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Burtons Grill introduces healthful kids' menuBurtons Grill introduces healthful kids' menu

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

October 11, 2011

1 Min Read
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Bret Thorn

Burtons Grill is introducing a kids’ menu in November based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate guide, which encourages dietary variety and balance.

The {B} Choosy menu, which uses the restaurant’s signature {B} logo, will list 23 items in five categories — protein, vegetable, grain, fruit and dairy — from which children of 12 years and under can mix and match.

Diners select if they would like the items grilled, baked or fried. The meal is then portioned according to current dietary guidelines, and sells for $5.

“Our new children’s menu speaks to our entire philosophy at Burtons Grill,” chief executive Kevin Harron said in a release. “We pride ourselves on offering flexible, healthy and quality dining options to our guests, and our children should be no different.”

Steak, chicken, hamburger, salmon and haddock are offered as proteins. For vegetables, kids can mix and match carrot sticks, cucumbers, tomato and seasonal vegetables.

Baked potatoes, French fries, potato chips, pasta and rice comprise the grains category, while fruit choices include apples, oranges and mixed fruit.

American, Cheddar, Swiss and provolone cheeses are offered as dairy items, as well as ice cream and frozen yogurt.

“When parents go out to dinner, they should be able to relax knowing that their child will have a healthy, enjoyable meal at a great value, and our new {B} Choosy menu does just that,” Harron said.

Burtons Grill, an upscale dining chain, has seven units in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Virginia.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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