Since the beginning of the year, Bill’s has been looking at how to evolve its children’s offer. In January, the Richard Caring-backed all-day dining group conducted a major focus group aimed at finding out what, if anything, it needed to change about its kids’ menu.
“Embracing families is central to the Bill’s strategy,” says Tom James, MD for the 50-strong group. “And as part of that we’ve always made sure we have a strong kids’ offer.”
The outcome of the focus group reaffirmed that the Bill’s kids’ menu, which offers two courses for £7.45 across lunch and dinner, was working well with young appetites. However, it also highlighted an area of for development. “We saw our offer was fantastic for children up to 10, but that there is an opportunity to better serve older children and teens,” adds James.
“Previously we’ve often looked at all diners under 18s as being part of families, kids dining with their parents. What we hadn’t looked at with as much focus is teens eating independently of their parents, and this is something we wanted to address.”
This is an opportunity for us as operators to make things meaningfully cheaper for a big chunk of our customers
Nick Collins
Fast forward to July and with schools and colleges across the country set to break up for the summer in the coming weeks, Bill’s has launched its rather neatly titled Can-Teen menu, a temporary (for now) summer offer targeted at teens, tweens and growing appetites. Priced at £17.50, the menu offers a choice chicken wings or tenders paired with a sauce, either loaded fries or loaded hash browns, and a soft drink.
Alongside this, the group is also preparing to roll out amendments to its kid’s menu, which through the summer is available for free when one adult orders any main dish. In its new guise there will be a choice to add extras or make portions slightly larger at a value-driven price point.
“Kids eat free remains, but in a price sensitive market we’re launching options to add on to that offer,” continues James. “We wanted a kid’s menu that was more bespoke and offered more choice to younger diners but could also be scaled up for older kids and not exclude them.”
With regards to the Can-Teen menu, James notes that the growing popularity of QSR among teenage diners influenced the development and the price point. “We’ve done a lot of competitor analysis against quick service brands to make sure we match them on a value proposition while offering a full-service experience,” he says.
Not ignoring older kids
Another key driver of the launch, though, is the government and its recently implemented Great British Summer Savings scheme. Announced back in May and now in place until the end of August, the policy sees VAT slashed from 20% to 5% across a range of family-focused hospitality and leisure settings including on kid’s meals in restaurants.
While some operators across the restaurant space have voiced frustration at the late announcement of the Great British Summer Savings scheme, and have noted challenges around last minute implementation, many, particularly in the managed space, have confirmed they will pass on the VAT cut. They include giants of the industry such as McDonald’s, Wetherspoons, Burger King, Nando’s, and Greene King.
We’ve often looked at all diners under 18s as being part of families, kids dining with their parents. What we hadn’t looked at with as much focus is teens eating independently of their parents
Tom James
In these cases, the focus has been on kid’s menus that, like Bill’s, are primarily targeted at the under 10s market. But since the announcement of the scheme there has been a concerted push by some industry leaders to use it as a chance to target the teen pound. Speaking at UKHospitality’s Summer Conference last month, Kate Nicholls, the trade body’s chair, said: “It is not just kid’s meals; it is under 18s. There are nine million families in the UK with one or more children under the age of 18.
“There are big consumer opportunities and many of the young people are aged 11 to 18, and they are the ones that drive where they choose to go and eat and are increasingly eating out. So, this summer is an opportunity to capture our consumers of the future and get them used to coming back and eating and drinking out.”
Bow Street Group, the David Page-chaired operator of the Wildwood and Dim T restaurants, is another group to have launched its first dedicated teenager menu, called The Ragazzi Club. Available until 1 September across the group’s 26-strong Wildwood estate, the menu offers a selection of full portion main dishes at a discounted price. Dishes include a classic cheeseburger; spaghetti carbonara; and a chicken Caesar salad with prices pitched primarily between the £10 and £15 mark.
Alongside this, Bow Street has also cut the price of its kid’s menu, which is available for children under 12, from £7.95 to £6.95 across all of its Wildwood restaurants and reduced it from £8.95 to £7.85 across its three Dim T sites.
“The launch of our reduced kids menus at Wildwood and Dim T, as well as introduction The Ragazzi Club, marks the latest steps in our journey to strengthen the customer experience, with a particular focus on menu structure, choice and value for families during the important summer trading months while passing on the VAT benefits to our customers,” says Page.
Loungers, the more than 300-strong all-day café/restaurant/bar group, is perhaps the biggest operator to introduce a teen-focused offering. The Teenage Kicks menu features a meal and a soft drink offer with a varied choice of brunch, mains, soft drinks and bubble tea available. Prices primarily hover around the £15 mark.
“We serve tens of thousands of teens and through a dedicated menu we can offer them a discount of more than 10%,” says Loungers CEO Nick Collins. “That’s quite meaningful if you’re a family with two or three kids. It could be around a tenner saving, which would make a difference to people.
“This is an opportunity for us as operators to make things meaningfully cheaper for a big chunk of our customers. Why on earth wouldn’t we take advantage of that?”
There are nine million families in the UK with one or more children under the age of 18
Kate Nicholls
In addition to this, the group has launched family-focused loyalty initiative the Little Loungers Summer Passport across its estate. Building on the success of the company’s existing Lounge Passport programme, it is aimed specifically at children, offering rewards, free food and drink items, and the chance to win family attractions tickets and back-to-school prize bundles. Diners can collect stickers by visiting different Lounges and Brightside Roadside Diner locations. Those who collect 10 stickers by visiting 10 venues will be entered into prize draws offering one of 20 pairs of Merlin Attractions tickets or one of 50 back-to-school bundles, which include a Frugi backpack, lunch bag and other items.
Across all three brands, there’s clearly an understanding of the benefits that can come from more directly targeting teenage consumers. And while the offers are all currently time limited to fit with the length of the Great British Summer Savings scheme, there are suggestions they could carry on in some guise beyond the holiday season.
James certainly sees scope for it to become a core format within the Bill’s offering. “We absolutely see it as part of our future proposition.”
A version of this article first appeared in Restaurant’s sister title MCA. Click here to visit its site.