Should Celiac Kids Be Entitled To Low-price Kids Meals?

[johalex]

I am interested to hear what other parents of celiacs. or celiacs themselves have to say about this.

When you go to a restaurant, are you able to purchase a specially made kids meal for the same low price as the regular ones?

Do you feel that you should be entitled to?

Some restaurants I go to are great about this- such as Lindburgers. They make my son up a kids meal with grilled chicken in a *chicken finger* style. It is nice because his sister always gets a kids meal, and he really feels different when he can't order something off the kids menu.

I wonder if I requested this, would it be out of line? I don't think we should have to pay extra or even double because my son can't eat wheat. His typical meal is usally grilled chicken breast strips and applesauce, that isn't much more expensive to make than say, breaded chicken fingers and fries.

What do you think about this? Do you push the envelope when you go out?

TIA!

~April

[Ursa Major]

I can see where you're coming from. But this is my take on this: Even though it isn't fair that our food is more expensive, that is just a fact of life. When I thought that only gluten was a problem, I went to a restaurant with my husband (the last time out, that was last December ). He was able to have the buffet, which was, I believe, $10.00 for all you can eat food, which included salad bar, soup, several choices of meat and vegetables, coffee or tea, and dessert.

They didn't have a gluten-free menu. So, the assistant manager brought me all their menus (including the one from their very fancy dining room), and let me pick and choose what I could eat. Then he made up a menu just for me, dedicated a corner of the kitchen for me, had somebody scrub the grill, pots, pans again, made a cook wash his hands and put on clean gloves, supervised my food being cooked, had them rewash my plate and cutlery, and personally served my food, frequently checking I was alright.

Do you really think they'd charge me what they charged for my husband's food? His food was sort of mass-produced, some of it self-serve, no very special attention needed. Needless to say, my food was (still a very reasonable) $29.95 I think.

The kid's food is sort of like that. The chicken fingers are pre-made and only have to be cooked, the same goes for the fries etc. Until there are enough people with celiac disease asking for a gluten-free kid's meal in these restaurants, your son's meal will be made specifically for him, which is extra work for everybody involved. And you will have to pay more to have your son eat something that looks similar to what his sister has.

Now, I don't say you shouldn't gently SUGGEST to the manager that it would be nice if they'd consider having a special gluten-free kid's menu with prices equal or similar to the regular kid's menu. But you really shouldn't demand that they'll give you the specially prepared food for your son for the low price they charge for the regular kid's meal. If they offer it, gratefully accept, and let them know how much you appreciate it, though.

[kendra]

The higher prices do kind of stink, but I expect to pay more for better quality food. Nuggets are processed and even nicer places usually do not make their own, which leads me to feel better about paying more for fresh meat and vegetable plates. I always hated to dine at places where my food looked so healthy and elabortate and they brought out over-cooked fried food or processed macaroni and cheese for the kids. I try to be positive, so my daughter will be too, and be thankful some places are willing to go out of their way to cook especially for her. I sure so hope we can look forward to lower prices in the future with people being more educated about food issues.

[2Boys4Me]

There is an Italian place near us that our local celiac association recommends as being knowledgeable about celiac. The first time we went there after my son's diagnosis, the greeter fellow said that they always have rice vermicelli noodles on hand, or if we prefer, we can bring our own pasta and they will cook it. When my son ordered the gluten free rice noodles, the waiter looked at us and said that it might cost more than the regular kids meal because it was a special order. It ended up being the same price, and in fact every time we've been there they've always charged us the same kids meal price.

Once at Swiss Chalet, I THINK that Ty's meal of rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes was the same prices as Walker's chicken strips and fries. I can't remember but it would certainly have been within a couple of dollars. He did order it off the children's menu.

[wolfie]

I would expect to pay more and wouldn't mind doing so. Yes, it does stink that eating gluten-free costs more, but it is very worth it to me in the long run.

[gfp]

I understand where you are coming from but this begs a whole load of other questions...

Firstly I'd be glad they do anything gluten-free at all but then I would expect to pay a bit more or be ready to pay a bit more.

Look at it this way, if you went to a fancy $100+ a person resto you can reasonably expect them to cook anything you ask for that they have the ingredients, menu not withstanding.

If you go to a $10 resto they are playing at margins...

Lets say the $100 resto uses ingredients 3x as expensive as the $10 resto and the $10 resto is still making a profit then say the food cost is max $8 then the max price of food in the expensive place is $24....

(When they have something on the menu not in the $100 meal it is usually marked as a suppliment)

The rest (or most) of the $76 you are paying to have your food hand prepared and not pre-made stuff that just gets dumped in a pan/frier etc.

Obviously there are lots of places inbetween these extremes.... but you are usually paying a bit more for care and attention more than the basic price of the food. A good resto will have the chef personally select the meat at 5AM ... I know quite a few resto's where the chef has to appear at 4AM for the morning shipment of fish from Brittany to Paris... they land them at night and drive through the night to keep them fresh. Quite a few of these chefs are friends of mine... and in all honestly they don't want to be up at 4AM (unless they are still parting from the night before ... since their night starts at 11PM to midnight at the earliest).. and these are not "expensive resto's" but mid range ....

They could just give the shipping company the option of dumping the fish in the fridge ... (I know some places that do) but then they wouldn't be able to select the fish.... what looks good that day...

Typical day of my mate Matt.... 4AM fish delivery and 5AM at the butcher selecting cuts for the day... 6AM vegetable market (lucky for him really close to the resto) 7AM back to bed... 4-5PM arrive at resto for prep... 6:30 open the doors until midnight.... midnight ... go and get a drink and wind down.

and incidentally I don't eat Matts food....