Customer fury as Pret refuses to reverse ‘frankenchicken’ broken pledge despite social media storm

Customers of the Pret A Manger sandwich giant are boycotting the stores over what they say is a broken promise on chicken welfare.

The company is facing a social-media onslaught because it still uses “frankenchickens” – birds bred to grow so rapidly from hatching that they suffer chronic pain, deformities and heart failure, even before they are fully grown.

It’s been calculated that if human babies grew as fast as frankenchickens, by two months old they would weigh around 45 stone.

Eight years ago, Pret promised it would stop using the rapidly growing breed of chicken in its salads and sandwiches by 2026.

But earlier this year bosses at the popular High Street eatery pushed back the pledge to end frankenchicken use to 2032.

Animal-welfare campaigners who accuse the chain of going back on its word have launched a £1m public drive against what they say is an “unacceptable” 14-year delay. They are also angry that Pret has declined to respond to the social media backlash.

Users have left more than 2,200 comments on the chain’s accounts – mostly by customers boycotting stores – but bosses do not appear to have replied to any.

They have responded to comments on other subjects.

“Understandably I think this silence has only strengthened people’s concern and anger,” said Connor Jackson, head of animal-rights organisation Anima.

Pret said it remained signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment and pointed out it already met five of the six of the standards in it and had “set a clear roadmap for the remaining one”. That one is using slower-growing breeds.

The Better Chicken Commitment was designed to relieve the worst suffering of poultry, with criteria including more space and light for the birds. But in an audit by Compassion in World Farming, the company scored zero on breed welfare.

Many other restaurant and fast-food chains also still use frankenchickens, and have not made any pledges to end their use, but Pret is being targeted for postponing its target.

The RSPCA says fast-growing broiler chickens, which are chosen to reduce costs with relatively little concern for their health, are the most serious animal-welfare problem in the UK.

Around 1.1 billion frankenchickens are reared for slaughter in the UK every year.

Animal pressure organisation Project Slingshot, which highlights the factory farming cruelty, is joining forces with Anima on the Pret chicken campaign.

Backed by comedians including Sara Pascoe, Diane Morgan and Kerry Godliman, Project Slingshot has used billboards on the London Tube to publicise the suffering of how most UK chickens are bred for meat, including being forced to sit in their own waste, which burns their skin.

Music superstar Paul McCartney and actor Dame Joanna Lumley also back Project Slingshot. Dame Joanna said: “Ninety per cent of chickens, pumped full of antibiotics, are bred to grow so fast that their bodies collapse, their legs buckle and their hearts give out. They live for just 35 days, mostly in pain, and yet the industry calls it efficiency. We must ban frankenchickens now because we’re better than this.”

Growth rates of UK meat chickens have increased by more than 400 per cent since the 1950s because of how they are bred.

As well as the social-media storm, around 74,000 people have signed a pledge to stop supporting Pret or to reduce visits.

Broadcaster and naturalist Chris Packham said: “When a company is committed to making a change for animals, they don’t wait 14 years to do it.”

Activists have previously deposited a car-sized mock-up of a frankenchicken, wrapped in cling film, outside Pret shops.

And on the company’s 40th anniversary on Wednesday, activists took a giant “birthday card” to its first shop, where supporters wrote messages inside about what they said was a cruel policy.

Mr Jackson said: “The fact that Pret appear to be abandoning their responsibilities to animal welfare has rightly shocked customers. And now they appear to be ignoring customers as well.”

In February, eight food brands including Nando’s, KFC, Wagamama and Burger King, withdrew from the Better Chicken Commitment to set up an initiative called the Sustainable Chicken Forum, which does not require a change of breed.

A Pret spokesperson said: “We are disappointed that this campaign group has chosen to target one of the few businesses that remains signed up to the Better Chicken Commitment. We already meet five out of the six of those standards and have set a clear roadmap for the remaining one.

“It is unclear to us why activists are spending such significant funds targeting a business trying to do the right thing rather than focusing on those who have abandoned higher welfare reform entirely.

“While we respect the right to peaceful protest and the important issues this campaign seeks to raise, our priority is the wellbeing of our team members and customers.

“We have plans in place to support them and hope any demonstrations are conducted safely and with respect for the people who work in and visit our shops every day.”

They did not specifically address the criticism of breaking the 2026 promise or a lack of response to social media comments.