Pret a Manger is the target of a new animal welfare campaign after delaying its commitment to phasing out the use of fast-growing chickens.
Animal welfare organisation Anima’s £1m campaign is believed to be the most well-funded animal welfare campaign ever directed at a UK food company.
It will include ads on the London Underground as well as full-page newspaper ads and a stunt involving ‘the world’s biggest Pret wrap’ – a car-sized replica stuffed with a four-metre-long, fast-growing chicken. Activists plan to visit every Pret in London over the coming months.
In 2018, Pret vowed to phase out fast-growing chickens by 2026. However, the food-to-go chain announced a new plan in April to adopt 50% slower-growing breeds by 2031 and 100% by 2032, following a campaign briefing from Anima two weeks earlier.
“Pret is sitting on its hands whilst telling us it’s committed to better chicken – that’s not commitment, that’s an empty promise,” said Anima CEO Connor Jackson. He explained that ‘frankenchickens’ are bred to grow “so unnaturally fast that their bodies break down, leaving many unable to walk and in pain”.
“Pret promised to spare these animals from the worst of factory farming. It broke that promise, and judging by its continued inaction, Pret has no intention of honouring its commitment,” he claimed. “This campaign is about ensuring that Pret acts rather than talks.”
In 2018, Pret joined the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), a science-based, six-point chicken welfare policy that looks to address issues related to breeding for fast growth and high yield. In the UK, all broiler chicken sourced for Pret meets five of the six BCC criteria, making it the leading foodservice restaurant for chicken welfare in Compassion in World Farming’s ChickenTrack.
A Pret spokesperson said: “We are disappointed that this campaign group have chosen to target one of the few businesses that remains signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment. Across our UK shops, we only use higher welfare British chicken, all of which already meets five of the six Better Chicken Commitment standards. We are actively working with industry partners, including Compassion in World Farming, to reach full compliance and have set out a clear roadmap for meeting that commitment.
“By targeting us, these activists are sending a signal that businesses that do the right thing will be criticised more than those who give up on higher welfare chicken. We doubt animal welfare supporters would welcome such significant funds being spent to target those making clear progress on welfare standards and not those who have abandoned higher welfare reform entirely.”
In August 2025, Waitrose became the first UK supermarket to meet the BCC across all its own-brand chicken.
But while many retailers and brands are working towards these commitments, The Grocer revealed in February that eight businesses, owning or franchising 18 leading hospitality brands, had withdrawn from the BCC.
They said they “no longer believe the BCC is the right framework to drive the next phase of progress on animal welfare due to the requirement to source only slower-growing breeds”, adding that a focus on slower-growing breeds alone “ignores the knock-on impacts of these breeds for the poultry supply chain”.
The business, which include BKUK (the master franchisee for Burger King in the UK) and Yum! Brands (the owner of KFC UK & Ireland, Pizza Hut UK and Taco Bell UK), instead launched a cross-industry initiative, the Sustainable Chicken Forum. It is designed to drive further improvements in chicken welfare while balancing sustainability, net zero ambitions and long-term supply resilience.
However, this was quickly dismissed as “welfare-washing” by Humane League campaigns manager Claire Williams, who said the switch by the companies was made due to threatened profit margins.
Speaking on the campaign, Jackson added: “Pret now has a choice: follow Waitrose and move away from these ultra fast-growing breeds, or follow KFC and Burger King in betraying chickens and walking away from animal welfare commitments entirely.
“This attempt to kick the can five more years down the road tells you which direction it is heading. This campaign is about ensuring that Pret delivers a credible plan towards fulfilment of its commitment.”
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