Progressive Beef and Wendy’s® Advance Partnership to Verify and Improve Animal Care, Food Safety and Sustainability in Fresh Beef Supply
Leading quick service restaurant company announces 15% increase in percentage of beef sourced through Progressive Beef-certified producers in 2020; on track to meet goal of at least 50% this year
GREAT BEND, Kan. – Jan. 14, 2021 – Progressive Beef, which has an innovative animal care and sustainability program for cattle feedlot operators, is proud to share progress in its partnership with Wendy’s®: at the end of 2020, 40% of Wendy’s U.S. fresh, never frozen beef supply* is sourced from Progressive Beef™–certified feedlots, representing a 15% increase in 2020. This increase demonstrates progress against the Company’s goal of sourcing more than 50% of its supply from cattle raised under the Progressive Beef program in 2021.
“Despite a challenging year for the beef and restaurant industries, we remained on track with our commitment to the Progressive Beef program,” said Liliana Esposito, Chief Communications Officer for The Wendy’s Company. “Improving the traceability and sustainability of our supply chain is one of Wendy’s key priorities. When it comes to beef, the first step is reaching further back into our supply chain to create visibility into the animals we source for our food, and to verify how they were raised and treated. Over time, we believe this transparency and record-keeping will enable us to measure and improve our impact on a variety of sustainability metrics, including medical treatment and antibiotic use, and water and land use.”
Built on proven best practices implemented through training, teamwork and technology, the Progressive Beef program increases transparency and provides third-party verification that the cattle were raised in accordance with strict animal welfare and sustainability standards. The Progressive Beef program is built around three core pillars including animal welfare, food safety and sustainability; and transparency and traceability are critical to achieving progress in these areas.
“Wendy’s is a longtime leader in the restaurant industry, and we were delighted to have them as our first restaurant chain partner,” said John Butler, Chief Executive Officer of Progressive Beef, LLC. “Today’s consumers want to know where their food comes from and that the cattle were ethically and sustainably raised. We are proud to offer Wendy’s a solution to meet the Company’s goal of a more transparent and traceable fresh beef supply chain; a program that we believe to be the industry gold standard and way of the future.”
For more information about Wendy’s Animal Welfare Program and Council, and focus on traceability, click here or visit The Square Deal blog.
To find out more information on the Progressive Beef program, visit https://www.progressivebeef.com/.
*Fresh beef available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada on Wendy’s hamburgers
About Progressive Beef
Progressive Beef, LLC developed and currently manages the Progressive Beef program. Originally designed in 2000, the program has grown into a quality management systems approach to beef production with the goal of bringing transparency and verification to consumers. Progressive Beef, LLC is located in Great Bend, Kan., and works with feedyards to verify their commitment and care for cattle. Visit https://www.progressivebeef.com/ for more information.
For more information, contact:
Heidi Schauer
mediarelations@wendys.com
Heather Donley
hdonley@progressivebeef.com
Lauren Neuman, (704) 664-6328 ext. 316
l.neuman@midanmarketing.com
