Matthew Chalmers
The largest coffee chain in the world pledges to improve the welfare of chickens.
In a huge victory for chickens, Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain, has signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) for its UK stores.
Starbucks suppliers will need to meet the policy’s standards for all of their fresh, frozen and processed chicken.
The BCC is an animal welfare policy that drastically reduces the suffering of chickens raised for meat by providing extra space, natural light, and enrichments and using less painful slaughter methods.
It also requires farms to have third party auditing and prohibits the use of cruel fast-growing breeds.
Fast-growing birds have significantly more health and welfare problems including lameness, burns from waste and heart attacks.
This is a huge victory for animal welfare and will impact all of Starbucks’ 1,000+ UK stores.
With Starbucks now signed on, seven of the UK’s ten largest restaurant chains will be BCC-compliant by 2026, including Greggs, Pret a Manger, KFC & Pizza Hut, Nando’s, Burger King and Subway.
This commitment makes the company stand out against competitors like Caffè Nero and Costa, who refuse to sign the policy.
The 320+ UK and EU businesses signed up to the BCC include household names like Nestlé, Kraft-Heinz, Waitrose and Unilever.
Starbucks UK now joins the list - who’s next?
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