Hyatt To Offer Healthier Food Choices For Children With New “For Kids By Kids” Menu

Hyatt Corporation announced today that its hotels and resorts throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean will begin offering healthier food choices on its children’s menus. The new innovative Hyatt menu, “For Kids By Kids,” provides more nutritious, fresh, and interactive foods geared towards children.

Instead of more typical burgers, French fries, and chicken fingers, the new Hyatt children’s menu includes the following offerings:

• Fruits or vegetables as a default side item, free refills on low-fat milk, and natural beef and sustainable fish
• Sophisticated twists on kid-friendly favorites (e.g. Sunbutter, Jelly and Banana Sandwich)
• Reduced fat, calories, and sodium content
• Option for children to order off the regular Hyatt menu, a half portion at half the price
• Interactive elements like a QR code that leads to games and more info about the “For Kids By Kids” concept

To make sure that kids would be happy with the new Hyatt kids’ menu, Hyatt Corporation enlisted the help of a group of children. The group was led by 11-year-old Haile Thomas, who is spearheading a campaign for healthy eating through her online show Kids Can Cook.

The new Hyatt children’s menu, which features a three-course organic meal offering, was created exclusively for Hyatt by food pioneer and chef Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse fame).

As Waters comments:

“All children deserve to eat real food – fresh, seasonal, organic, and delicious. I wanted to do a small, three course meal, within the context of Hyatt’s initiative, that could be sourced exclusively from organic farms across the country. Of course it’s about taste and ripeness and seasonality—but it’s bigger than that, too: it’s about supporting the people who are taking care of the land for our future generations.”

In light of the obesity epidemic sweeping many developed countries including the United States and Canada, providing kids with healthier food options is paramount

As Susan Santiago, vice president of food and beverage, North America operations, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, explains:

“We have made an industry-leading commitment to serving food and beverages that are good for our people, our planet and our communities. That is why we have transformed our children’s menu and looked to experts such as Alice Waters, to help guide our offerings. The new menu is just one of the ways we will be looking to impact health and wellness of the children that stay with us. We hope that this critical step forward will change the way that our guests and the industry think about kids menus.”

What do you think about the new healthier kid’s menu offered by Hyatt?