and I
Speaker 8: want to pay half the price for it.
Speaker 2: Like in some cases, yes, it's like I want the
Speaker 2: very specific, picky eater food that they have. But for
Speaker 2: the most part, and because I'm just sort of i'm
Speaker 2: you know, I'm solutions orientated. If this would just if
Speaker 2: we could all agree on this, and I'd be happy
Speaker 2: to settle for just half portion, yeah, of adult adult food, because.
Speaker 8: Then they're not necessary They're not technically losing money on
Speaker 8: that deal. They are not making it as much as
Speaker 8: they could if they forced me to get the adult thing.
Speaker 7: De My thing is you kind of alluded to it.
Speaker 7: But just right on the menu, who can order what?
Speaker 1: I think? That's right. That's what we need is transparency
Speaker 1: all over.
Speaker 7: This is only for.
Speaker 1: How hard how hard line are.
Speaker 6: These right, it's like twelve and under. But sometimes it's
Speaker 6: not like only twelve, it's like twelve.
Speaker 1: Like this is designed twelve year right, right?
Speaker 7: Maybe what they have menus and they say like for
Speaker 7: kids only, like adults can order if you're yeah, if
Speaker 7: you're not with a kid.
Speaker 8: Yeah, And I'll obey that, but also have my problems, Yeah,
Speaker 8: but why can't I You can have your problems with.
Speaker 7: The menu, Yes, exactly, it's not okay, now this person,
Speaker 7: at least we know the rules of engagement.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I asked about during COVID, so many restaurants that
Speaker 1: wouldn't normally have takeout started offering that because one people
Speaker 1: couldn't go into the restaurants. So that's kind of something
Speaker 1: that Lori, the industry analyst, was kind of suggesting as
Speaker 1: a workaround. Yeah, obviously it's not the same as dining.
Speaker 1: But if you really want this food and you're going
Speaker 1: to pay the surcharge of the takeout thing, but if
Speaker 1: you need that tender meal, you can get it from the.
Speaker 2: The place is getting like just in order for like
Speaker 2: a diet cook and envisioning like a kid on the
Speaker 2: other end, like exactly replacing the.
Speaker 1: Order and they're paying. Like but yeah, so that's something
Speaker 1: where the industry is shifting, and maybe you know, on
Speaker 1: a long enough timeline, out of pure necessity, you will
Speaker 1: be able to disorder anything. Mm hmm, that.
Speaker 2: Will yeah, Because yeah, I mean, ultimately, I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm cooler with the idea in general of like restaurants
Speaker 2: being a bit more expensive if the people who work
Speaker 2: there are paid fairly and you're willing to pay, and
Speaker 2: that supports it, like on one condition, you allow me
Speaker 2: to order from the kids menu, because you've made it
Speaker 2: sustainable for you, Like, I will pay the sustainable price.
Speaker 2: And I feel like we should be more accustomed to
Speaker 2: get you of paying more are for privileges, which it
Speaker 2: is to go to this fine establishment and watch Dune
Speaker 2: and get like, you know, I'm literally getting alcohol brought
Speaker 2: to me to watch a movie.
Speaker 6: I will pay for.
Speaker 2: Whatever makes it work for them for them to give
Speaker 2: me just basic chicken fingers and fries.
Speaker 1: I guess I wonder how many adults actually would want that.
Speaker 5: I know how in this room there's fifty percent in
Speaker 5: the general population.
Speaker 1: I wonder what it would be. I think it would
Speaker 1: be fifty. It's probably one.
Speaker 2: You know, like those those things that would do with
Speaker 2: like de Jorn did, where people be like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: I love this restaurants.
Speaker 6: Actually we would do that, but we would put people
Speaker 6: and kids portion yeah, what do you think? And then
Speaker 6: they're gonna go it's fine.
Speaker 1: That was the kids that the kids, and guess what
Speaker 1: you're paying?
Speaker 5: Yeah, or ten dollars more for that.
Speaker 6: No, they would leave so happy. They would be like,
Speaker 6: oh my god. And but that's again big food doesn't want.
Speaker 5: To just know that.
Speaker 2: Hells than.
Speaker 1: No such Thing as a production of Kaleidoscope Content. Our
Speaker 1: executive producers are Kate Osbourne and Mangeshatza Cadur. The show
Speaker 1: was created by Manny Fidel, Noah Friedman, and Devin Joseph.
Speaker 1: Theme and credits music by Manny. Our guest this week
Speaker 1: was Kate Lindsay from the Icy m I podcast and
Speaker 1: embedded newsletter. And thank you to our experts in the field,
Speaker 1: Laurie Racodzi, anonymous movie theater employee, and my amazing server
Speaker 1: at Apple Piece. We couldn't have done this without you.
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