31 Keep the kids occupied
The happier the kids are the happier the parents will be. Also, if you
keep them occupied you keep the other customers happy too. It’s
simple and cheap but requires just a little thought. Be flexible
(within reason) with your portions for kids. Consider creating kid-
specific products and make sure they are as healthy and as additive
free as possible. That doesn’t mean you have to give them a piece
of broccoli – just make sure your buns are fat free, or whatever the
current health fixation is. If you’re going to provide crayons make
sure they aren’t ancient and filthy, and ensure you have plenty of
paper and decent clean and safe toys for the babies to play with.
It’s worth experimenting with colouring-in sheets that are tailored to your
business. You could consider getting a local art student to create line
drawings of your star products that then form the basis of the colouring-
in book. You can also create monthly or weekly competitionsthat
have a prize for various age groups. Puzzles or quizzes by age groups are
always successful...they always want to do the older one! Consider very
small prizes (lollipops, sweets etc.) for every entry.
What you’re trying to achieve is a little pester-power from the child to
the parent. If the child is happy and wants to be in your coffee bar then
the parent will be happy too and feel comfortable enough to maybe
buy another cup of coffee. Which, of course, is what it’s all about.
But there is a proviso to this one. If you don’t like children or maybe
have a sophisticated food offer, then don’t force yourself to be child
friendly. As long as you accept that you will have a reduced market then
stick to your convictions. We have a number of sophisticated clients
who almost actively dissuade children. There are many little niches
within the market and you mustn’t feel you need to cover them all. 57