April
2025
This month brought exciting wins across our corporate campaigns, with momentum building for more plant-based meals in schools, national parks, coffee shops, and entertainment venues. Companies also made meaningful updates to their animal welfare reporting—whether switching to cage-free eggs ahead of schedule or tracking progress on chicken and pig welfare. These wins reflect the power of sustained pressure and collaboration with partners across sectors.
Getting More Plant-Based Meals in Schools
United States
SLA Management—a foodservice provider for K–12 charter and private schools—has committed to making plant-based meals a central part of their meal program. SLA set a goal for one-third of their menu offerings to be plant-based by the end of 2027, increasing plant-based options by 10% annually starting in fall 2025. This comes after a year of engagement with our team and partner organizations.
Committing to 50% Plant-Based Menu Offerings by 2026
United States
Xanterra Travel Collection, a hospitality company that operates lodges, restaurants, and tours in national and state parks, is taking steps to make their menus more plant-based. In collaboration with our team, Xanterra has committed to having plant-based options make up half of all menu offerings by 2026.
The company, which is the largest operator of lodges, restaurants, and concessions in U.S. national and state parks, already offers vegetarian meals across their food outlets and is building on that foundation. Mercy For Animals has been in conversations with the company for over a year, and this policy was released after we called them out in our 2025 Earth Month report.
Launching a Seasonal Plant-Based Drink Menu
United States
Gregorys Coffee, a specialty coffee company with locations across the East Coast, has followed the removal of their plant-based milk surcharge and addition of a vegan brownie with more plant-based momentum. They recently introduced a lineup of seasonal drinks that come with vegan milk by default. With offerings ranging from espresso-based lattes to nutrient-packed smoothies, the seasonal menu highlights the company’s dedication to expanding delicious, animal-friendly options for all customers.
Removing Dairy Milk and Animal-Based Broths
Mexico
Palacio de los Deportes, a large indoor arena in Mexico City that hosts around 30 events each year, removed animal-based broth and dairy milk from side dishes offered backstage to artists and their crews.
Rice dishes, soups—including creamy soups—and other side dishes are now plant-based by default. They have always offered a vegetarian option backstage, and artists can request that it be made vegan.
To support this shift, the culinary teams at Palacio de los Deportes recently participated in a hands-on workshop led by a Mercy For Animals team member. The training focused on creating flavorful animal-free versions of popular items—like steaks, sausages, dressings (mayo, ranch, and Caesar), and desserts (banana bread, cakes, cheesecake, doughnuts, and more).
Palacio de los Deportes is part of Oak View Group, a global leader in venue management and premium hospitality services for the live-event industry.
Strengthening Accountability on Animal Welfare Goals
Global
Delaware North updated their progress on their Better Chicken Commitment policy. In 2024, 37% of the chicken meat they sourced met BCC standards for stocking density, and 60.7% met third-party auditing requirements—both exceeding targets for the year. The company improved across all BCC areas compared with 2023 except breed, where they fell short of their goals. Mercy For Animals played a key role in pushing for this update, engaging closely with Delaware North ahead of the 2024 Frankenchickens report and encouraging annual progress reporting. While recent conversations have focused more on plant-based efforts, we’ve maintained long-standing communication on their BCC progress.
After dialogue with Mercy For Animals and partner groups, Sprouts Farmers Market adopted the BCC in 2021. Since then, the grocery chain has reported progress every year toward fulfilling their chicken welfare pledge. The company recently reported 2024 progress improvements, including a 14% increase on eliminating live-shackle slaughter. Additionally, they reported 49% progress for lighting, litter, and physical enrichments—a 44% increase from 2023.
KFC operates 94 restaurants in Romania that now will source only cage-free eggs after a pressure campaign coordinated by Romanian organization FREE and supported by Mercy For Animals. We purchased billboards in high-traffic areas in the capital. KFC met their pledge five years ahead of schedule.
RBI published their annual Restaurant Brands for Good report, which includes updates on global cage-free egg sourcing, progress in Canada on their BCC policy, and their transition from gestation crates for mother pigs. In Canada, the company reports that 30% of their chicken supply now meets standards for controlled-atmosphere stunning and has announced plans to develop a roadmap for improving chicken welfare in North America in alignment with the BCC. RBI also reports that 80% of their pork supply is crate-free, a significant increase from 35% in 2023.
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“What keeps me focused is to remember that we are their only hope.”
—Camilla, an undercover investigator in Brazil