Parents blast kids' pub food
Children's meals in many pubs are unimaginative, predictable and full of "sugar, fat and highly processed ingredients" according to a new report.
A lack of fresh fruit and vegetables and too much reliance on chicken nuggets, chips, burgers and fizzy drinks means menus are failing to appeal to parents concerned about their children's diets.
Spirit Group's Wacky Warehouse chain was slammed as "awful" while JD Wetherspoon was also criticised by parents for its "disappointing" children's options.
Healthy eating campaign group the Food Commission asked a 1,500-strong "parents' jury" to nominate the best and worst of the children's menus on offer in pubs, restaurants, department stores and motorway service stations.
Wacky Warehouse was named as a loser in the holiday food category with parents nominating it as the outlet offering the most hopeless holiday food.
Its narrow range of food for children's parties came under fire for providing little choice. "It's disgusting," said one parent, while another claimed it was "awful with nothing remotely healthy".
The £4.99 price tag was also criticised by parents. One said it was "expensive for food which is little better than McDonald's".
But a spokeswoman for Spirit Group said the research was carried out before the launch of the brand's latest menu.
"The quality of our children's menu is extremely important and our food development team invests heavily to develop healthy, exciting dishes that appeal to our young customers," she said.
"Sourcing top-quality products is paramount. We offer additive-free vegetable and pork sausages, our chicken nuggets are 100 per cent breast meat and we recently gained Marine Stewardship Council accreditation for our fish."
JD Wetherspoon's Tom & Jerry menu was a runner up in the hopeless holiday food category. Parents found the menu "disappointing" and the food was "highly processed".
In nearly all of the venues surveyed, children's menus were found to be of a low standard. "If parents tasted the food that is available on children's menus I am sure they wouldn't waste their money on it," one parent said.
