FIND cafes and restaurants serving higher welfare food near you

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Does your business or one you know use cage-free eggs?

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Benefits of joining

Customers these days are increasingly wanting food that’s been produced with consideration of animal welfare so there’s never been a better time to join Choose Wisely.

Here's why

When you join, your business will be listed in the Choose Wisely directory, helping connect customers looking for higher welfare food in your area directly to you. You’ll also have access to Choose Wisely promotion material, which you can use to show your customers that you’re passionate about higher welfare food.

It’s simple and free to join. Let’s get started!

Quick Facts: Customers care about animal welfare

+ Two in three Australians are concerned about confinement of layer hens and pigs**

+ 85% of Australians agree that it’s important that the meat, eggs and dairy products sold in Australia are farmed in a humane and ethical way*.

+ 77% of people agree that when eating at a restaurant or café, it’s important that the meat, eggs and dairy products served come from animals farmed in a humane and ethical way*.

+ Almost one in two people would be prepared to pay 20% more for animal products that were certified to have come from farmers and processors that use best animal welfare practices*

*Source: McCrindle Research April 2015 ** Source: RSPCA Australia

What Choose Wisely means for you

Choose Wisely venues are using cage-free eggs, higher welfare chicken and/or free range or bred free-range pork as much as they can.

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Talk about how you’re Choosing Wisely with your customers. Be ready to tell your customers where you purchase your eggs, chicken and/or pork from, so that they can be confident they’ve been farmed to higher welfare standards.

The RSPCA doesn’t have the resources to monitor this commitment, so it’s based on trust.

FAQs + Promo material

We want to make talking about higher welfare food easy so we have a number of ways to help.

Show tools

When you join, we’ll send you a Choose Wisely welcome pack with material to show your participation in Choose Wisely. This includes a counter card and decal. Put the decal in your front window or glass display cabinet, where your customers can easily see it and know that you’re passionate about serving higher welfare food. If you want to use the Choose Wisely icon in another place, such as on your menu, that’s great and you can download it here.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Business

Choose Wisely is the RSPCA’s initiative encouraging and supporting cafes and restaurants to source products from higher welfare farming systems, such as cage-free eggs. 


No, you don’t have to be a restaurant or café to register with Choose Wisely. You can be a school, university, food van, hotel or motel. It’s all about making a statement to the community that your establishment cares about animal welfare.


There’s an increasing global trend of consumers asking for food that’s produced to higher animal welfare standards. By serving higher welfare food, your business will be:

Listed on the Choose Wisely website (individually and in search results)

Promoted as a business people should support

Provided with the Choose Wisely icon, which you can feature on your window, menu and/or front counter to show your customers that your business cares about farm animal welfare

Demonstrating that eating out doesn’t need to compromise the welfare of farm animals.


In a cage, each hen has less space than the size of an A4 piece of paper. Caged hens cannot behave naturally. They can’t stretch out or flap their wings, forage for food, scratch in the dirt, dust bathe, socialise freely or lay their eggs in the privacy of a nest. Find out more here

These days, customers are really uncomfortable with the farming methods associated with cage eggs. They prefer to choose cage-free.


Both systems can adequately provide for a hen’s needs if managed well. The RSPCA believes that a well-managed barn system can be just as good for hen welfare as a proper free-range facility. From an animal welfare perspective, it’s a myth that barn is second best. It’s all about who is operating the system and to what standards they adhere to.


Make sure your eggs carry independent certification for animal welfare from a reputable animal welfare organisation like the RSPCA. The RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme Standard is publicly available and participating farms are assessed at least twice a year.


This will depend on your supplier and the market. Some Choose Wisely businesses have been lucky enough that their suppliers have made the switch to cage-free eggs at no extra cost. Others have said it can cost between four and 12 cents more per egg.


Look for higher welfare indoor, free-range or RSPCA Approved chicken. Look for free-range, outdoor bred or RSPCA Approved pork.


If your supplier doesn’t stock eggs, chicken or pork farmed to higher welfare standards, check out these RSPCA Approved brands. The RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme is Australia’s leading independent certification scheme focused on animal welfare. Through the Scheme the RSPCA works closely with farmers to make a positive impact on the lives of farm animals by providing an environment that meets their needs.