Hospitality industry launches sustainable chicken forum to drive welfare and sustainability progress

• Leading hospitality businesses launch the Sustainable Chicken Forum (SCF) to advance chicken welfare while balancing environmental sustainability, carbon reduction and supply pressures.
• The Forum will bring together hospitality businesses, farmers, independent experts, and industry groups to take a holistic approach to welfare improvements across the poultry supply chain.
• 18 brands will step away from the Better Chicken Commitment to drive the next phase of welfare progress with an approach that helps to answer the challenges facing the poultry supply and hospitality sectors.

Eight businesses, owning or franchising 18 leading hospitality brands, have today announced the formation and launch of the Sustainable Chicken Forum (SCF).

The new cross-industry initiative is designed to drive further improvements in chicken welfare while balancing sustainability, net zero ambitions and long-term supply resilience.

The SCF represents a collective commitment from hospitality businesses to take a more holistic view of chicken production, recognising that welfare, environmental impact and food security must be addressed together.

The work of the SCF will focus on:

• Advancing chicken welfare across each business’s supply chain, led by science-based welfare outcomes.
• Using reporting mechanisms to demonstrate progress across the hospitality sector.
• Championing continuous improvements in chicken welfare.
• Exploring opportunities for further research into the challenges facing the poultry sector in balancing welfare improvements with environmental impact and consistent supply.
• Engaging in policy development that supports the British supply to grow as part of the European and global poultry supply chain. In the UK, advocating for a joined-up approach to poultry policy that overcomes restrictive planning rules and aligns animal welfare and farming priorities.

The launch of the SCF comes as the eight businesses announce that they are withdrawing from the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC). This move comes following businesses making significant progress against the BCC welfare framework.

Businesses no longer believe the BCC is the right framework to drive the next phase of progress on welfare due to the requirement to source only slower-growing breeds.

Focus on slower-growing breeds alone ignores the knock-on impacts of these breeds for the poultry supply chain. Key impacts[1] are:

• Environmental: Producing 24.4% more greenhouse gas emissions and requiring 34.5% more water than the existing industry-standard for the production of broiler chickens.
• Supply: Across Europe, a shift to slower-growing breeds that require more space to farm could reduce poultry production by as much as 44%.

These impacts would compound the intense pressure on the UK and global poultry supply chain, with significant implications for hospitality businesses and consumers of chicken, at a time when UK consumer demand for chicken has never been higher.

While demand continues to grow, supply is increasingly constrained. Avian flu outbreaks across the world, particularly in the UK and Europe, have led to millions of birds being culled. At the same time, changes to production systems – including reduced stocking densities and some moves to slower-growing breeds – have reduced the number of chickens being farmed.

In the UK, suppliers have increasingly moved towards a 30kg per square metre stocking density for chickens to have more space. However, planning applications for the larger farms required to accommodate the same volume of birds at lower densities, or slower-growing breeds, are frequently being rejected. Welfare-driven capacity reductions and planning delays could impact consistent supply not only in the UK, but across global supply chains.

At the same time, hospitality businesses have clear responsibilities to reduce their water and carbon footprint and deliver against net zero commitments. Increasing the proportion of slower-growing breeds within supply chains would counter this.

The SCF will explore how welfare standards can continue to rise while also reducing environmental impact and maintaining a secure, affordable supply of chicken for consumers.

[1] Costs and implications of the European Chicken Commitment in the EU, RSK ADAS Ltd, March 2024 [link]

Allen Simpson, Chief Executive, UKHospitality, said:

“Our restaurants and food-to-go brands are critical parts of the high street and we know that consumer demand for chicken continues to soar.

“However, this demand comes at a time of acute chicken supply pressures and operators rightly have to ensure consistent and secure supply chains, while continuing to improve welfare standards and cut their environmental impact.

“I’m pleased that businesses are committed to enhancing their ongoing work across welfare and the environment, and the Sustainable Chicken Forum will play a vital role to make even more progress, as well as overcoming this shared supply challenge.”

Dr Louise Manning, Agri-food supply chain expert, said:

“The choices and the decisions that the organisations in the chicken supply chain need to make are not straightforward. In a difficult time for ensuring a secure, affordable and consistent food supply, minimising the impact of UK production on the environment and ensuring continued employment where alternative opportunities are limited, means evidence-based leadership of the sector is required.

“Whilst some proposed strategies could improve the wellbeing of chickens in the future, at the same time they will limit the ability of the industry and consumers to reduce water footprint and decarbonise food consumption to meet legal and social obligations.

“I welcome the sector leadership being shown by the creation of the Sustainable Chicken Forum in the face of these multiple pressures on the sector and consumers.”

