WSJ Your Money Briefing - More Adults Are Ordering From the Kids’ Menu

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

If you are looking to cut calories, save some cash, or just feel like a kid again, the kids menu might be your best bet. Wall Street Journal reporter Roshan Fernandez joins host Ariana Aspuru to discuss why a growing number of adults have become kids’ meal connoisseurs. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to own part of the company that makes your favorite burger? Now you can. With partial shares from TD Direct Investing, you can own less than one full share, so expensive stocks are within reach. Learn more at td.com slash partial shares. TD, ready for you. Here's your money briefing for Thursday, February 27th. I'm Mariana Aspuru for The Wall Street Journal. February 27th. I'm Mariana Aspuru for The Wall Street Journal. Are you looking for a cheaper, healthier alternative for your next meal out? Now what if it came with a little prize or toy? More adults are now ditching a full-size entree for a kids' meal. There are some food options which could fill you up and be really cheap as a kids' menu option.

Some things are going to be a smaller meal and that's what you would expect because you're ordering off the kids' menu. But is the smaller portion worth the lower price? We'll talk with Wall Street Journal reporter, Roshan Fernandez, after the break. Roshan, after the break. Rising food prices mean that customers are getting creative with how they cut costs. One solution, eat a kid's meal. Wall Street Journal reporter Roshan Fernandez joins me.

Roshan, am I too old to order from the kid's menu? Be honest. No, definitely not. People are really just looking for cheaper menu options. Some people are looking for a smaller portion. Some people are looking to lose a little bit of a weight or feel the nostalgia of being a kid again. And so there's a number of different reasons, but it seems like people are really turning to the kids menu.

Just how much more often are adults turning to kids menu items than, you know, regular adult entrees? We found some data from Circona, an industry research firm that showed kids menu orders by adults have risen 28% in the last year compared to 2019. So that's not nothing. People are definitely looking to this as a way to combat high food prices. So people are ditching the full size meal and going the chicken nuggets or mac and cheese route?

Yeah, definitely. And some of the people I spoke to, like this one lady, Ashley Garrett makes TikTok videos and she calls herself the kids meal connoisseur. And she was really out looking for the best side options. So she highlighted Texas Roadhouse has chili and another place had a broccoli cheddar casserole. So like, there are some interesting side options out there. It's not all fries and apple slices. Let's run through the money behind this. How much can you actually save by ordering a kid's meal instead of an adult one?

It really depends a lot on the place. But one person I spoke to, Haley Hansen, she created this 10 point rubric to score the best kids meal offerings. And so she had a number of categories, including calories per dollar ratio. And she had another category for meal satisfaction because she was explaining to me that just because something has a lot of calories doesn't mean you're going to be full. And price was on there. $7 was the cutoff.

There are some food options which could fill you up and be really cheap as a kids menu option. Some things are gonna be a smaller meal and that's what you would expect because you're ordering off the kids menu. If someone goes out and decides to order from the kids menu, can you be denied a kids meal? Yeah, it's definitely possible. A lot of places have 12 and under age restrictions.

But the thing about it is how are you going to enforce that? Most of the people we spoke to suggested you should order to go. And that's the key, the secret. Sometimes I look forward to having leftovers in the fridge from my meal. Like I'm thinking like I have Thai food. I like having my leftovers. Is that a trade off with ordering a kid's meal? I would say so. If you go to a place with a really big portion size, like maybe it's the same as an adult portion size and you're really getting a good deal, but you're probably not going to have any leftovers.

Some of the people we spoke to actually emphasize that that was a big reason why they liked ordering off the kids menu because they really didn't like taking home leftovers and reheating them. One person I spoke to, Haley Hansen, she told me this good story about how she originally started ordering off the kids menu. She said she was in high school working a summer job, which was like minimum wage, and she would go to Chipotle for lunch and get a bowl. And it was such a big portion at her summer job, there was nowhere to keep the leftover bowl. So she would have to throw it out every day. She realized then that it would just be smarter to order the kids quesadilla. And so she started doing that and then that habit has just kind of stayed with her. She's 27 now and she still just

does it regularly for lunch at work. What are some of the potential effects to restaurants as more people opt for the nuggets instead of the full entree. One person, a restaurant investor, I should say, that we spoke to, he emphasized that if adults are flocking to your kid's menu at a restaurant, as a restaurant, that's not a great sign. That probably means your menu prices are too expensive. How does it affect the people working at the restaurant? If you're ordering off the kid's menu,

your overall bill will be lower. And so that's gonna result in a lower tip If you're ordering off the kids menu, your overall bill will be lower. And so that's going to result in a lower tip for a waiter who perhaps waited on your table for 30 minutes or however long just for you to order chicken tenders and fries. On the flip side of that, there's an argument to be made that if you don't want to be losing a lot of money on adults ordering off the kids menu, then you should price your kids menu options appropriately. That's WSJ Reporter Roshan Fernandez. And that's it for your money briefing. This episode was produced by Zoe Kolkin, supervising producer Melanie Roy. I'm Arianna Aspuru for The Wall Street Journal. Thanks for listening.