Eight businesses involved in owning or franchising 18 leading hospitality brands in the UK have 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.
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 founder members of the SCF are:
- Lemon Pepper Holdings (the UK franchisee of Wingstop)
- BKUK Group Limited (Burger King UK)
- 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)
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 they are withdrawing from the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) on the grounds they no longer believe it to be the right framework to drive the next phase of progress on welfare due to a requirement to source only slower-growing breeds. This move comes following businesses making significant progress against the BCC welfare framework.
Focus on slower-growing breeds alone ignores the knock-on impacts of these breeds for the poultry supply chain.
Key impacts include:
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.
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."
Sources
Costs and implications of the European Chicken Commitment in the EU, RSK ADAS Ltd, March 2024 - https://avec-poultry.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/European-Chicken-Commitment-Report-ADAS-March-2024.pdf.
