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Why Quick Serve Kids?
This is the story of how two big life experiences—career and parenting—came together to launch a blog.
Sound confusing? Yeah. Let's pick a starting point.
It happened one lunchtime in December.
After a morning of Christmas shopping, I was worn out and famished. Baby A was cranky, meaning she felt the same way. We were far from home—and just forty minutes away from A's naptime.
I looked for a solution and saw a Chick-fil-A within walking distance. And then it hit me: It was time for Baby A's first fast-food meal.
So why would I remember the details of this moment?
The Accidental Expert
Watching the fast-food, or quick-serve, restaurant industry had been my job going back to the early 1990s. Early in my career, I was tapped to launch the editorial side of QSR Magazine, now a monthly business journal read by tens of thousands of restaurant executives and entrepreneurs. It was great fun, and a big success. Still is.
As editor of QSR and a chain restaurant industry expert, I witnessed the development of some strong cultural trends:
I also noted that Americans began to see fast food as a cultural and marketing force—leading to, for example, litigation linking quick-serve restaurant food to obesity in children and adults, or to parents' dissatisfaction with certain types of advertising during kids' TV programming. Today fast food seems to permeate our culture. Where I live, airings of "Sesame Street" on PBS are sponsored by Chuck E Cheese.
- » the sharp increase in families with two working parents, and in the numbers of kids with highly scheduled days
- » the leap in the numbers of meals and snacks consumed away from home (now one out of every four!)
- » and the ballooning of mealtime conveniences and solutions, like drive-thru windows and curbside foodservice, in response.
Some trends really irked me: the spread of fast food into school lunch programs, for instance. Others, like the power of these huge companies to effect positive changes, gave me hope.
Quick-serve food was not an area I'd ever have chosen to specialize in. In fact, slow food is more my thing. I spent time in France, love to cook, treasure the chance to linger over a three-hour, multi-course dinner with good wine and conversation. (Like that happens much once you have kids. But we try.)
As parents, TWH and I believe strongly in family meals and healthy foods. On a given Saturday morning, you'll find us filling bags with fresh veggies, fruits, naturally raised meats, and artisan breads and cheeses at the nearby state farmer's market.
But we also like (note I didn't say "suffer through," but like) the occasional fast-food meal, especially when we're away from home and in a hurry. In that, we're like most American families. We're all about the balance, as we define it for our family.
Finding That Balance
Before I had a family, I thought any baby of mine would eat nothing but the best—the most organic, healthiest, best lifetime-habit-building diet possible.
Along came Baby A, and with her a big dose of reality. And nineteen months later came her first fast-food meal. Chicken strips and a fruit cup, to be exact.
TWH and I have worked hard to find our right balance of nutrition, fun, and convenience at mealtimes. Now, with Quick Serve Kids, I've combined my career and parenting experiences to help other parents through the same process. I'm calling our kids Quicksies—kids growing up in the fast food age.
Quick Serve Kids will help parents and other caregivers
This is also a terrific resource for restaurant industry executives who want to tap into on-the-ground attitudes towards their industry.
- » stay on top of chain restaurant news, both serious and fun
- » read and respond to thoughtful comments and strategies from other parents
- » better develop their own family's philosophy on fast food, slow food, and all the styles in between.
I'm not here necessarily to change anyone's opinions. Other readers will have different opinions and lifestyles from ours. Some will be completely anti–fast food, others will wonder why anyone worries about it. That's cool. I hope the comments posted on this site will be full of thoughtful debate. Flames are not welcome. Respectful debate and opinions are.
On one of the several parenting blogs I read frequently (see them linked under "More, Please" on the Quick Serve Kids home page), I read this comment from a mom:
"While I can feel satisfied that my children have never had fast food or soda, I want to feel equally okay when the inevitable moment comes that they do."
I couldn't have summed it up better.
So, parents, join me as we prepare for that "inevitable moment," whenever it might happen in our kids' lives. And you readers from the restaurant industry? You're welcome, too. Quick Serve Kids will be your place to see what real moms and dads are thinking—and doing—about your business.
- Lea, aka QSMama
Founder, Quick Serve Kids