Hannah Surowinski
gategroup, a leader in the travel industry, is already 75% cage-free—and plans to get to 100% by 2025.
Imagine a company that serves more than 500 million people every single year. That does business in over 60 countries and territories. That operates across six continents.
That's gategroup, a major corporation that provides catering services to airlines and airports, from United Airlines to Lufthansa, from Newark Liberty International Airport to Denver International Airport. And it just promised to end some of the worst cruelties hens face in our food system, across its entire global operation.
Following outreach from The Humane League and the Open Wing Alliance, gategroup released a statement committing to spare egg-laying hens from life in a so-called "battery cage"—a bare wire crate that leaves birds with no room to spread their wings.
"The Humane League commends gategroup, a global leader serving more than 700 million airline passengers annually, for setting the standard for other companies to follow through its global cage-free egg commitment," says Hannah Surowinski, Global Corporate Relations Coordinator, Open Wing Alliance. "The fact that gategroup is already reporting 75% cage-free globally, shows that it is serious about its commitment to alleviate the suffering of untold numbers of hens in its supply chains."
What is gategroup?
Headquartered in Glattbrugg, Switzerland, gategroup is a global leader in airline catering, retail-on-board, and food service. In 2021, gategroup surpassed $2 billion in revenue and employed over 35,000 workers. Among its highest priority countries of operation are: United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Togo, Thailand, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, South Korea, Singapore, Seychelles, Senegal, Reunion, Republic of the Congo, Peru, Norway, Nigeria, New Zealand, Netherlands, Morocco, Mexico, Mauritania, Mali, Macau, Luxembourg, Kenya, Kazakhstan, Japan, Ivory Coast, Italy, Ireland, Guinea, Ghana, Germany, Gabon, France, Ecuador, Denmark, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, China, Chile, Canada, Cameroon, Cambodia, Burkina Faso, Brazil, Bolivia, Benin, Belgium, Australia, and Argentina.
As a leader in the aviation industry, and as a company with a truly global reach, gategroup stands to drive change across the sector, as other foodservice companies, retailers, restaurants, and manufacturers wake up to the importance of animal welfare.
What does gategroup's global policy on animal welfare actually say?
gategroup commits to transition its entire global egg supply chain to 100% cage-free eggs by 2025—and it's already reporting that it's 75% of the way there. This means that egg-laying hens will no longer be crammed into tiny wire cages where the metal bars chafe their skin and feathers, where the barren floor twists their ankles, and where they spend the entirety of their too-short lives in a sunless shed. gategroup's announcement affirms the importance of protecting animals from the worst forms of abuse on factory farms around the world. The company's "global, group-wide, minimum welfare standard is 'barn' (cage-free) eggs."
"Despite the difficulties of promoting sustainability throughout a food supply chain that is both global and local, gategroup and its partners and suppliers are rising to the challenge," says gategroup. "Eggs are just the first step. We are in the process of conducting a comprehensive audit of our suppliers to ensure that they are complying with our stringent procurement standards and will be publishing our results in our first Sustainability Report to be published alongside our Annual Report in April of next year."
By committing to time-bound goals and ongoing reporting, gategroup is demonstrating its commitment to transparency and follow-through, for its customers as well as for the animals.
How can I help?
The global movement to end the use of battery cages is only growing. Breakthroughs from industry leaders like gategroup only underscore the progress that changemakers like you are continuing to make for farmed animals.
