USA: Hyatt Hotels – Launched Innovative Menu, “For Kids By Kids.” Vacation food choices just got better. Hyatt hotels has embraced the philosophy of Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA). The new healthier menus offer fun, fresh, flavorful items created with the help of kids making the choices more appetizing for kids.

Here’s the scoop. The new “For Kids By Kids” menus which provide more nutritious, fresh and interactive offerings for the three million children served annually in all full-service Hyatt hotels and resorts throughout the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. The new menu is grounded in Hyatt’s industry-leading philosophy providing guests with food thoughtfully sourced and carefully served. The goal is to support healthy bodies, a healthy planet, and healthy communities. The philosophy has been developed in association with the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA). Bonus points: As part of the roll out, separate from its PHA commitment, Hyatt hotels will offer a three-course organic meal for children developed exclusively for the brand by renowned food pioneer and chef, Alice Waters.

With nearly one in three children diagnosed as overweight or obese in the United States1, Hyatt is leading the industry in making children’s health a priority and has worked to make the healthy choice the easy choice for young guests. Bonus points: In addition to the new menu, parents with young children (or kids themselves) also have the option of ordering a half portion (at half the price) from the regular Hyatt menu.

Realized with expert culinary advice. Hyatt worked with Alice Waters, known for her culinary philosophy that maintains cooking should be based on the finest, freshest, seasonal ingredients. She maintains it’s about taste and ripeness and seasonality. And it’s also about supporting the people who are taking care of the land for our future generations. Adhering to her own requirements as well as those of Hyatt, Alice created three course meals that could be sourced by Hyatt exclusively from organic farms across the country.
 
Child tasted and approved. The “For Kids By Kids” menu was tasted, tested and approved by kids, including 11-year-old Haile Thomas, who is spearheading a campaign for healthy eating through her online cooking show, Kids Can Cook.  Hyatt’s food and beverage team worked with Haile and her peers to ensure new menu offerings not only meet the brand’s standards for nutrition and quality, and are also fun. Through their research, Hyatt learned that kids today have a greater level of sophistication in their taste preferences, but also enjoy items with which they can interact.  To that end, new menu offerings will present a creative way for kids to engage with their food, such as customizing their own pasta dish and “shaking” their own salad.

More mealtime fun. To add another layer of fun to mealtime, Hyatt will be launching HyattFlavorJourney later this year and we will keep readers posted once we receive the link. The idea of the new Journey pages is to assisit parents and grandparents in making better food choices with their children. The mealtime journey provides the chance for children and parents to learn more about “For Kids By Kids” and enjoy games and activities. Young guests simply use a QR code on their menu to link to the site.

Partnership for a Healthier America. “For Kids By Kids” further illustrates Hyatt’s commitment to Partnership for a Healthier America, which will hold Hyatt accountable for continuously improving the nutritional profile of food menus at full-service Hyatt properties across the U.S. over the next ten years. Through this commitment, Hyatt’s “For Kids By Kids” will offer fruits or vegetables as the default side item, make low-fat milk available with free refills, meet the most recent U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, MyPlate and PHA’s standards and ensure food illustrations depict healthier options.

About Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Headquartered in Chicago, Hyatt is leading global hospitality companies with proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality. The worldwide portfolio includes 488 properties in 45 countries. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com
 
Content and images provided by Hyatt Hotels and edited for posting by Jule Nelson-Duac. Copyright 2012.