Dairy Queen goes global with its cage-free commitment

Fast food chain Dairy Queen pledged to source 100% cage-free eggs and egg ingredients in all stores globally by 2025.

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SIDNEY NE/USA - OCTOBER 3 2016: Dairy Queen restaurant exterior and sign. Dairy Queen is a chain of soft serve and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen Inc.
SIDNEY NE/USA - OCTOBER 3 2016: Dairy Queen restaurant exterior and sign. Dairy Queen is a chain of soft serve and fast food restaurants owned by International Dairy Queen Inc.
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Fast food chain Dairy Queen pledged to source 100% cage-free eggs and egg ingredients in all stores globally by 2025.

In 2016, the company committed to sourcing only cage-free eggs and egg ingredients for its restaurants in the U.S. and Canada. Its recently updated animal welfare policy expands the chain’s commitment to include all its international locations.

The chain has over 6,800 restaurants across 20 countries, including more than 1,100 stores in China, 500 in Thailand, 100 in Mexico and almost 100 in the Philippines.

According to Dairy Queen’s commitment, 67% of shell eggs, liquid eggs and proprietary ingredients that contain eggs in the U.S. have either been converted to cage free or were reformulated to remove egg as an ingredient. In Canada, that value is 39%. In the rest of its restaurants, Dairy Queen’s use of eggs is extremely limited.

“Worldwide, we are on track to meet our 2025 cage-free egg commitment for proprietary ingredients as well as liquid and shell eggs that are used only at DQ restaurants serving breakfast,” the company said.

Restaurant versus grocery store: cage-free commitments

Cage-free pledges, like Dairy Queen’s, made by restaurants are due to consumer demand. However, a recently published U.S. research study found that many consumers are indifferent when it comes to buying caged or cage-free eggs in the grocery store.

The study found that 55% of consumers are primarily motivated by price and do not discriminate between caged and cage-free eggs in the grocery store and 56% of consumers are unaware of whether their grocery store has made a cage-free pledge, while only 19% believe their store has made a pledge.

It’s important to note that the price impact of cage-free eggs on consumers in the restaurant is different compared to in the grocery store. While consumers are likely to notice the higher price of a dozen cage-free eggs while shopping, they are less likely to feel the effects of purchasing a meal at a fast-food restaurant that used cage-free eggs or products as an ingredient.

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