Bob Gordon, Director, Zero Carbon Forum, said:

“Improving chicken welfare while reducing carbon emissions is a complex but important challenge for the sector. We welcome the Sustainable Chicken Forum’s ambition to decouple increases in emissions from welfare improvements and to adopt a more holistic, system-wide approach.

“The Zero Carbon Forum has successfully worked with the hospitality sector to reduce annual emissions of the sector by 825,000 tonnes. We’ve developed industry supplier actions on beef and dairy, in partnership with the industry, to reduce emissions from these supply chains. Building on this approach, we will work with leading businesses from across the sector to identify holistic solutions and implement action on chicken.”

Adrian Knoetze, Poultry Veterinarian, said:

“The creation of the Sustainable Chicken Forum highlights the complexities around improving welfare in a sustainable manner.

“The focus on slower-growing breeds risks overlooking other very important factors that influence broiler welfare: areas such as bird management, shed conditions and ongoing training in welfare best practice.

“Everyone wants to see broiler welfare continue to improve but this needs to be done in a manner that does not risk the sustainability of farms, the environment and businesses.”

Reg Smith, Poultry Consultant, said:

“Chicken welfare and sustainability are interconnected. Both are essential for long-term food security, protecting the planet and improved animal health all of which are vital for a sustainable farming system.

“The use of slow-growing chicken breeds challenges this balance. These breeds require more resources, which conflicts with sustainability goals. High welfare can be achieved with faster-growing breeds, and those breeds are more resource-efficient. This approach allows welfare and sustainability to be delivered in unison; the use of slow-growing breeds does not.”  

Notes to Editors

• In the UK, only 5% of poultry production is with slower-growing breeds. [RVC]
• Studies have found that there can be limited difference between some slower-growing breeds and broiler chickens. A report in 2021 found that broilers had an average daily weight gain of 65g/day; were slaughtered at 38.7 days with an average slaughter weight of 2.52kg. In comparison, slower-growing breeds had average daily weight gain of 53g/day; were slaughtered at 44.2 days with an average slaughter weight of 2.32kg. [PLOS One journal]
• A roll-out of slower-growing breeds across Europe would cut poultry production by 44%. [AVEC report by ADAS]
• Slower-growing breeds produce 24.4% more greenhouse gas emissions and require 34.5% more water than industry-standard broiler chickens. [AVEC report by ADAS]
• Emissions come heavily from feed, with BCC standard birds requiring 770 grams more feed, requiring 22% more land. [NFU report by ADAS]
• Welfare-driven capacity reductions and planning delays could see the UK lose more than 300,000 tonnes of poultry meat per year – equivalent to a 20% loss in shed volume. [IGD]

Members of the Sustainable Chicken Forum

Businesses and brands:

• BKUK Group Limited (Burger King UK)
• Lemon Pepper Holdings (the UK franchisee of Wingstop)
• Loungers UK Limited (Brightside Roadside Dining, Cosy Club, Lounge Café Bars)
• Nando’s UK & IRE
• PLK Chicken UK Ltd (Popeyes)
• The Big Table Group (Banana Tree, Bella Italia, Las Iguanas, Frankie & Benny’s)
• The Restaurant Group (Bar Burrito, Brunning & Price, wagamama, trgc)
• Yum! Brands (KFC UK & Ireland, Pizza Hut UK, Taco Bell UK)

Objective of the Sustainable Chicken Forum:

To champion and drive industry wide improvements on chicken welfare.

To explore how hospitality businesses can play a role in addressing the long-term sustainability of chicken production: improving environmental sustainability, tackling barriers to growth whilst delivering welfare improvements.

Commitments of Forum members:

As members of the Forum, all businesses commit to:

• Continuing to improve the welfare of chickens in their supply chain.
• Supporting evidence-led work into changes that can drive welfare improvements alongside reducing impact on the environment and chicken supply.
• Continuing to use existing reporting mechanisms to demonstrate progress as responsible businesses in areas such as welfare outcomes, environmental impact, water consumption, deforestation in the supply chain, as well as economic contribution through jobs and growth.

Scope of Forum work:

• To share best practice and champion efforts across hospitality to improve chicken welfare.
• To explore opportunities for further research into the challenges facing the poultry sector in balancing welfare improvements with environmental impact and ensuring consistent supply.
• To engage in policy development that supports the British supply chain to grow as part of the European and global poultry supply chain. In the UK advocating for a joined-up approach to poultry policy that overcomes restrictive planning rules and aligns animal welfare and farming priorities and minimises the environmental impact of production.
• To feed into the UK Government’s ongoing review of breeding practice and welfare impacts.