2023 annual report on Newrest’s commitment to cage-free eggs and the European Chicken Commitment

The Newrest Group, a major player in out-of-home catering in more than 50 countries, operates in very different contexts, cultures and regulatory frameworks.

Cage-free eggs

In 2017, the Group took the decision to purchase only egg products from cage-free hens by 2025.

This decision is part of its CSR approach and represents a major challenge in view of the annual figures published below for 2023.

In certain regions of the world, the Group is experiencing difficulties in finding suppliers who meet its requirements for cage-free eggs:

• Proposing cage-free eggs options
• Being compliant with the Group Food Safety policy
• Meeting certain volumes to satisfy the needs
• Answering clients’ specifications
• Maintaining a competitive price

Some external events have slowed down Newrest’s strategy in all its territories:

• Avian flu in certain countries, particularly in Europe
• Global inflation
• Egg shortages in certain countries in the Sub-Saharan African region

Despite these challenges, Newrest’s close collaboration with The Humane League is fundamental to better understand market developments and anticipate the 2025 deadline.

Even if the 100% target seems difficult to achieve today, this partnership aims to consolidate the Group’s current position and create new purchasing opportunities, whatever the territory.

The table below shows the regional breakdown of data collected for the last twelve months of Newrest’s financial year (October 2022 – September 2023) :

To achieve these figures, an investigation was carried out in each country to establish the availability of these products. In Europe and North America, many customers, including major airlines, have chosen to follow our recommendations.

A number of measures have also been taken to increase purchases of eggs from cage-free hens in Asia and Africa. The focus is particularly on strengthening local egg supplies as close as possible to the Group’s sites . This local approach is having a major impact on market structure, and is encouraging new players to set up additional production capacity.

Thanks to the efforts of its teams to find alternatives, the percentage of eggs from cage-free hens has now reached 11% (compared with 6% last year), despite the lack of maturity of the sector in certain countries such as Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East.

European Chicken Commitment

Since 2019, the Newrest Group has been contributing to the improvement of animal welfare through the European Chicken Commitment (ECC).

Newrest teams continue to work hand in hand with suppliers to identify those able to provide chickens that comply with the strict criteria stipulated in the ECC. Newrest is seeing an increase in industry awareness of this issue.

In 2023, together with The Humane League, a questionnaire was sent to over 40 of the group’s suppliers from 13 European countries. The aim was to measure the level of commitment of suppliers across the 6 ECC criteria.

Here are the conclusions :

The Group’s approach is focused on raising awareness among suppliers and teams, to increase compliance on each criteria in the coming years ensuring Newrest remains on track to making progress towards this commitment by 2026