Review of Focacia’s – Ajax & Four Tips to Help Teach Your Kids About Money

One Sunday evening, Book Boy decided he wanted to take the family to dinner!  Giddy-up! Of course, what ensued was a 20 minute financial lesson on how much eating out really costs and what restaurants were within his financial reach.  After ruling out Montana’s (too expensive) and some breakfast places (all closed), we ended up at a relatively new Italian fast food restaurant called Focacia’s.  Find out if the restaurant lived up to its motto (Italian Fast Casual) and discover some great tips to help teach your kids about money!

Details:  Focacia’s Ajax, 310 Harwood Avenue, Ajax ON, 905-427-9777, www.focacias.com.

Ambience:  Cozy interior with dark coloured paneling/walls, booths and tablecloth covered tables.  An interesting concept of a restaurant where you walk up to order your food (a la fast food dining) then sit down at a table and wait for your food to be delivered in a restaurant type atmosphere (a la sit-in dining).

Kids Stuff:  Given that we ordered our food at the counter, we weren’t expecting a long wait for our food.  So we thought it was appropriate that there were no placemats or colouring for the kids.

Kids Food:  At the time of our visit (late April, 2010), there was no kids menu available although the attendant (owner?) mentioned that one was coming soon.  The kids ended up sharing an order of spaghetti with MORE than enough pasta for the two of them.  They also shared a side Caesar Salad.

Parents Food:  Clean Mom had the daily special (pasta with chicken in a rosé sauce with a salad) while I had to have a focacia sandwich (I mean come on, it’s in their name for goodness sake…).  Clean Mom couldn’t finish her meal (huge portion) and my veal sandwich was good with the freshness of the focacia bun evident from the first bite.

Coolest Thing About Restaurant:  Cost effective Italian food, good quantities, good taste, nice place to sit and eat.

Worst Thing About Restaurant:  Wasn’t sure how much to tip at the counter (awkward), the Ajax store still seems to be perfecting its operations as I waited an extraordinarily long time for my sandwich to arrive while my family munched away on their food.  We also waited a long time to get our drinks.

8 Money Lessons for Kids: Here’s an article I found on the web from MillionDollarJourney.com that had 8 great money lessons for kids.  Four of the lessons that resonated with me were:

Tip 1) Model Generosity

If you give to charity, talk to you kids about why you chose that particular charity. If you sponsor a child through Compassion Canada or World Vision, have your kids write letters or send photos. Show them where your sponsored child lives and what the living conditions are like there. When you go shopping for gifts, take your kids with them and have them brainstorm ideas on what people might like. Get them thinking about the needs of others and how they might make a difference. Let your kids see you being generous with your money.

Tip 2) Watch your language

We don’t say, “We can’t afford that.” If they ask for something, we’ll say, “Sure! Do you have enough saved up for it?” If we truly can’t afford something, we’ll say, “It’s not in the budget this month, but if it’s really important let’s make it a priority for next month.” We are careful to never complain about finances in front of the kids.

Tip 3) Give them an allowance

There are persuasive arguments both ways for whether the allowance should be tied to chores or not. The issue is to decide as a family how much allowance to give, choose whether it will be tied to chores or not, and then be consistent about giving it. Many people I’ve talked to over the years give the child’s age in dollars per week or bi-weekly. The choice is yours. Some people prefer to pay their kids the same amount to keep things equal. Other people prefer to give their kids a raise on their birthdays.   Start whenever you like but most kids really begin to understand the value of money right around the first grade.

Tip 6) Let them make mistakes

One of the hardest things I’ve had to do as a parent is to let go and allow them to make mistakes. This doesn’t mean you can’t set boundaries. If you don’t allow certain toys or clothing items, then the rule still applies whether they buy it or not. It’s fine to allot a certain amount for saving, giving and spending. After that, spending money should be just that, for spending on whatever it is their little hearts desire, webinz and trading cards included!

Overall Experience:  Focacia’s in Ajax seems to be a restaurant struggling with its identity (not quite fast food, not quite dine-in restaurant) and while the quantity and quality of food is good, the service has a ways to catch up.  Total cost (including tax and tip) was $33.

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

Other Posts That Might Interest You:

1. “Kids Party Place” Search Tips and Review of Creative Play Indoor Playground in Ajax
2. Review of Swiss Chalet – Ajax
3. Review of Michael’s Eatery – Ajax