Firing Ronald McDonald is Too Easy – Then What?

Quality Catering for Kids

The campaign urging McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner to fire Ronald McDonald that was announced May 18, 2011, means well.

But convincing the nation’s No. 2 fast food chain to stop marketing junk food to kids won’t solve the problem of childhood obesity. While signing the letter might make parents, doctors and other health groups feel good, the really hard work of teaching children about nutrition falls on the shoulders of parents and schools.

Without a commitment from those two groups, Ronald’s firing will be for naught.

Our company, Quality Catering for Kids, provides about 15,000 healthy lunches Monday through Friday to children in pre-schools and private grade schools in northern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin. In our 35 years of business, here’s what we’ve learned about children and nutrition:

• Many kids are picky eaters and need meals with several healthy options. Every lunch we serve has five components: protein, grain, starch, vegetable and fruit.
• Don’t create one-size-feeds-all meals. Some children need organic and vegetarian options.
• If you banish greasy burgers, salty fries and sugary soft drinks from kids’ diets, parents and schools still need to know what kinds of healthy foods children are willing to eat. One way to find out is to experiment. We survey all of our clients on how much food the kids actually eat (85 percent) and what they like best. We know from our research that a favorite meal is chicken tacos in a mildly seasoned homemade sauce, along with lettuce and a small account of cheddar cheese in a flour tortilla. They also get a fresh apple, a vegetable blend, and Spanish rice.
• Don’t offer kids a useless, free trinket to encourage them to eat. Make eating fun — and a learning experience. We give our preschool clients free Healthy Heroes hand puppets imprinted with pictures of characters like Ben Broccoli, Carol Carrot, Larry Lima Bean and Pricilla Pea, and the kids take them home. We also provide free Nutrition Lesson Plans to foster positive views of healthy eating. We want to help parents make healthy eating a lifelong habit of their children.
• Know exactly what’s inside the food your children and students are eating. Read labels, and demand that schools provide this information. Our website lists every ingredient in all the food we serve.
• Preparing healthy food at home is often time-consuming, but parents can learn shortcuts. For example using commercially packaged, cut-up, frozen fruits for smoothies.

The goal should be not only to shield children from junk food marketing but also to teach them how to eat wisely long after Ronald McDonald is gone.

If parents and schools can commit to that, they’ll give new meaning to the term “Happy Meal.”

What's your take?

Quality Catering, founded in 1976, prepares and delivers more than 15,000 ready-to-serve meals to child care centers, preschools, private grade schools and adult day care centers in northern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin, including metropolitan Milwaukee. Its menus are planned under the guidance of a Wisconsin-registered dietetic technician to ensure that government nutrition guidelines for children are met or exceeded. Preschool meals are accompanied by nutrition lesson plans revolving around a cast of Healthy Heroes characters. Its commissary in Lake Villa, Ill., is the only one in the Midwest that is USDA-certified for food safety. The company has its Wisconsin office in Brookfield.

Quality Catering is on the web at www.qualitycateringforkids.com, and, for the adult day care division, at www.qualitycatering.biz.