Kids Menus Are for All Ages 

The quintessential diet of a college student consists of pasta, pizza and burgers — all choices often found on a kids’ menu.

Kids’ menus are generally offered at restaurants to children between three and 12 years old, according to food and beverage glossary Lark. Coincidentally, 12 is also the age most kids start to go through puberty and need to eat more.

The goal of a kids’ menu, after all, is to get families that have younger kids to eat at restaurants. 

Kids’ menus offer staple options to picky eaters and allow parents to spend less for a portion more fitting of a child’s appetite. However, pickiness isn’t something everyone grows out of, and restaurant portions in the U.S. tend to be bigger than most people can handle, according to Vice.

It’s often easier to stick with eating something comforting or familiar. If someone’s family is eating at a seafood restaurant, but one member doesn’t like seafood, the kids’ menu could be the best option.

A kids’ menu is exactly the type of cuisine and price range college students tend to look for. When I’m craving pasta, all I want is a little bowl of mac and cheese that’s not going to break my bank account — exactly what a kids’ meal offers.

Ever-growing portion sizes in the U.S. are contributing to the obesity epidemic, according to the National Library of Medicine. Not only are kids’ menus cheaper, but they offer more reasonable portions as well.

By denying customers requesting a kids’ meal, restaurants could lose business or a customer may never even walk in the door. Many people, especially senior citizens, choose to eat less for health or other reasons, according to The Washington Post, meaning restaurants are missing out on potentially lucrative non-kid customers.

Further, some intellectual or developmental disabilities can cause sensory overloads when it comes to food, according to the NLM. 

People with autism generally have more severe aversions to certain foods. My brother, for example, has been picky with food for most of his life, not just in childhood. At 17 years old, the kids’ menu was still the only menu with food he’d eat. 

Limiting kids’ menus to ages 12 and under makes it very difficult when we go out to eat as a family. If there’s nothing simple enough on the menu to appeal, he usually ends up not eating anything.

Making kids’ menus accessible to people of all ages is a way for even more customers to visit restaurants. The limit on people over the age of 12 causes more trouble than it’s worth — let us adults return to our youth and indulge in a bowl of Kraft Mac and Cheese.