Caffè Nero, Krispy Kreme, Caribou Coffee, Au Bon Pain, Dunkin’ Donuts, illy, Peet’s Coffee, and Costa Coffee all have one thing in common. The obvious response is, “yeah, coffee,” as they undeniably represent some of the world’s largest coffee chains. But that isn’t all. They have also agreed to put a stop to one of factory farming’s most cruel practices: caged eggs.

The average coffee shop uses over 5,000 eggs per year in each of its locations. Common cafe menu items like bagels, breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, and croissants are only a few egg-related breakfast favorites people enjoy every day across the globe. With this scale in mind, Lever Foundation made real progress for egg-laying hens in the past two years by engaging directly with the world’s largest coffee chains.

In early 2022, Lever worked with Caffè Nero, one of the world’s fifteen largest café and coffee chains, to secure a commitment to source only cage-free eggs and egg ingredients globally by 2026 in its over 1,000 locations across Europe, North America and the Middle East. A few weeks later, Italian coffee company illy also pledged to source only cage-free eggs and egg ingredients globally by 2025 for its international stores after working with Lever.

These important pledges follow those Lever secured in 2021 from Krispy Kreme, the famous doughnut and coffee chain that ranks among the 50 largest QSR chains with more than 1,400 retail shops in 25 countries, to phase out caged eggs globally by 2026. In the same period, Lever helped Au Bon Pain, a premiere QSR café chain with over 200 locations globally and Dunkin’ Donuts, one of the world’s ten largest coffee chains, commit to use only cage-free eggs and egg ingredients globally.

Caribou Coffee, the second largest premium cafe chain in the United States, with over 300 international shops, pledged to use only cage-free eggs by 2025, after working with Lever. Peet’s Coffee committed similarly to reaching the goal of using 100% cage-free eggs in China by the end of 2025, in a statement published on its website.

Working closely with some of the world’s biggest coffee companies, as well as with domestic coffee chains such as Zoo Group in China and OldTown White Coffee in Malaysia, Lever has helped end cage farming in their supply chains. Going forward, Lever will continue working with coffee companies to end cage confinement for egg-laying hens.

 

This work happened because of the support of people like you. Please consider donating today to build a more humane and sustainable protein supply in Asia.