“We took this feedback on board and developed a new sweet and sticky sauce which is used to baste the grilled chicken in the new kids meals. This has been developed specifically appeal to children and has none of the heat of the Peri-Peri sauces yet all of the flavour, which we had previously excluded from the kids options,” commented Nando’s Marketing Manager, Sepanta Bagherpour.

As part of the kids menu refresh, Nando’s brought in kids specialists and researchers to advise on what kids want and how they would like to be treated. The study, conducted last year by McCormick with children between the ages of 3-12 years old and their parents, looked at which menu options kids liked and did not like, rating them against taste, serving size, value and health credentials.

Not surprisingly, chicken burgers came out top, followed by chicken drumsticks, which children found easy to hold. Even less surprisingly, children voted that chilli and veggies came bottom of the list of favourite food items, although the research showed that kids over 10-years-old begin to like salads and veggies, with girls becoming more image conscious and boys more health conscious.

“We also looked at the range of menu options that we offered, and extended this by adding a grilled chicken sausage option, which research showed us was a popular menu item for kids,” Bagherpour added.

The new chicken sausages are made from A-grade chicken fillets and use no artificial flavourants or preservatives. They also high in protein and have no added MSG.

Nando’s focus was to develop meals that kids would naturally choose as first choice, but which would allow parents peace of mind with healthy, quality and fresh ingredients.

The kids burger and drumsticks options, like the items on the rest of the menu, also use fresh, A-grade chicken, which is always grilled, never fried. Healthy sides such as rice and corn are also available, as are fruit juices.

Nando’s new menu addition options for children are:
- Two grilled chicken sausage meal,
- Chicken burger meal,
- Two drumstick meal,

All these meals come with either rice, corn, chips or wedges and a choice of 250ml liquid fruit, along with a toy from the new range, all for R24.95.