Email Wagamama to tell them to stand up for chickens
90% of the 1 billion UK chickens farmed for meat every year are ‘Frankenchickens’. These animals have been bred to grow unnaturally fast and suffer from health issues including heart conditions, lameness, skin lesions, weakened immune systems and muscle disease, as well as extreme stress and boredom.
Thanks to your support, Compassion and other groups have successfully pushed major food companies to sign the Better Chicken Commitment – a set of changes to chicken farming that promotes healthier, slower-growing chicken breeds and provides better living conditions through more space, natural light and enrichment.
One of the most high-profile companies to sign was Wagamama (and its parent company, The Restaurant Group [TRG]). In 2019, Wagamama's Chief Marketing Officer said: “We’re striving to lead the change…and be true to the ‘positive eating, positive living’ ethos we were founded on.”
But fast forward to 2026 and the company, along with 17 other restaurant chains, has broken its promise to improve the lives of chickens. Rather than listen to the UK public and take steps to improve chicken welfare, Wagamama is backtracking on its words and continuing to serve Frankenchickens to its customers. Fast-growing chickens cannot have lives worth living.
If thousands of us email Wagamama, we can show them that they must take action to improve chicken welfare.
Subject: Wagamama – Please stand up for chickens
FAO Mr Mark Chambers (CEO of Wagamama UK) and Mr Andy Hornby (CEO of The Restaurant Group)
Dear The Restaurant Group and Wagamama Management,
I am getting in touch to call on Wagamama and the other brands owned by The Restaurant Group (TRG) to take the welfare of animals seriously and honour your commitment to use slower-growing chicken breeds.
Wagamama stands out as a company that takes pride in its approach to sustainability. We note your efforts to talk about the importance of continuous improvement, plant-based eating and food waste.
And TRG also has progressive animal welfare policies – for example, only sourcing UK shell eggs from free-range hens.
Bearing this in mind, it was deeply disappointing to see that you have reneged on the Better Chicken Commitment and will continue to serve unnaturally fast-growing Frankenchickens to your customers. These sentient animals experience pain and suffering from conditions like lameness, heart disease and skin lesions, as well as extreme stress and boredom.
This is a backward step for animal welfare – a far cry from continuous improvement.
On behalf of the millions of chickens that you serve every year, I urge you to put slower-growing breeds on the menu at Wagamama and TRG. I understand that this will not happen overnight, but I would like to see clear targets and a timeline. Please release a public statement so that I can see when and how you intend to tackle this critical animal welfare issue.
If you care what your customers think, you will honour your commitment to improve the lives of the animals that sit at the heart of your business. I hope you take this opportunity seriously.
