IN Brief:
- Eight hospitality businesses, covering 18 brands, have launched the Sustainable Chicken Forum.
- The group is withdrawing from the Better Chicken Commitment, focusing on outcomes-led welfare plus supply and emissions constraints.
- Forum members say reporting and research will guide further welfare changes across supply chains.
A group of hospitality businesses has launched the Sustainable Chicken Forum (SCF), a new cross-industry initiative intended to coordinate poultry welfare progress across large foodservice supply chains while also addressing emissions, water use, and long-term supply resilience. The coalition covers eight businesses that own or franchise 18 brands, including Burger King UK, Nando’s UK & IRE, Yum! Brands (KFC UK & Ireland, Pizza Hut UK, Taco Bell UK), The Restaurant Group (including wagamama), and The Big Table Group (including Frankie & Benny’s), alongside several other operators.
The SCF launch is tied to those businesses withdrawing from the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), a framework that includes a requirement to move supply onto slower-growing breeds alongside other housing and welfare provisions. The hospitality group said it no longer considers the BCC the appropriate mechanism for the next phase of welfare improvements, arguing that a breed-only focus creates broader trade-offs across environmental impact and supply capacity.
In its launch statement, UKHospitality set out a work programme for the SCF centred on science-led welfare outcomes, continued sector reporting, and additional research into balancing welfare gains with environmental constraints and consistent supply. It also signalled intended engagement on policy — including planning — describing planning outcomes as a constraint on poultry capacity as stocking densities fall and shed footprints increase.
UKHospitality cited analysis indicating that slower-growing breeds can carry materially higher resource requirements versus conventional broiler production, including higher greenhouse-gas emissions and water use, and that a large-scale European shift could reduce production capacity due to space requirements. In the UK context, the group also referenced industry movement towards a 30 kg per square metre stocking density, while noting that BCC requirements also include a 30 kg/m² maximum density.
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.”
The SCF statement also referenced third-party input from sector experts, including Zero Carbon Forum, with the forum’s director positioning the work as an attempt to avoid welfare changes automatically driving emissions in the wrong direction. The coalition said it will continue to use existing reporting mechanisms across welfare outcomes and environmental impacts, including water consumption and supply-chain deforestation indicators, while it develops a common approach to further welfare improvements.
