The National Restaurant Association (NRA), Washington, D.C., will debut a new Healthier Kids Fare pavilion at its 2012 Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show, May 5-8, at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

Odwalla, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Co., developed a line of smoothies for children.

Abbott Nutrition, a division of Abbott, launched a line of nutritional drinks formulated for children with picky eating habits, it says.

To provide consumers with a healthy and flavorful juice option for children, Nestle USA launched Juicy Juice Fruitifuls, which is a line of all-natural juice drinks with 35 percent less sugar than regular juice and a full serving of fruit in each single-serve carton.

A child informing a parent whether or not something is cool might not be an occurrence so rare that it inspires a business plan, but when Rose Cameron’s two sons told her they did not want to drink water because it was boring, the former marketing executive set out on a mission. 

 According to a presentation by Chicago-based Mintel at this year’s Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo, 89 percent of U.S. parents say they are likely to purchase breakfast foods that their children ask for, and about 40 percent say they will buy a treat for their kids if they ask for it.