Children’s menus in shopping centre restaurants: a multicentric study
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 29 November 2021
Issue publication date: 25 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to identify and characterize kids' menu offer in fast-food and traditional restaurants located in shopping centres in five different countries.
Design/methodology/approach
An observational cross-sectional study is carried out, though a study was performed in all restaurants located in shopping centres from main cities, in five countries: Brazil, Chile, Croatia, Hungary and Portugal. A tool for assessing the quality of menus is used for the analysis (Kids Menu Healthy Score (KIMEHS)). Menu prices between countries were compared.
Findings
A total of 192 kids' menus were collected, 44 in Portugal, 57 in Brazil, 66 in Chile, 15 in Hungary and 10 in Croatia. All the countries have average negative KIMEHS values for the menus, indicating that the offer is generally poor in terms of healthy options. The cost of children's menus in European countries is generally low. In Brazil, the price is significantly more expensive, which may limit the accessibility by social economically deprived populations. No significant differences were found in the average cost of meals from different restaurants typology. Traditional/Western restaurants present the highest price.
Practical implications
Globally, kids' menus are composed by unhealthy food items, pointing to the need of improvements in food availability, aiming to promote healthy food habits among children.
Originality/value
This study presents innovative data on children's menus, allowing for characterization of meals offered to children and comparison between different countries.
Key points
Kids’ menus are composed by unhealthy food items.
Improvement of kids' menus quality will promote children food habits.
Healthier out-of-home food consumption will contribute to public health.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Maria Palma Mateus from the University of Algarve and students from all the universities associated with the authors for collaboration in data collection.
Funding: This research was supported by national funds through FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of UIDP/05748/2020 and UIDB/04470/2020.
Ethical standards disclosure: Not applicable. This research did not involve human participants.
Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Citation
Viegas, C., Lima, J., Afonso, C., Toth, A.J., Bálint Illés, C., Bittsánszky, A., Šatalić, Z., Vidaček Filipec, S., Fabijanic, V., Duran, S., Torres, J.A., Spinelli, M., Matias, A., Souza Pinto, A.M. and Rocha, A. (2022), "Children’s menus in shopping centre restaurants: a multicentric study", British Food Journal, Vol. 124 No. 10, pp. 3169-3182. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-05-2021-0504
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited