My wife and I work really long hours. Before my son was born, dinner usually consisted of what do we have in the house that we can re-heat really quickly. With that in mind, we usually treated ourselves to a really nice place for dinner on Friday. It was a way of decompressing after a long week.

When my son was born that was no longer an option. It’s not fair to your child, and it’s not fair to the other diners. If you’re at a steakhouse or something looking for a romantic evening, do you really want a toddler screaming at the other table?  Can you have a romantic evening with your toddler with you?  The answer is no to both. As a result, my wife and I have changed our focus as to where we go.  Instead of a nice steak dinner, it’s a burger and fries at a family friendly restaurant. 

There’s a real problem with the family friendly restaurants. They’re very popular. They’re full of parents with their kids who want a night off from cooking. That means slower service. That means you’re asking a toddler to sit around and wait and wait. Even the best behaved toddlers will start acting up. They’re more likely to act up if they’re hungry too. Sometimes the crayons and mat don’t cut it. It ruins the experience. It makes you wish you were home eating leftovers. Chick-fil-A now has the perfect solution. 

My mind was blown reading that. You can order your dinner in the drive-thru lane, and they’ll have it ready did you at a table when you enter the restaurant?  I would seriously do this all the time, especially if they have a Coke Freestyle there (seriously, that’s my holy grail. I love soda). If you’ve ever went out to eat with a toddler, you know how much better it would be to have the food out when you get there than having to wait and wait. 

Sadly, there are no Chick-fil-A’s near me. I can’t “eat mor chikin.”  However, with that said, I don’t know why other restaurants can’t adapt this, especially those with Roadside Service. 

I should be able to call my order in to a place like Applebees, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Chilis, Ruby Tuesday, etc. and make my order. In turn, I can be told what time my table will be ready. To avoid issues, they could request pre-payment for my meal to ensure my arrival. It would create higher turnover of tables during the busy hours. It would also reduce screaming and crying children thereby making the dining experience better for everyone. 

Imagine going to Olive Garden and having your meal on the table with the salad and breadsticks. It would be a quicker and much more relaxing dining experience for parents. By the way, this would also work out great for Olive Garden because people would go through less salad and breadsticks thereby helping the bottom line. Same goes for Red Lobster and those cheddar bay biscuits (for most people, not me.  I’d still annihilate them). 

This makes too much sense not to happen. Hopefully, these restaurants pick up on this and apply the practice to their business. If you do, my family thanks you in advance. Also, I wouldn’t object to a consultant’s fee either.