The c.880-strong company was third in the list of eating-out chains, but the top pub company, in the survey of 21 high-street brands carried out by 40 parents.
The news comes as an Out To Lunch campaign is launched by the Soil Association and Organix to put pressure on restaurants and pubs to improve their children’s food offer.
JDW’s senior food development manager Jameson Robinson said: “We are very pleased to be recognised for the work we have undertaken on our children’s menu. We serve more than two million children’s meals a year across our pubs and appreciate the importance of sourcing UK ingredients and offering nutritionally balanced meals.
“We know there is more work to do to enhance the menu further, and we will be working towards this.”
Italian restaurant chain Jamie’s Italian topped the overall list, followed by
Wagamama in second.
The next pub chain after JDW on the list was Mitchells & Butlers’ (M&B’s) Harvester at five, followed by Greene King’s Hungry Horse (12) and Whitbread formats Beefeater (14) and Brewers Fayre (18).
Twelve of the 21 brands were found to have kids’ menus dominated by chicken nuggets, burgers and sausages, while eight didn’t include vegetables or salad in the majority of meals and 10 lacked any fruit in desserts.
M&B’s nutritionist Philippa Wallis said: “Harvesters are family-friendly restaurants. We welcome families into Harvester restaurants every day and want to offer young guests a range of dishes they will love to eat.
“Our ‘Young Guests’ menu is packed with plenty of choice, offers small and large dish sizes to suit different appetites and every main meal comes with fresh veg and free unlimited salad. We will build on what our young guests enjoy about our dishes, extend the choices and focus on the nutritional balance of the menu.”
Out To Lunch will encourage parents to expose chains that don’t make the grade in terms of children’s meals.
A total of 17,000 parents have so far agreed to take part in the drive.