Restaurants Contribute To Fighting Child Hunger

16 million kids in America don't know where their next meal is coming from. That's 1 in 5 children who face hunger in this country. The food service industry, including franchise brands, and research firm Technomic are trying to make a difference in helping to end this societal blight. One way is through participation in the annual Dine Out for No Kid Hungry campaign.

This past September during No Kid Hungry month, consumers helped over 9,700 restaurants across the country raise money simply by dining out at participating restaurants, purchasing select items, or making a small donation.

Technomic put their foodservice knowledge and expertise to use by conducting qualitative and quantitative consumer and operator research to help No Kid Hungry better understand and communicate the benefits of participation.

"We really enjoy our partnership with No Kid Hungry and highly value the opportunity to help support such a great cause," said Kelly Weikel, director at Technomic and No Kid Hungry volunteer. "It was particularly motivating to see how much both restaurant customers and employees take pride in and are enthusiastic about their personal involvement in the campaign. It provides a perfect example of how social responsibility initiatives can lead to tangible benefits like incremental traffic and higher employee morale."

Here are some highlights of the research:

• 75 percent of consumers want more of their favorite restaurants to support No Kid Hungry.
• 73 percent of consumers strongly agree that No Kid Hungry makes it easy to support a cause they care about.
• 73 percent of restaurant partners who participated in No Kid Hungry this year say it led to greater employee excitement.

Of particular note is an increasing trend that shows affiliation with No Kid Hungry drives restaurant traffic. The Technomic research points to a 50 percent increase from 2014 to 2015 in consumers (18 percent) who said they visited a restaurant in September specifically to support No Kid Hungry.

To find out how you can get involved https://www.nokidhungry.org/about-us.