McDonald’s Corp. will be buying billions of cage-free eggs over the next 10 years. While the move is a sorely needed jolt of positive public relations, the chain isn’t acting solely out of cynical self-interest. Consumer research shows that a majority of people view free-range or cage-free eggs and meat to be more healthy.
But just like with the brand’s decision to purge chicken treated with human antibiotics from its supply chain, the latest demand McDonald’s is making of poultry farmers will upset the near-term supply of cage-free eggs, so consumers will have to be prepared for eventual upward pressure on menu prices.
In response to McDonald’s announcement Wednesday that it would transition to all cage-free eggs in its supply chain over the next decade, the Humane Society’s CEO, Wayne Pacelle, called it a “watershed moment.”
“McDonald’s admirable move makes clear that egg production’s future is cage-free,” Pacelle said in a statement.
That may be true—just not likely the immediate future. It’s difficult to get the supply chain in order quickly for any restaurant chain, let alone one the size of McDonald’s, which has more than 16,000 restaurants in the United States and Canada. The brand already sourced an admirable 13 million cage-free eggs for its domestic system every year. That number likely will exceed 2 billion eggs per year once McDonald’s is fully transitioned.
So if converting its supply of eggs to cage-free is neither easy nor cheap (all while beginning to roll out all-day breakfast nationwide), why would McDonald’s do it? Again, the PR bump is nice, but that alone isn’t adequate to turning around McDonald’s U.S. sales, which have faltered for several years now. The answer is not to please the Humane Society or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—restaurants have grown just fine forever without ceding to those groups’ pressure campaigns—but to please consumers and their changing views on how livestock is treated.
Animal welfare callouts on the menu seem to be the most effective way for restaurants to improve their health perceptions and taste perceptions among customers, according to Technomic’s Healthy Eating Consumer Trend Report. Nearly three in five consumers said food described as “free-range” or “cage-free” is more healthful than other food, more than people who said the same for “vegan,” “local,” “sustainable” or “fair-trade.” The descriptors that improved health perceptions with consumers more than cage-free also dealt with farm animal treatment, including “farm-raised,” “grass-fed” and “vegetarian.”
When it came to taste, 45% of consumers said free-range and cage-free foods were slightly or much more tasty than other foods, behind only the 49% of people who said the same for grass-fed foods. About two-thirds of consumers said they would be more likely to purchase grass-fed, cage-free or farm-raised foods, and about half of those respondents indicated a willingness to pay a little bit more for such offerings.
Paying a slight premium probably will be necessary for consumers as more restaurants follow McDonald’s lead in their supply chains. Dunkin’ Donuts is considering cage-free eggs as well, and Subway is working to eliminate artificial ingredients and additives in its food, like Taco Bell and Pizza Hut have pledged. But most importantly for McDonald’s and other restaurants, the improvement in perceptions of their quality is likely to be a net positive and worth a small increase to their menu prices.
