Restaurants Switching to Cage Free Eggs

[Orlong]

I understand why restaurants may want to switch to cage free eggs as a lot of their customers may think its more humane. What I would like to know is why they always give a ridiculous date to do so. In the last 6 months at least 10 restaurants have said they will do it.

Subway and Panera said they will do it by 2020
White Castle will do it by 2025
McDonalds by 2025
Dunkin Donuts by 2025
Starbucks by 2020
Einstein Brothers Bagels by 2020
Jack in the Box by 2025
TGIFridays by 2025
Qdoba by 2025
Dennys by 2026
Wendys by 2020

I cant figure any reason why it should take 5 to 10 years to call up your egg supplier and say we arent going to buy any more eggs from you and then call a cage free supplier and set up a contract. Why do they take so damn long. The same goes for restaurants pledging to use grass fed beef, or organic meats, etc..

[GennGreymane]

I would prefer to not have cages in my eggs.

[derpkitteh]

i'm pleased to hear this.

as an owner of pet chickens, they're wonderful little guys that deserve to be treated as kindly as any other animal. those cages are horrendous, spending most of their lives in them, unable to move even a foot. when they can move, they're put in a situation where they trample each other to death.

[Deleted]

I understand why restaurants may want to switch to cage free eggs as a lot of their customers may think its more humane. What I would like to know is why they always give a ridiculous date to do so. In the last 6 months at least 10 restaurants have said they will do it.

Subway and Panera said they will do it by 2020
White Castle will do it by 2025
McDonalds by 2025
Dunkin Donuts by 2025
Starbucks by 2020
Einstein Brothers Bagels by 2020
Jack in the Box by 2025
TGIFridays by 2025
Qdoba by 2025
Dennys by 2026
Wendys by 2020

I cant figure any reason why it should take 5 to 10 years to call up your egg supplier and say we arent going to buy any more eggs from you and then call a cage free supplier and set up a contract. Why do they take so damn long. The same goes for restaurants pledging to use grass fed beef, or organic meats, etc..

It's not a dude with 50 chickens in a shed that he decides to let out and then it's all good. It means a huge shift in the animal husbandry and probably even the stock that they use. Feed industry probably needs to adapt overtime too. If they all do it at once it becomes prohibitively expensive.

[GennGreymane]

I would also be happy to not have Nic Cage in my Eggs.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...bd338f9dd1.jpg

[Deleted]

I would also be happy to not have Nic Cage in my Eggs.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...bd338f9dd1.jpg

He'll be in anything if you ask him

[Belize]

I would also be happy to not have Nic Cage in my Eggs.

Nic Cage best Cage. I want him all over my eggs.

[Deleted]

I cant figure any reason why it should take 5 to 10 years to call up your egg supplier and say we arent going to buy any more eggs from you and then call a cage free supplier and set up a contract. Why do they take so damn long. The same goes for restaurants pledging to use grass fed beef, or organic meats, etc..

Because they've probably signed a contract with their supplier that lasts until a certain year and have signed a contract with the cage free eggs supplier to start from that year they announced they'll be serving the new eggs. This all has to do with adjusting production to the new supply, seeing how these are huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge organisations (Aaaand the fact that McDonalds, Starbucks and Subway are all over the world and might not want to say they use cage free eggs until ALL restaurants do so which they project will be by the announced date, while they may already use cage free eggs in some countries/restaurants)

PS:

Maximum positive PR without actually doing anything.

[Ciddy]

Maybe they're under some kind of legal obligation (contract or something) to continue buying from their current suppliers for X years? Although....2026 is 10 years from now. That's a hell of a long time for such a contract.

I worked at a restaurant for 3 years, but I wasn't a manager or anything. I had nothing to do with ordering stuff or working with suppliers, so I don't know all the details behind how that works.

[Tjur]

Maximum positive PR without actually doing anything.

This above all else. It is pure Marketing. Most of these places will not even be in business still by the time this comes around. I can understand contracts that force them to buy from food vendors, but I have worked on every side of that industry and never heard of 10 year food vendor contracts.

