Published 1/21/2020

MAJOR NEWS: This past Friday, Popeyes—the nation’s third largest fast food chicken chain—committed to meaningful improvements for chickens in their supply chain, following years of campaigning from Compassion USA and other organizations. 

In 2017, Compassion USA launched a large-scale campaign demanding Popeyes quit supporting cruel factory farming practices and do better for chickens. Our rallying cry resonated with animal activists across the country, and soon the campaign’s Change.org petition amassed more than 160,000 signatures. And local activists joined us for multiple public demonstrations around Atlanta, where the company’s corporate headquarters was located at the time. But we didn’t stop there…

We walked straight to their front door with each and every one of your petition signatures in-hand to show them you meant business. Though they forced us to delete our footage of the actual petition drop-off, that didn’t stop us from getting your voices heard. And while it may have taken them more than two years, they finally listened.

Popeyes is now the first major fast food chicken chain to sign the Better Chicken Initiative ensuring meaningful progress for millions of chickens each year. Specifically, by 2024 Popeyes has committed to: 

• Transition to using breeds determined to have better welfare outcomes
• Provide more space by reducing maximum stocking density, per Global Animal Partnership (GAP) Standards 
• Enhance living environments including litter quality, lighting and enrichments, per GAP standards 
• Utilize a multi-step controlled-atmosphere stunning system 

The company has also committed to utilizing third-party auditing to ensure compliance with these animal welfare standards.  

Achieving such a massive victory for animals this early in 2020 is both exciting and encouraging for the year of progress ahead. Compassion USA would like to thank all of our supporters who took to the streets, made phone calls, or otherwise used their voice to demand that Popeyes take animal welfare seriously—as well as everyone who made this victory possible. 

Here’s to bringing an end to factory farming.

Don't want to stop at just one victory? Secure another. Tell Ruby Tuesday not to backpedal on their commitment to going 100% cage-free today.