The kids' meal or children's meal is a

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

combination meal A combination meal, often referred as a combo-meal, is a type of meal that typically includes food items and a beverage. They are a common menu item at fast food restaurants, and other restaurants also purvey them. Combination meals may be pr ...

tailored to and marketed to

child A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

ren. Most kids' meals come in colorful bags or cardboard boxes with depictions of activities/games on the bag or box and a toy inside. Most standard kids' meals comprise a burger or chicken nuggets, a

side item A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...

History

The first kids' meal, Funmeal, emerged at

Burger Chef Burger Chef was an American fast-food restaurant chain. It began operating in 1954 in Indianapolis, Indiana, expanded throughout the United States, and at its peak in 1973 had 1,050 locations, including some in Canada. The chain featured severa ...

in 1973 and succeeded. Discerning the popularity of the kids' meal, McDonald's introduced its Happy Meal in 1978, and other fast food corporations, including

Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...

, followed suit with their own kids' meals. Some fast food corporations considered children their "most important" customers, owing to the success of the kids' meals. Their effectiveness has been ascribed to the fact that the patronage of youngsters often means the patronage of a family and to the allure of the toys, which often are in collectible series. In 2006, $360 million of the expenditures of fast food corporations was for toys in kids' meals, which numbered over 1.2 billion. In recent years, the popularity of the kids' meal has receded, with a study by NPD Group indicating that there was a 6% decrease in kids' meal sales in 2011. Explanations include parents' realization that kids' meals are unhealthy, parents' desire to save money (opting instead to order from the

value menu A value menu (not to be confused with a value meal) is a group of menu items at a fast food restaurant that are designed to be the least expensive items available. In the United States, US, the items are usually priced between $0.99 and $2.99. ...

), as well as kids' outgrowing the meals earlier than before. Youngsters have "become more sophisticated in their palates" and seek items from the regular menu but in smaller servings. Kids' meal toys are also no longer appealing to the increasingly technology-oriented youth, who prefer video games. Kids' meals have evolved in response to critics, offering healthier selections and greater variety. In 2011, nineteen food chains participating in the Kids Live Well initiative—including

, Denny's, IHOP, Chili's,

Friendly's Friendly's is a restaurant chain on the East Coast of the United States. Friendly's was founded in 1935 in Springfield, Massachusetts, by the brothers S. Prestley Blake and Curtis Blake. It has 10,000 employees; George Michel is the CEO. It offe ...

Chevy's Chevys Fresh Mex is an American chain of Mexican-style casual dining restaurants located in the United States. The chain was founded in 1986 by Warren Simmons in Alameda, California. The chain's headquarters are currently located in Cypress, Cal ...

, and El Pollo Loco—pledged to "offer at least one children's meal that has fewer than 600 calories, no soft drinks and at least two items from the following food groups: fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins or low-fat dairy".

Criticism

There have been concerns from food critics about the nutritional value of the kids' meal. A 2010 study by the

Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, formerly named the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, is a non-profit research and public policy organization that promotes solutions to food insecurity, poor diet quality, and weight bias. Loca ...

inspecting the kids' meals of twelve US food chains concluded that of 3,039 entrée combinations, twelve satisfied the advised levels of fat, sodium, and calories for preschool kids and fifteen those for older kids.

Toys being inappropriate for the target audience's age group

has received controversy for promoting and aiming at children several PG-13 rated films, including 1998's ''

Small Soldiers ''Small Soldiers'' is a 1998 American action comedy film directed by Joe Dante and written by Gavin Scott, Adam Rifkin, Ted Elliott, and Terry Rossio. It stars Kirsten Dunst and Gregory Smith, along with the voices of Frank Langella and Tommy L ...

'', 2005's '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'', and 2007's ''

The Simpsons Movie ''The Simpsons Movie'' is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. The film was directed by the show's supervising director David Silverman and stars the show's regular cast of Dan Caste ...

''. McDonald's similarly received criticism for releasing Happy Meal toys for the film '' Batman Returns'', eventually recalling and stopping the promotion of the toys following complaints from parents that ''Batman Returns'' was unsuitable for children. When McDonald's promoted 2015's '' Minions'' there was controversy because parents thought one of the toys used profanity.

Legislation

In the United States, kids' meals have been blamed for ingraining unhealthy dietary habits in youngsters and augmenting

child obesity Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or well-being. As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on BMI. Due to the rising prevalence of ...

. In 2010, Santa Clara County, California implemented a ban on toys accompanying kids' meals that fail nutritional standards; affected restaurants showed a 2.8- to 3.4-fold improvement in Children's Menu Assessment scores from pre- to post-ordinance (e.g., improvements in on-site nutritional guidance; promotion of healthy meals, beverages, and side items; and toy marketing and distribution activities) with minimal changes at unaffected restaurants. San Francisco County enacted the same ban, and similar ones have been proposed or considered in other cities or states across the country. Research that examined the impact of the San Francisco ban indicated that both affected restaurant chains responded to the ordinance by selling toys separately from children's meals, but neither changed their menus to meet ordinance-specified nutrition criteria. Conversely, legislators in Arizona prohibited such restrictions, and Florida state senators proposed the same. Outside the United States, Spain and Brazil have also considered such measures. Chile has banned toys in kids' meals altogether.

Notes

References