- - - Updated - - -

Nic Cage best Cage. I want him all over my eggs.

You are barren and you know it. (I said that in a Dustbowl era country, nasally accent. So you know I am kidding. I am actually barren. Ah mah gawd. No kids here.)

[Orlong]

This above all else. It is pure Marketing. Most of these places will not even be in business still by the time this comes around. I can understand contracts that force them to buy from food vendors, but I have worked on every side of that industry and never heard of 10 year food vendor contracts.

You really think Subway, McDonalds, and Starbucks wont be in business in 10 years?

And yes, I dont believe the long delays have anything to do with contracts as 10 years is more than twice as long as even a long contract. Im beginning to think they are just milking the PR. Most people wont ven bother checking on 10 years if they actually switched. Scumbag restaurants.

[I Push Buttons]

You really think Subway, McDonalds, and Starbucks wont be in business in 10 years?

And yes, I dont believe the long delays have anything to do with contracts as 10 years is more than twice as long as even a long contract. Im beginning to think they are just milking the PR. Most people wont ven bother checking on 10 years if they actually switched. Scumbag restaurants.

I think it is more supply and demand than contracts...

How many "cage free" egg farms exist? Probably not many comparatively speaking. While it is obviously a PR stunt, if they genuinely intend to change over they can't all do it at once or there will be a run on "cage free" eggs...

Both they and their consumers don't want to pay more for the same product...

[Orlong]

I think it is more supply and demand than contracts...

How many "cage free" egg farms exist? Probably not many comparatively speaking. While it is obviously a PR stunt, if they genuinely intend to change over they can't all do it at once or there will be a run on "cage free" eggs...

Both they and their consumers don't want to pay more for the same product...

It wouldnt be hard for the farmers to rip out the cages and put up a fence around the pasture. Most would jump at the chance for a billion dollar contract with McDonalds, and it wouldnt take them 10 years to build a fence

[Tinykong]

"Cage free eggs"

[Kujako]

"Cage free eggs"

sad part is that's an improvement over the caged variety.

[Tinykong]

sad part is that's an improvement over the caged variety.

The whole "cage free" terminology was dreamed up so that people would imagine free roaming chickens foraging around like nature intended. Instead, it's a giant stock building packed to the brim with chickens. Is it better than chickens in cages? Sure, but barely.

Even "free range" is a bullshit term. The chickens only have to be provided access to the outdoors, and the amount of time that access is provided isn't regulated.

[I Push Buttons]

It wouldnt be hard for the farmers to rip out the cages and put up a fence around the pasture. Most would jump at the chance for a billion dollar contract with McDonalds, and it wouldnt take them 10 years to build a fence

It wouldn't take them 10 years to build a fence, but it might take them quite a while to rebuild their business from the ground up...

Its not as simple as letting them out of the cages and building a fence... A lot of those chickens can't even walk, they sit in cage or a warehouse pen their whole lives... Conveyor belts/machines move/clean the eggs, etc...



Whole new generations of chickens would be needed to undue all of that, not to mention a lot more employees...

And then there are some egg suppliers who simply don't care and won't make the change until they are forced to (because everyone else has and no one wants their product anymore), so new suppliers will have to emerge in the interim as well, etc...

[Tinykong]

because everyone else has and no one wants their product anymore

I have no problem buying eggs from chickens raised in cages. /shrug

[I Push Buttons]

I have no problem buying eggs from chickens raised in cages. /shrug

I am referring to businesses in general.

You might not care, but your favorite restaurant and your local grocery will potentially care and you won't have a choice.

[Tinykong]

I am referring to businesses in general.

You might not care, but your favorite restaurant and your local grocery will potentially care and you won't have a choice.

That's really not true, consumers who don't want to pay higher prices won't frequent those establishments.

As I said above, these are marketing terms. Most people are completely oblivious about where their food comes from, and if they knew what "cage free" and "free range" actually meant, they probably wouldn't be so happy to pay more.

If you want the "free range, cage free" eggs you think you are buying from the mega mart, buy them from a farm.