Metro Diner Café in the Annapolis Towne Center announced the launch of a new menu with healthy items including a totally healthy kid’s meals. In addition, the restaurant has removed fries and soda from its kid’s menus.
The removal of soda and fries from the kid’s menu is a move that parent company Silver Diner undertook this past spring and it has been met with positive reviews by parents and kids. Metro Diner Café offers eight complete kid’s meals, four of which are deemed healthy as part of the national Kids LiveWell program, a program of the National Restaurant Association.
The overall menu at Metro Diner Café has also been revamped to include healthy salads as well as classic favorites such as burgers, bison sliders, café sandwiches, soups, along with brunch and breakfast items. Hand-dipped milkshakes are complemented with healthier smoothie options such as low-fat mocha, strawberry banana, and very berry yogurt. Spiked adult shakes are also offered.
Many of the ingredients at Metro Diner Café are sourced locally, just as they are at Silver Diner. Farms such as Kreider, Martin’s, Creekstone and Gunpowder Bison Trading Company provide some of the locally sourced ingredients.
This past spring, Silver Diner surveyed customers and determined that most kids order their own meals and the majority of those kids ordering preferred strawberries to French fries and home fries. The company then also held a taste testing with children who selected many of the healthy menu items. This resulted in the removal of French fries, home fries and soda from kid’s menus across the company.
“Our customers have spoken,” said Chef Ype who is the executive chef and co-founder of Silver Diner and Metro Diner Café. “We’re all about choices, and we make sure that our customers have delicious healthy options—which is what they continue to ask for,” he continued. “We also pride ourselves in the fact that we use local ingredients and support local farms.”
In addition to being involved in the Kids LiveWell initiative, Metro Diner Café has a community program “Eat Well Do Well” which allows diners to link frequent dining cards to local enrolled schools. This program provides considerable money to partnering schools annually. The schools must spend the money on nutrition or fitness programs. For more information, visit the Metro Diner Café website.
Photo courtesy of Metro Diner Cafe