How Babies Network

“New mums are particularly well-connected on social media, and will share their every experience, so make sure that your establishment is up to their standards.”

The first tentative steps. Some initial wobbles, a few bumps and then success! The worried look of a first-time parent turns into new-found confidence, as the baby buggy manoeuvers into your café. You smile and help them to a table.

What is your café’s point of difference? Who is your target customer? If you want to position your café as family-friendly, then read on. New mums are particularly well-connected on social media, and will share their every experience, so make sure that your establishment is up to their standards.

A trip to the local family-friendly café with our children is a special event for me and other parents with babies and toddlers. It’s a relaxing refuge with coffee, time away from the house, a treat for the taste buds.

If you have welcoming, helpful staff then you have already won me over. Simple things, such as opening the door, smiling and greeting my kids, moving chairs to fit the buggy, providing a jug of warm water to heat a bottle, help me feel like the trip was worth it.

My four-year-old daughter sits on a booster cushion and chats while we have a hot chocolate. She can quite easily amuse herself with a book, a toy or some felt tips and paper. But some of her friends are more active, so safety is a big concern for their parents. High chairs should have five-point safety harnesses. Furniture and decorations should be sturdy and not tip easily. There should be barriers to prevent children from running onto the busy road.

The right for women to breastfeed babies in public has been long established, but there are ways that you can make them more comfortable. Suggest a quiet place to sit when they arrive. Offer a clean towel if they need it. Offer to keep food warm and put hot drinks in a takeaway cup with a lid to avoid the risk of spills. Put food and drinks within reach, but not on the edge of the table.

Anneliese Hillier, a graphic designer, has recently created a Facebook community called CafeBabes, to help Auckland parents to find family-friendly cafes (and restaurants) that make their outing more enjoyable. Hillier and other contributors rate their experience on a variety of factors and the businesses are tagged in to the review, so they are given the opportunity to respond. Hillier says that cafes commonly fail to provide adequate nappy-changing facilities and space to move.

If you want a family-friendly café, take a look at the checklist below. If you don’t have young children yourself, enlist the feedback of staff, family or friends who have young children, or look at the CafeBabes Facebook page. Encourage your team to take care of its youngest customers, and you will build a loyal network.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY CHECKLIST

• Welcoming, helpful staff
• Space to move and park a buggy
• Healthy, affordable kids menu
• Activities for toddlers
• Easy meals and great coffee for adults
• Quiet, comfortable spot for feeding
• High chairs, cushions
• Change tables and nappy bins
• Safe play area, especially for escape artists

This article was publish in the Restaurant Association’s Savour magazine in November 2017.