Wendy's has a range of options on their current kids' meal menu. (Wendy's)
Amid pressure from public health awareness groups, Wendy’s is dropping soda from the drink choices on its kids' meals.
According to Wendy's officials, the move has already gone into effect and is reflected on menu boards inside restaurants, at drive-thrus and on the app used by its U.S. and Canadian customers. The beverage options now listed for kids' meals are: 1 percent white or chocolate milk, bottled water and 100 percent juice.
Wendy’s spokesman told USA Today that unlike other chains, soda was never a default drink choice for kid’s meals.
"When ordering a kids' meal, the customer is asked what beverage they prefer," Bertini wrote via email. "The change is the kids' meal beverage options which are shown on our menu boards."
This doesn’t mean parents and kids can’t be buy a soda --it's just no longer listed as an option. Also on still on the kids' menu is a junior-sized Frosty—the fast food chain's version of a milkshake.
On Thursday, the Center for Science in Public Interest --an advocacy group pushing for healthier food -- released a statement announcing the move and applauding Wendy's.
It also said the chain could further improve its menu by serving "whole grain rolls, offering more fruit and vegetable options, reducing sodium across the menu, and dropping Frosty's from the children's menu."
In 2013, McDonald’s took soda off its Happy Meal menu—offering milk, chocolate milk or apple juice with their burgers and fries.
.Subway and Arby’s have also ditched offering soda on their kids' menus but Burger King has yet to follow suit.
A company rep for Burger King wrote to USA Today claiming the chain is “currently in the process of analyzing the removal of fountain drinks from our kids' menu boards."
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