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In April, a Bay Area Dunkin’ franchise unit owner introduced the ideas of donut kits for kids to take icing and decorations home and create their own custom pastries.
“Like most parents, we were looking for ways to entertain our kids and bring a little levity to this situation,” said Matt Cobo, father to three children himself.
Several Dunkin’ locations across the country added these kits to operations and. This past week, hundreds of units across the metro New York area introduced “DIY Dunkin’ Donut Decorating Kits” to menus, making it the largest introduction of Cobo’s idea and officially rolling it into company branding.
The kit comes in a small version with four donuts for $5.99 and a large version with nine donuts for $9.99. The kits feature frosting and sprinkles so kids can design their own custom donuts.
“Donuts make everybody smile and our DIY kits have been a fun activity for families during the stay-at-home orders,” says Cathy Chavenet, field marketing director of the New York region, in a company release.
Mici’s, a six-unit fast-casual chain based in Denver, Colorado, decided to use resources already at their disposal - the skills of one of their founders.
Kim Miceli-Vela was a former schoolteacher and knew that it wouldn’t be enough to simply sell the pizza kits that were used in the dining rooms. She created something similar to a lesson plan to entertain kids while making build-your-own pizzas.
There is also a blog on the company website that links to videos, activities and lessons to introduce Italian cuisine, culture and pizza-centric math and science topics.
They are so entertaining that Mici CEO, Elliot Schiffer, said his “kids get a little antsy after four or five days of not making a pizza kit.” He and his wife have been at home with a 4- and 7-year-old during this lockdown in Colorado.
In the first month, over 3,000 pizza kits were sold at the 6-unit chain.
Andrew Gruel, the founder of Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Slapfish, began making kids meals at all 14 locations of the fast-casual seafood chain when lockdown began and he was at home with three children under the age of 10.
The chain took a different approach than many and decided to view staying home 24/7 as families having more time to spend together, thus more free time to cook.
With make-your-own lobster roll kits and others, Gruel and his team made packages that would be easy to cook but take up more time than ordering an already-cooked dinner in or a simple pizza kit.
Gruel launched a “kids eat free” policy at the start of COVID-19, something the chain hadn’t had before and will continue post-COVID-19.
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, which always had a “kids eat free” promotion in dining rooms, flipped the script and allowed kids to eat free with online orders across its 520 units. It also introduced “Family Packs,” a choice of two meats, three sides, rolls and sauce, for $34.99 online.
The online promotion has, as of June, accounted for about half of the redeemable promotions at the Dallas-based chain.
“Dickey’s started Kids Eat Free on Sundays back in 1978 and while we are delighted to have folks coming back into our dining rooms, we will continue kids eat free online as well,” said Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants. “We see guests continuing to prefer ordering online for the foreseeable future.”
Chuck E. Cheese, which earlier this month was reportedly seeking a $200 million loan to avoid bankruptcy, introduced birthday-party and family packs at the start of the pandemic. The company also added a delivery-only pizza brand called Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings. Pasqually’s is now a permanent feature of the chain.
The birthday parties to-go are still available from the chain and will be for the foreseeable future as guests warm up to re-entering eater-tainment restaurants. A $5 and under menu is also being continued throughout the summer as well as Afternoon Fun Breaks on the chain’s social-media channels.
Two “packs” were offered by the chain: the family fun pack with two large pizzas, toys, games, and 800 tickets; and the party pack, with two pizzas, a cake, 1000 tickets, 30 play points, goodie bags, cotton candy, a Chuck E. plush toy, tablecloth, plates and napkins.
A Chuck E. Cheese spokesperson declined to comment on whether the packs have been successful.
Where the chain has seen growth is on social media and around programs like Twitch, an online platform where you can stream your own video game as others watch.
The Afternoon Fun Breaks have seen almost 23 million impressions across social platforms to date, according to a spokesperson for Chuck E. Cheese, while the average amount of time viewers spent watching the chain stream Animal Crossing on Twitch is 15 minutes.
