Research, conducted by nationwide restaurant chains Brewers Fayre and Table Table, has revealed that more than a third of children (37%) in the UK are skipping breakfast – most because parents say they simply don’t have the time to give their kids a healthy start to the day. This is despite almost all of the parents polled (98%) stating that they believe breakfast to be the most important meal of the day.
In addition to time pressures, other reasons for children missing breakfast include saying they aren’t hungry and that they are bored with eating the same thing every day. Worryingly two in one hundred under-15s said they skip breakfast in a bid to lose weight and 75% state that they never have fruit in the morning.
Children in Glasgow were reported as being the worst culprits when it comes to skipping breakfast, with 47% of Glaswegian parents saying that their children have nothing to eat in the morning. Other cities that were revealed as ditching breakfast regularly were Newcastle, Nottingham, Birmingham and London; all claiming that time and a lack of variation were the main factors.
More than two thirds of parents surveyed (78%) say they wish they had more time to sit down and enjoy breakfast with their children in the morning. 61% of the children surveyed echoed this, saying they would like to sit down for breakfast with their parents more often, with 5% claiming they have NEVER experienced a family breakfast.
With the summer holidays about to kick off, celebrity foodie and Masterchef winner Liz McClarnon is backing Brewers Fayre and Table Table’s campaign to get kids excited about breakfast again. “I was so surprised to discover that over a third of children in the UK are missing breakfast regularly and even more so that almost one in ten children don’t even think that breakfast is an important meal. The summer holidays are such a great time to start forging good habits with the kids and get them enjoying breakfast again so they will look forward to it, rather than skipping it”.
Brewers Fayre and Table Table Restaurants all across the UK are encouraging children aged between the ages of 8-15 to make up an exclusive, new Kid’s Breakfast Taster Panel over the school summer break, to help test drive the brand new breakfast menu, with guidance from some expert chefs. Thirty children from across the UK will be chosen to join Brewers Fayre and Table Table chefs for a tongue-tingling tasting session, and armed with their taste buds, will be presented with an assortment of breakfast dishes from the new menus to cast their opinion on.
All kids across the UK can enjoy a great start to the day with a free breakfast at Brewers Fayre and Table Table. Kids under the age of 16 can eat free when dining with a parent or guardian and can enjoy any breakfast they please from the variety available including cooked breakfasts, cereals, porridge, fresh fruits, crumpets and much more!
Kids can find out more information and enter to win a place on the ‘Kids Breakfast Taster Panel’ via www.brewersfayre.co.uk/tasterpanelor www.tabletable.co.uk/kidstaster before midnight on Thursday 26th July 2012. Full terms and conditions apply and are available on the websites.
