Mapping of Child-Friendly Culinary Product Innovation in Surabaya City: Literature Review (2020–2025)

Abstract

The growth of the culinary industry in Surabaya encourages the need to develop child-friendly culinary innovations that not only prioritize taste and visual appearance, but also ensure food safety, nutritional balance, and cultural relevance. However, many children's food products today still focus on taste and aesthetic aspects, while nutrition and food safety standards are often overlooked. This study aims to map the forms, trends, and determinants of child-friendly culinary innovation in Surabaya in the 2020–2025 period. The method used is Systematic Literature Review (SLR) by synthesizing 27 relevant national and international articles. Analysis refers to Tidd and Bessant's four-dimensional innovation framework, i.e. product, process, packaging, and marketing innovation to identify patterns of findings. The results of the study show that product innovation is dominated by the use of local ingredients, nutritional fortification, and the transformation of traditional culinary such as clover into a child-friendly form. Process innovation emphasizes hygienic production practices, low-fat processing techniques, and school-based nutrition education. Packaging innovations stand out in the use of environmentally friendly materials, child-appropriate portion sizes, and educational visual elements. Marketing innovations utilize digital platforms and support Surabaya's city branding efforts. Driving factors include increased parental awareness, availability of local ingredients, as well as global nutrition guidelines. Meanwhile, the main obstacles include low hygiene literacy of micro business actors, high costs of innovative packaging, and rampant promotion of unhealthy food. Surabaya has great potential to become a center for child-friendly culinary innovation. Collaboration between MSMEs, the government, and educational institutions is needed to build a sustainable culinary ecosystem that supports child nutrition, food safety, and local cultural identity.