At Giggles N’ Hugs (GIGL), Children can be Seen and Heard

Last year The Washington Post published an article with the captivating title ‘The most important thing you can do with your kids? Eat dinner with them.’ It was penned by Anne Fishel, a professor at Harvard Medical School, who is a founder of The Family Dinner Project and author of “Home for Dinner”. It’s a piece that every parent should read, pointing as it does to often unexploited opportunities for childhood development at mealtimes. Two parents who know of these fortuities are Joey and Dorsa Parsi, who founded Giggles N’ Hugs (OTCQB: GIGL) in 2007.

A feature in Bloomberg Businessweek tells their story. On Valentine’s Day 2007, Joey took his wife out for the first time since the birth of their second child six months earlier. Their first child, an exuberant three-year-old with the delightful name of Yasmine, collided with a fellow diner’s table, spilling his water, whereupon the aggrieved patron glared at Joey, condemnation evident in his looks. As Joey said to Dorsa later:

“Shame on us for taking kids to a restaurant where we have to turn to our 3-year-old and say, ‘Be something other than a child.’”

However, out of evil came good. That adverse incident gave the L.A. couple the idea to create a kid-friendly restaurant concept which they christened Giggles N’ Hugs, a play on the name of the hugely successful Australian children’s music group, The Wiggles. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Attitudes to children have changed since the fifteenth century when, in a collection of homilies (Mirk’s Festial) written by English clergyman John Mirk, the saying ‘a child should be seen, but not heard’ appeared in its original form. Modern parents want to spend time with their children, but, all too often, other time demands make this difficult. Consequently, mealtime presents a unique opportunity for bonding.

Dr. Fishel writes that ‘researchers found that for young children, dinnertime conversation boosts vocabulary even more than being read aloud to… Young kids learned 1,000 rare words (those not among the 3,000 most common) at the dinner table, compared to only 143 from parents reading storybooks aloud.’ Vocabulary, naturally, is crucial to the acquisition of knowledge. The child can only learn if he or she understands.

Research has also shown that ‘for school-age youngsters, regular mealtime is an even more powerful predictor of high achievement scores than time spent in school, doing homework, playing sports or doing art’. In addition, ‘family dinners have been found to be a more powerful deterrent against high-risk teen behaviors than church attendance or good grades’.

Giggles N’ Hugs is not only an upscale fast casual that offers a menu created from the finest organic ingredients; it’s a fine-dining institution offering the solution to a social problem. Social mores have changed since the fifteenth century, but, in many cases, institutions have remained the same. A Giggles N’ Hugs outlet is a restaurant and play space combo where parents can relax and dine while kids frolic under supervision. Currently, the company operates two upscale locations in high-profile Los Angeles malls. There’s one at Westfield Topanga Shopping Center in Woodland Hills, Canoga Park; and a second at the Glendale Galleria.

There are encouraging indications that these are choice locations. In the area served by Westfield Topanga Shopping Center, 38 percent of households have at least one child and 30 percent of households have incomes in excess of $100,000. In the area served by Glendale Galleria, 47 percent of households include children and 23 percent have incomes above $100,000.

Giggles N’ Hugs is aiming to have 12 restaurants up and running by the end of 2017. This is eminently possible since mall owners believe having Giggles N’ Hugs as a tenant will burnish the family image brand of a mall. In addition, such a tenant will create glamour and buzz and increase foot traffic to the mall. Giggles N’ Hugs has been offered rent discounts of up to 75 percent and upfront cash to cover setup costs. At present, discussions are underway with Westfield to open restaurants in major airports throughout America, including Los Angeles International (LAX), Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark, O’Hare, Boston and Logan.

Learn more by visiting www.gigglesnhugs.com

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