Chain Restaurants Slim Down Their Kids Menus

This morning more than 19 restaurant chains across the U.S. announced they will be adding new healthy meal options to their kids menus. Major national brands such as Burger King, IHOP, and Friendly's are taking part in this initiative that's being spearheaded by the National Restaurant Association in an attempt to make ordering healthy choices easier for parents. 

The chains participating in the efforts are being asked to design at least one menu item that is 600 calories or less and includes a side dish that has less than 200 calories. The NRA is also encouraging the restaurants to make sure that the employees taking orders promote the new menu options to customers. At Burger King, for example, employees will start asking customers if they would prefer to have classic fries or apple fries with their meal. 

On a similar note, Olive Garden debuted their new healthy menu for children last week. The Italian restaurant chain removed items like milkshakes and French fries from their menu and replaced them with fruit smoothies and fresh fruit. 

The Daily Byte is a regular column dedicated to covering interesting food news and trends across the country. Click here for previous columns.