Hard Rock Cafe has switched to cage-free eggs in all of its own restaurants, hotels and casinos. This is following a global campaign by the Open Wing Alliance, a coalition of 75 influential animal welfare and animal rights organizations, that demanded the company to ban cage eggs from its supply chain.
Thousands of animal advocates from all around the world took part in impactful digital and in-person actions to persuade the company to go cage-free. In Germany, the Albert Schweitzer Foundation successfully built up pressure on Hard Rock Cafe’s management through both a petition and online campaigns.
A small but important success
Hard Rock Cafe’s cage-free pledge affects about one third of some 210 locations that belong to the company. The remainder is operated by franchisees, for whom Hard Rock Cafe apparently does not want to take responsibility. Nevertheless, the global company’s clear statement against cage farming and the immediate implementation are regarded as an important step by the Open Wing Alliance. A step that already prevents many sensitive and curious creatures from having to suffer in cages.
For hens, cage farming means extremely cramped lives in tiny, filthy cages on grid floors. Six to ten chickens are forced to live in one cage no larger than a filing cabinet drawer. These cages are so small and crowded that the hens cannot engage in their natural or instinctive behavior. Often, their body parts are caught in the caging, which results in fractured bones, deformities, and severe feather loss. Sometimes hens, too exhausted or unable to move, are trampled to death by their cage mates.
Using resources efficiently to help animals
The Open Wing Alliance advocates for factory farmed chickens worldwide. It will monitor developments at Hard Rock Cafe and work toward its complete transition to cage-free eggs. For now, however, the organizations need their resources for other campaigns that have a potential for achieving even more for the animals. At Albert Schweitzer Foundation we are aiming to win over German food retailers to the European Chicken Commitment and to reduce the suffering of millions of chickens raised for meat. This needs almost all of our capacities at the moment.