National Restaurant Association Launches Kids Recipe Challenge

The National Restaurant Association (NRA) is now accepting submissions for its Kids Recipe Challenge, a new initiative aimed at showcasing restaurants' culinary ingenuity of creating healthful menu options for children. Created with founding partner McCormick For Chefs, the Food Away From Home Division of McCormick & Company, the Kids Recipe Challenge will recognize delicious and nutritious recipes from children's menus at restaurants and foodservice establishments nationwide. The contest takes an "industry tested, kid approved" approach, with a panel of industry professionals selecting finalists and elementary school students choosing the winners.

"The Kids Recipe Challenge is another great example of galvanizing the restaurant and foodservice community around the importance of ensuring that American families have ready access to nutritious food," said Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association. "We designed the initiative to be a fun and creative way to showcase healthful menu options, and a source of inspiration for foodservice operators and chefs to continue to add those options to their menus."

"A key aspect of McCormick For Chefs' mission is to support operators and chefs who provide nutritionally balanced kids' meals that are great tasting," said Phil Kafarakis, McCormick For Chefs Vice President of Foodservice. "Kids' palates are evolving and they want food choices that are authentic and globally inspired. McCormick For Chefs helps meet demand and deliver the flavors that kids love. Partnering with NRA to conduct the Kids Recipe Challenge provides the ideal way to showcase recipes that combine our passion for flavor and nutrition."

To participate in the Kids Recipe Challenge, restaurant and foodservice operators should submit one or more recipes from their children's menus that meet the nutrition guidelines from Kids LiveWell and MyPlate. Operators/chefs may participate in four categories: Independent restaurant or company with fewer than 20 units; Multi-unit company with more than 20 units; Contract Managed Food Service; and Independent Noncommercial Food Service. The deadline to submit recipes is January 7, 2013. The winners will be revealed at the 2013 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show (May 18-21 in Chicago).

The Kids Recipe Challenge is a complement to Kids LiveWell, which the NRA launched in July 2011 in collaboration with Healthy Dining to help parents and children find healthful menu options when dining out. To date, more than 100 brands representing nearly 30,000 restaurants are participating in Kids LiveWell.

For details on submitting recipes, nutrition criteria, and contest rules, visit http://restaurant.org/recipe/.

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Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises 970,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of nearly 13 million employees. We represent the industry in Washington, D.C., and advocate on its behalf. We operate the industry's largest trade show (NRA Show May 18-21, 2013, in Chicago); leading food safety training and certification program (ServSafe); unique career-building high school program (the NRAEF's ProStart, including the National ProStart Invitational April 19-21, 2013, in Baltimore, Md.); as well as the Kids LiveWell program promoting healthful kids' menu options. For more information, visit www.restaurant.org and find us on Twitter @WeRRestaurants, Facebook and YouTube.